Fractional Expert Melbourne, Victoria

Sharnie- Enterprise Transformation & Strategy Execution Leader

At Maestro, we know there’s more to life than work. In fact, it’s the experiences, relationships and pursuits we have outside of work that can often give us an edge in what we do each day. We host an interview series called “Meet the Maestro” where we interview our Maestros and get an insight to who they really are and what makes them tick - beyond the CV.

Sharnie is a transformation leader who helps organisations turn bold ambition into real execution. With a rare ability to cut through complexity, she works with enterprises to build the capabilities, operating models and governance that make transformation stick. Known for bringing clarity to the most challenging environments, Sharnie connects strategy, people, systems and leadership into clear, actionable roadmaps teams can genuinely rally behind. Whether working with boards, CEOs or frontline teams, she combines sharp commercial instincts with a deeply human approach to change, ensuring strategy doesn’t live in a PowerPoint, but becomes something organisations actually deliver. Underpinning it all is a rare combination: a strong commercial lens paired with a genuine social purpose heart.

‍1. Tell us about a career highlight to date…

There are a few highlights that jump out.

• Designing and delivering a multi-year enterprise social impact strategy that aligned community investment to business priorities and strengthened executive and board confidence in impact outcomes.
• Implementing a single digital platform across more than 200+ individual partner organisations.  This platform enabled real time reporting and first time data & insights capability 
• Built the operational capability to support the growth of a purpose-led banking service from 8,000 to 30,000 customers over four years by uplifting team capability, streamlining processes, introducing digital services and leveraging the parent organisation’s operating model to scale efficiently without increasing cost.
• Preparing more than 200,000 customers and 200 internal customer facing team members for the launch of a new mobile banking application.  The role involved building the change capability of leaders and front line teams to accommodate ongoing digital release cycles.
  

2. Talk us through an unusual career choice you’ve made along the way…

An unusual career choice I made was stepping out of a traditional banking leadership path to design and lead a Social Purpose function. It meant moving into an emerging discipline and building a strategy, governance model and capability that didn’t previously exist in the organisation.

‍3. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to work at the supermarket – specifically on the cash register, that looked like so much fun and in my spare time I was going to be a Ballerina and doctor.

4. What are your passions outside of work and how do you make time for them?

Family and fitness.  I make time for these by building habits and rituals to ensure they are part of my everyday.

5. If you could instantly master any skill or hobby, what would it be and why?

If I could instantly master a skill, it would be learning to play the piano.  My daughters are learning how to play and it would be lovely to do this together.

6. What’s a personal value or belief that guides the way you live your life?

I believe that what you put out into the world comes back to you. Approaching people with integrity, generosity and positive intent has a way of building strong relationships and opportunities over time

7. What’s a challenge you’ve overcome outside of work that shaped you?

‍Stepping away from a long career and navigating a period of uncertainty has been a challenge that shaped me. It forced me to reflect on what really matters, rebuild my confidence and think more intentionally about the kind of impact I want to have in the next phase of my career.

8. What do you think your job will look like in 10 years time?

I think the job itself will look quite similar, but how it’s delivered will be very different. We’re already seeing early signs of this with AI and digital tools.

In the future, some work will be delivered by agents rather than people, and teams will be much more fluid. Instead of static teams, leaders will pull together small squads of specialists to solve specific problems.

That kind of environment will demand far greater clarity of purpose and objectives, because when people and tools are moving in and out of teams, everyone needs to understand exactly what they’re working towards.

9. If you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go and what would you do?

I’d head to Portugal to walk the Camino from Porto to Santiago.

10. What does success look like to you?

Success for me is having the balance to spend time with family, being financially comfortable and doing work I genuinely enjoy with people and organisations I believe in.

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