INTHEBLACK September 2021 - Magazine - Page 31
“WHERE DO YOU WANT TO
GET TO AND HOW ARE YOU
GOING TO GET THERE? IF
THERE’S A DIVERSION,
WELL, MAYBE THAT’S NOT
THE RIGHT PATH. YOU
CAN’T BE WEDDED TO JUST
ONE ANSWER, WHICH CAN
SOMETIMES BE HARD IN
FINANCE.”
Left: Spectators were
prohibited at AFL games
held at Perth’s Optus
Stadium earlier this year.
“There’s a lot of looking up and looking out, and
that’s what also attracted me,” she says.
“We are also implementing an ERP [enterprise
resource planning] program, so there’s that
transformation piece again.
“Of all the skills that I’ve learned along the way,
this is where I get to use my gut a bit more and
be able to help direct the organisation and really
contribute to key decisions. I’m loving it. I think
this is absolutely the right move for me.”
A SPORTING CAREER
COVID-19 has delivered many lessons. For
Azzopardi, the experience has taught her to be
more flexible and open to change.
“You’ve just got to roll with it, and you’ve got to
adapt to it.
“You might have done a big piece of work on
Friday, and then you come back on Monday and so
much has changed. I saw that at Tennis Australia,
and I’m seeing it at the AFL, but you need to be
resilient and keep looking for the next solution.
Where do you want to get to and how are you going
to get there? If there’s a diversion, well, maybe that’s
the not right path. You can’t be wedded to just one
answer, which can sometimes be hard in finance.”
Azzopardi says she is proud to have worked for
large Australian brands throughout her career and
continues to personally support the organisations she
has worked with as an avid consumer, whether it
be energy, beer or insurance.
Stepping into the sports industry has brought
great rewards for Azzopardi – and she says it’s an
industry often overlooked by finance professionals.
“Sport is a big industry, where the money
generated goes back into the development of the
actual sport, and back-end processes just need to
try and keep up with the growth,” she says.
“In my role I could bring a level of focus on
compliance, risk management, team structure and
finance systems needed to support these back-end
processes. This then allows the finance teams to focus
on partnering with the business.
“I think COVID-19 has really brought out the
importance of traditionally back-office support
services to sporting companies, whether it be
finance, legal or technology.
“People with my corporate experience can go
into the sporting industry and bring new ideas and
change, and then lead that change to support the
required governance and finance processes, much
like a corporate, and right-size this process for the
relevant operations of that organisation.
“What I love about what I do is, I get to bring
my corporate skills to the business, but also be
involved in something that’s such an important
part of the community. It really is the best of both
worlds for me.
intheblack.com September 2021 31