From airports to zoos, where can a business degree take you?

Over more than 20 years, Shelley has shaped the financial futures of global companies including Shell, Caltex and Air Seychelles. She’s lived in London, Switzerland, the Seychelles and Abu Dhabi, working her way up from an entry-level finance position at PwC to the Vice President, Group Financial Reporting for Etihad Airways.

Along the way, she’s been the Chief Financial Officer of Air Seychelles, a role that made her the youngest CFO of any airline in the world at the time, where she led a major restructuring project to bring the company back from the brink of financial collapse.

And she’s done it all armed with little more than an accounting traineeship, a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), a chartered accounting qualification and a whole lot of grit.

“UTS is where it all started and where I really built my foundation for understanding business basics and accounting, which is really where my whole career grew from,” says Shelley.

“It always had the reputation for being a fantastic business school that’s really practical in its application.”

A global perspective becomes a global career 

Shelley initially chose UTS because of its proximity to downtown Sydney. At the time, she was completing a traineeship at PwC in the Sydney CBD and needed a university that would keep her close to work.

But it was the subject selections and extracurricular activities that convinced her she was in the right place. Among them, a major in International Business coupled with a global exchange in Vienna helped her build the skills for her future career.

“It really expanded my mindset and got me thinking about global opportunities and working in a global context.”

Shelley is now back working in finance in Australia. As the Chief Financial Officer and first employee for Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI), one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the history of New South Wales, she’s building the project’s financial foundations from scratch.

She’s also leading WSI Land Co, a joint venture with Charter Hall to deliver the first stage of WSI’s Business Precinct.

It might be hard work, but doing something that makes a difference feels worthwhile.  

“It has been a phenomenal experience for me. I love what I do,” says Shelley, who recently returned to UTS as part of the UTS Business School’s Leadership Insights interview series, which connects current business students to insights from established industry leaders.

“The airport will open this year and it will transform Western Sydney and the lives of people who live here, as well as people in New South Wales and Australia more broadly.”  

From the CBD to greener pastures 

Business took Shelley all over the world; now, it’s bringing the world to Hubert Jesuratnam. As the Finance Manager at Sydney Zoo, Hubert spends his days surrounded by animals from across the globe: lions and camels, otters and elephants, tigers and ostriches and capybaras and meerkats.

In fact, when he first started at the zoo seven years ago, some of his earliest colleagues weren’t people but hyenas.

“I was here before the zoo opened, and so I saw all the animals get delivered. For a while, the hyenas were behind our office,” says Hubert, a UTS alum.  

“You could go and stand outside and look at the hyenas and they’d stare back at you.”

Working at a zoo in Western Sydney is an unlikely outcome for someone who found himself drawn to the hustle and bustle of the Sydney CBD. A chartered accountant by training, Hubert completed a Bachelor of Business and, later, a Master of Finance at UTS.

“I went to all the university open days in Year 12, and UTS just stood out for me. As a kid who didn’t come to the city too much, it was a really exciting experience to study there,” he says.  

As a professional, Hubert cut his teeth in organisations like the NSW Audit Office and the Diocesan Development Fund, gaining work experience as an auditor, a financial accountant and, later, in a range of senior roles. But as his career evolved, he found his niche in an unexpected area.

“I saw myself going into the banking industry eventually, but when we introduced a new accounting system at the Diocesan Development Fund, I was in charge of transferring all the data into the new system,” he says.

Setting up new accounting and financial infrastructure turned out to be a high-value skillset, and soon, the job offers were coming thick and fast. One of those jobs was at Sydney Zoo.

“They’d just opened up and they said, ‘Can you come and do the same thing here?’” he says.  

In the business world, opportunities abound

Hubert started as the Zoo’s Senior Financial Accountant where he led the establishment of the organisation’s financial policies, procedures and systems from the ground up.

Within six months, he’d been appointed as the Finance Manager, a role that combines the accounting expertise from his Bachelor of Business with the banking, corporate finance and financial technological knowledge of his Master of Finance.

Like Shelley, Hubert is exactly where he wants to be, surrounded by his furry coworkers. But he and Shelley both know that if they ever want to change paths, there’s no such thing as a dead end in a business career.

“I really could have ended up doing anything, whether it was professional services, consulting, government, you name it. I could literally go into any industry and translate those skills to fit,” Shelley says.

“It really provides the foundation and that pathway to do anything that you choose.”