Leishman Coaching

I started Leishman Coaching in 2019 because, while I had a successful corporate career for many years,   I also made a lot of mistakes. So while I got there in the end, I wish I had someone to guide and coach me. 

I worked with some great leaders along the way but I always knew that it was difficult for them to be truly independent when they were coaching me.  I needed someone who was. Someone who didn't have conflicting priorities. Someone who could support my career ambitions and accelerate my learning.

There were things I just didn't know. 

In the last few years of my corporate career, I was privileged to work with a couple of incredible coaches. I learned so much from them and still remember the things they taught me. 

And so, I decided to retrain and become a coach.

What makes my coaching approach different is what I call the triple threat.

🔵 I have an extensive corporate and business experience.

🔵 I am an accredited professional coach, AND

🔵 I am a writer, so with me, it can be a one-stop shop - and you can be confident that your personal brand is supported by great career documents.

I have coached more than 500  clients since 2020, across a variety of roles, industries and countries.  

While I have an extensive background in financial services, I have found that the challenges people experience at various points in their careers, are both universal and global.  

I am a lifelong learner, a voracious reader and I regularly pick up new strategies and approaches which I put into practice in my coaching business.

Principal

Financial Basics Foundation

FBF is a national NFP focused on building financial literacy in young people in Australia. As a long standing charity, it has delivered free resources to Australian schools for more than 20 years.

Chair

CUA - Credit Union Australia Limited

Chief Operating Officer

General Manager, Member Experience

Chief Operating Officer (Acting)

Head of Customer Experience and BPR

Responsible for program management, change strategy, and execution of the ANZ Distribution Transformation major projects portfolio.
Business dimensions and scope: Program budget $75M. 800 branches, two call centres and 6,000 employees.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1. Carriage of the GM Distribution Transformation position for an extended period of time - full accountability for strategy development and execution.

2.Branch redesign program to support evolving customer needs resulting in 37 new look branches in 2013.

2. Ongoing development and build of customer management and home loan systems.

3. Development of change strategies and tools for ANZ staff and customers, culminating in the ANZ 'Better Ways to Bank' program.

Portfolio Change Director, Distribution Transformation

Management of all support functions including major projects and program office, investment slate, risk functions, vendor management, business information and improvement teams (Lean Six Sigma community). Business dimensions $40M opex, $100M+ in project capex and opex.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1. Development of a new strategic operating model for all support functions which delivered both a 25% reduction in overall run rate and an increase in stakeholder satisfaction of 20% over an 18 month period. 

2.Leadership of the Australian Retail Offshoring Program. Moved 1000 roles to Bangalore and Manila over a 3 1/2 year timeframe.

3. Capacity planning focus and re-engineering work supported productivity improvements of an average of 27% across all teams and a 20% reduction in customer complaints.

4. Successful Delivery of a number of key infrastructure programs including a new fraud management platform. Benefits exceeded all business case targets.

5. Reduction in vendor management costs of $21M over 2 years.

Head of Business Enablement, Australia Operations

Quest Limited

Responsible for developing a Pacific Operations Hub in Fiji to mitigate financial and operational risk in the region. Business dimensions Opex $6M* Capex $12M. 
*NB Low cost of labor drove relatively low opex in Fiji.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

1. Developed the Pacific Hub strategy and centralised functions from 12 Pacific countries and 2 Asian countries into Fiji.

2. Developed a strong company culture and employment brand. Benchmarked using the Hewitt's survey. Achieved Best Employer status for three consecutive years and moved staff engagement from 68% to 92%. Became an employer of choice in Fiji.

3. Led the company safely through the 2006 military coup and subsequent upheaval, followed by Cyclone Gene in January 2008. 

4.Achieved ISO 9001 2008 accreditation in 2008. 

5. Won a number of external awards including: DHL (Fiji) Exporter of the Year Westpac Services award in 2007 and 2008. Fiji Business Excellence awards in  2006, 2007, and 2008. These awards were an integrated part of the business strategy to develop our quality standards and employment brand.

6. Obtained government approval for 10 year tax free status in 2006.

7. Oversaw design and implementation of a building fit out with all the associated challenges of doing so in a politically unstable and  developing country.

Managing Director

Responsible for mortgage processing Australia wide and all major Mortgages infrastructure projects.

ACHIEVMENTS:

1. Remediation and successful delivery of two infrastructure projects.
2. Restored service levels in 2002 to achieve lead bank status with mortgage brokers.

Head of Mortgage Processing

Responsible for running the end-to-end mortgage business in New Zealand. Business dimensions Budget $170M. FUM $10BN. 

ACHIEVEMENTS:

1. Exceeded profit targets in 2000 and 2001.

2. Achieved market leadership with a new broker value proposition.

3. Staff satisfaction levels of 90%.

General Manager, Mortgages

Responsible for national team of 1000 operations staff across five locations. Business dimensions: 1000 staff. Budget 30M.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

1. Rationalised processing sites from five to three.

2. Managed national restructure to align to new business model.

Chief Operations Manager

Led national  team of 500 staff across 8 locations managing all back office transactions.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

1. Major site rationalisation - from eight locations down to three.

2. Reduced run rate by in excess of 20% over 18 months.

Head of Retail Operations

Responsible for leading and developing all new retail and business distribution strategies.

ACHIEVEMENTS: 
1. Multiple new initiatives including centralised credit and cash processing, network configuration strategy, and ATM profitability model.

Head of Distribution Strategy

Various retail and corporate banking roles

You know you need to work on your career,  but life gets in the way.

We’ve all been there. 
 ➡️ The resume that’s sat half-finished for months. 
 ➡️ The vague idea of "planning the next step" that never makes it to your to-do list. 
 ➡️ The creeping feeling that you could be doing more, earning more, or feeling more satisfied at work,  if only you knew where to start.

Since 2021, I’ve worked with more than 700 professionals to break through that stuck feeling. Whether it’s career direction, preparing for a move, stepping into leadership, or navigating a tough patch, I will help you cut through the noise and take real action.

With over 30 years’ experience as an executive, leader, parent, and business owner, I know the career game from all angles. My coaching is honest, practical, and focused on progress, whatever that looks like for you.

Here are some of the topics I coach on: 

🔵 Gaining clarity on where you are heading with your career and putting a plan in place.

🔵 Pinpointing why you are not getting interviews, jobs, or promotions, and working with you to close the gap.

🔵 Navigating the boardroom as a new or aspiring executive.

🔵 Learning the art of executive presence and high-impact communication.

🔵 Helping you get market ready if you are preparing to leave, between jobs, or returning to work after a break.  

🔵 Writing your career documents because you have looked at them so many times you are losing the will to live. 

🔵 Building a plan to help you come back from the brink when you are sliding backward down the corporate ladder, or have made a career-limiting mistake.

I am a qualified coach with more than 30 years' experience as a leader and executive, both in Australia and internationally.  

I know what good looks like, and I will work with you to help you get there. 

"Brigid offers a rare combination of "expert/practitioner" and "coach/mentor" that distinguishes her from other executive coaches I've worked with throughout my career" 
CEO, Melbourne, Australia

I share practical career advice here every week — follow me for free tips.
Or message me if you’re ready to make real change, and we’ll book a free discovery call.


🕸 Or check out my website for packages and pricing.

leishmancoaching.com

Brigid Leishman

INFINITYSTUDIO.AI

Non Executive Board Chair 

Tonkin + Taylor

Independent Board Member
Chair of the Risk and Assurance Committee

Independent Director

ESSSuper

Board Member
Chair of the Technology and Transformation Advisory Group
Member of the Governance, Risk and Compliance Committee
Member of the Benefits and Services Committee

Non Executive Director

Defence Bank

Board Member
Chair of Risk and Compliance Committee
Member of the Audit Committee

XpertiseNow

Digital Leadership Lead Advisor

Inspiring Rare Birds

Business Mentor

YBF Ventures

Participant in the YBF Startup Immersion Program: Building Australia’s New Economy Growth - a pilot program that immerses experienced, corporate talent in an accelerated program to build entrepreneurial capability. It is a first-of-its-kind program in Australia.

YBF (FinTech Hub) Start Up Immersion Program 2020 Cohort

World Vision Australia

Chief of Strategy, Innovation & Digital

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.
Leadership of all mass market fundraising channels including digital, contact centre and face to face. 
Digital strategy.
Digital transformation.
Agile cultural change and capability.

Chief of Retail & Digital 

Acting Chief Marketing Officer  while also leading Retail & Digital Channels..

Acting Chief Marketing Officer

Melbourne Business School

Guest lecturer on leading Digital Transformation for the Senior Executive MBA class.

Guest Lecturer Senior Executive MBA Program

As General Manager Digital for ANZ Australia:
- led large multi-disciplinary team responsible for digital strategy, all digital channels and online sales
- ANZ goMoney, anz.com, Internet Banking, all online account opening applications and enterprise mobility
- Multiyear $300m+ investment program to transform ANZ's digital capabilities and drive significant growth in its digital business . 
- Senior executive sponsor and Digital Transformation lead for the 'Banking on Australia' program, a 5 year, $1.5 billion investment program designed to transform ANZ's Australian business. 

During her time at ANZ Pam led the digital business to double online sales driving a substantial increase in digital channel's share of Retail account openings, redesigned user experience across the digital customer journey, shifted the business to agile culture and a continuous delivery capability and built multiple scaleable digital platforms to support future growth.

General Manager Digital

As General Manager, ANZ Direct, Pam had responsibility for managing and transforming ANZ’s contact centres supporting Australian customers. ANZ has one of the largest contact centres in Australia, providing sales and service to more than 4 million customers with over 15 million annual voice contacts and employing approximately 1,500 staff, located across 4 locations in Australia and New Zealand. Pam also oversaw ANZ's global voice strategy, including the digital transformation of ANZ's Contact centres..

General Manager ANZ Direct

Executive role with responsibility for shaping and leading ANZ's Direct Mortgage proposition and sales channel, including developing a range of new origination strategies to grow the Direct Sales channel, buiilding a strong lead generation capability to provide substantial lead volumes for all ANZ sales channels, as well as leading the overall Mortgages Retention strategy and Retention and Customer Service teams.

Head of Mortgages Direct

Executive role with responsibility for development and implementation of people management strategies and plans, including succession planning and building bench strength across Mortgages, and leadership of cultural change across the entire business. Responsibility for overall governance strategies and processes for the business unit.

Head of People Capital - ANZ Mortgages

Senior Manager HR Strategy

Senior Lending Support Centre Manager

Finance Manager

I AM: a company director and an educator of Boards, directors and executives. 

I WORK WITH: Boards, directors and executives who want to grow their skills in successfully delivering and overseeing digital transformation programs.

I HELP: build my clients’ skills and confidence in successfully setting up, delivering, maximising value from and overseeing their organisation’s programs. 

WHAT I BRING:  
My teaching comes from significant experience leading large, complex digital transformation programs across multiple sectors, together with decades of business leadership experience, and my current experiences as a non executive director. 

I have led large multi million dollar businesses, with teams of over 1,000 people and have experience at working across cultures and leading teams located across multiple geographies. 

I have operated on both sides of the board table and this gives me understanding, empathy and insights that can help bridge gaps that sometimes appear between the expectations and needs of directors and senior executives. 

I KNOW: what it takes to successfully deliver digital transformation and have personally experienced every possible outcome with programs. I have both celebrated and commiserated with my teams and have many delivery scars. I draw on all of these experiences and the wisdom they have taught me, as both a director and an educator.

WHAT YOU HEAR ABOUT ME:  I am curious, calm and collegiate and an adaptable, agile learner, with a strong capacity to conceptualise. I am able to be constructively critical while also being supportive. As an educator, I am pragmatic and engaging, and seek to bring learning to life through case studies, targeting content for practical use by directors and leaders.

I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT: Leaders learning to embrace digital, leveraging the many opportunities that it presents, and reinventing their organisations to deliver customer and business value.  At the end of the day, digital transformation is also about people, and seeing leaders step into their roles to drive end to end business transformation is what I find most rewarding.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME: pamrebecca.com and on twitter as @rebeccapam.
I also have a regular newsletter on all things digital, innovation, and leadership, and you can subscribe at https://pamrebecca.com/subscribe/

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Brigid Leishman

Pam Rebecca

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