Georgia Tacey
Mt Macedon local Rebecca McGrath has been made a Member of the Order of Australia.
Ms McGrath was awarded for her significant service to business through leadership roles in compliance, audit and finance, and has built an impressive portfolio and reputation within the corporate world.
She said it was an unexpected but lovely surprise.
“I feel very honoured,” she said.
“The sort of work that I do, recognition isn’t something you get a lot of, so that’s very much appreciated to be recognised by peers as making a significant contribution to business in Australia.”
Ms McGrath said her husband and her two sons were thrilled to hear the news.
They were really proud of their mum, my boys and my husband’s very proud of me,” she said.
“They felt that it was really nice recognition for the stuff that I do and I think their reaction was greater than I thought it would be, they were thrilled.”
Ms McGrath has served on a number of boards for different companies and not-for-profits over the past 15 years, and has been recognised for her work for them.
Some of her highlights include her time serving as chair for Oz Minerals, which she served from 2017 until 2023.
“I’ve chaired a public company that was a large mining company called Oz Minerals and it took me a lot of time engaged in that as we were approached and ultimately we sold the company to BHP so that was a really big part of my board career,” she said.
Currently, Ms McGrath serves as the director of five organisations, including Macquarie Group.
“Another way I serve businesses is I do mentoring of CEOs and so I do some pro bono work mentoring the CEO of a not-for-profit,” she said.
“The guy who I mentor is the CEO of the Stand By You Foundation, which purpose is to reduce and prevent domestic violence so a very worthy cause, and I also do some mentoring of up-and-coming directors and chairmen… so I really enjoy supporting other leaders to be the best they can.”
Ms McGrath said she has lived in Mt Macedon for the past nine years with her husband, and loves the close small-knit community feel of the town.
“We’ve got to know some really nice people who we love meeting up with,” she said.
