INTHEBLACK September 2024 special edition - Flipbook - Page 17
Michelle Wigglesworth CPA is
a senior equities analyst with
Australian Ethical Investment.
Australian Ethical Investment’s
vision is to create a world where
money is a force for good.
The company it is possible to invest
in “climate-friendly” businesses
and still make a profit.
Michelle Wigglesworth CPA has opted to treat career curveballs
as learning opportunities. This strategy has taken her far.
WORDS HANNAH TATTERSALL
PHOTOGRAPHY ANTHONY GEERNAERT
ife is not one straight line, says
Michelle Wigglesworth CPA, but unexpected
challenges can make it more interesting
and help build personal resilience.
Based out of Sydney, Wigglesworth is an
investor and senior equities analyst at Australian
Ethical Investment.
Launched in 1986, Australian Ethical Investment
is “among the country’s original ethical investors”,
choosing to make ethics the starting point for all
its investments. In 2014, Australian Ethical earned
“Certified B Corporation” status, based on an
independent assessment of its standards of social
and environmental performance, accountability
and transparency.
“I’m not one of these straight success stories where
I suddenly got my dream job the next day,” she
admits. Rather, Wigglesworth’s long, fulfilling career
has been built piece by piece, following a path of
twists and turns.
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BOLD
Wigglesworth began her accounting career in 1995 at
Macquarie Bank.
Three years later, she followed many of her fellow
expats to London and, upon her return, joined the
equities floor at Citigroup.
In 2002, Wigglesworth faced her first career
curveball – redundancy.
This was undoubtedly a challenge, but she did not
let the experience discourage her. Instead, she began
“cold calling” firms to try to find another job.
She soon landed a role doing finance and equities
research with a small stockbroking firm, but she
wasn’t there for long. “One of the senior analysts
there actually said they didn’t think I was cut out for
the industry,” she recalls.
“I was absolutely devastated. I had to dig in deep
and go, ‘Do I believe this person, or do I still try to
pursue my dream of getting into equities investing?’.”
Wigglesworth persevered, striking gold with a
phone call to her mentor, Scott Webster. He offered
her a contract with global financial firm UBS.
“I’ll never forget that time in my career – when
I was down, and there was someone who said, ‘I
believe in you. I believe that you do good work’,”
Wigglesworth says.
After a year with UBS, Wigglesworth placed
another fruitful call to the managing director
of investment firm Milton Corporation Limited,
Frank Gooch. The conversation led to her
joining the firm as a junior analyst. The pair
worked together for the next 13 years.
The redundancy experience and the proactive job
searches that followed were transformational
for Wigglesworth.
“It just fits into my story about persisting
and creating your own luck,” she says.
The latest pivotal moment in Wigglesworth’s career
came in February 2023, when she joined Australian
Ethical Investment. The company’s vision is to
“create a world where money is a force for good”.
ETHICS ESSENTIALS intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 17
