Stride Property Group’s Jennifer Whooley and her path to leadership
A thirst for challenges and professional development has made Jennifer Whooley CA one of New Zealand’s most prominent CFOs.
In Brief
- In 2018, Stride Property Group’s Jennifer Whooley CA was named EY Chief Financial Officer of the Year in New Zealand.
- She says making it to the C-Suite involves being prepared to learn, adapt, challenge yourself, and work with all sorts of teams.
- Making the time to take leadership courses is also crucial to professional development.
By Helen Corrigan
“It all started with Dad”, is how Auckland-based Stride Property Group chief financial officer Jennifer Whooley CA explains her path to becoming a chartered accountant.
The construction company her father worked for employed a female accountant – a somewhat uncommon role for a woman at the time – who he thought would make an excellent career role model for his daughter, so he arranged for them to meet.
“We discussed what was involved in being an accountant, and she was so supportive,” says Whooley. “It inspired me to become a CA.”
One of New Zealand’s few female CFOs
While it is no longer unusual for a women to be chartered accountants, Whooley is notable as one of only a handful of female CFOs of NZX-listed companies. (In 2018, just 14 out of the 163 CFOs were women.
In 2018 Whooley was named EY Chief Financial Officer of the Year, the first woman to take out the title.
Straight out of university, Whooley joined Wormald Safety first as an assistant accountant, then financial accountant and office manager before leaving the country for the great Kiwi tradition of an OE [overseas experience].
On her return she joined Fletcher Property and, within seven years, had worked her way up to chief accountant.
In 2002 she joined Stride Property Group, one of New Zealand’s largest listed property ownership and real estate investment management businesses. Working in a variety of senior finance and management positions, she’s helped guide the business through a period of growth and its 2010 NZX listing.
“It’s embracing different challenges that’s allowed me to develop as a leader.”
How to develop as a leader
Whooley says making it to the C-Suite involves being prepared to learn, adapt, challenge yourself, and play in all sorts of teams.
“As Stride Property expanded, I found it useful to take the lead in a variety of areas including marketing, communications and human resources, for example, as well as being responsible for property, lease administration and investor relations,” she says.
“It’s embracing different challenges that’s allowed me to develop as a leader.”
A career highlight was leading a 2016 project to grow Stride Property Group’s funds management business by ‘stapling’ together a property ownership and real estate investment management company for demerger and spin-off listing. It’s an experience she describes as “exciting times”.
The move has seen Stride Property Group’s business grow to where it now manages NZ$2.2 billion of commercial property nationwide, with tenants such as Wesfarmers’ subsidiaries Bunnings and Countdown.
Make time to take leadership courses
As well as accepting a range of opportunities and thinking outside the box, making the time to take leadership courses is crucial to professional development, says Whooley.
“Participating in the 2017 Global Women Breakthrough Leaders Programme helped shape my leadership intent of ‘enabling other people to grow and develop’ and feed back into the organisation.”
Being part of a network of like-minded, talented, and ambitious women completes a circle in a way, she says.
“All those years ago, a then somewhat unique woman CA sparked an interest in accounting for me, and now I’m able to assist in others’ growth and development.”