Vicky Ampoulos has worked as a training manager for St George, a lecturer for the Financial Services institute of Australia and a manger for Mercer among other high-profile roles, but there is one job that truly shaped her.
It was the early 90s, and Ampoulos was working as a national business development manager in a male-dominated office at RetireInvest.
“I hadn’t turned 30 yet and I was in an office with mainly men who were quite egotistical back then,” she says.
“I would be in these quite full-on meetings and I would sometimes end up crying in the bathroom afterwards, not that I would let them see that.
“I tried to put their behavior in context with the time, and try and see where they were coming from.
“I asked myself if I wanted to be one of the boys or be true to myself and I decided to stick to my values.”
The job came with a corner office, but Ampoulos declined to use it for the first few months. It was a strategic move, and turned out to be a smart one.
“I wanted to learn the culture of the place, I wanted to be out on the floor with the team and be part of it,” she says.
“It gave me a chance to really see who the movers and shakers were. A little while into the job one of the blokes said to me that I had earned the corner office now, and I remember feeling like I had made it.”
A life coach ‘with finances’
These days, Ampoulos doesn’t need to fight so hard to heard, and is well established as an educator in the financial services field.
She is a FPA CPD Assessor; practitioner member of the International Institute of Coaching Federation; Senior Fellow of FINSIA; and on the grants committee for Future2, which is the charitable foundation of the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
Ampoulos recently received a distinguished service award at the FPA roadshow, and also works as a practice development manager for the Commonwealth Bank, where she helps small businesses transition to a self-employment model (under the Commonwealth Bank licence).
“People think running a business is easy until they try it,” she notes.
“It’s like marathons: they look easy, until you train for them.”
Ampoulos is often asked to come and chat to Sydney and NSW University students about the financial planning sector – a task she relishes.
The speaking gigs combine her two strengths: finance and teaching. Ampoulos taught languages at high school level early on in her career. (She is fluent in Greek and English and has conversational Italian, French and German).
“These days I enjoy talking to students about why financial planning is such a great career,” she says.
“You can really make a difference to people’s lives. It’s like being a life coach, but with their finances.”
Career path like ‘a doctor or lawyer’
In fact, Ampoulos is passionate about the future of the industry revolving around education.
“I would like to see financial planning become a really desirable career path, like becoming a doctor or a lawyer,” she says.
“I have a while to go before I retire, but I would like to see that happen by the time I do: for kids to aspire to become financial planners.”
In order to achieve this level of prestige, Ampoulos thinks the various facets of the industry need to come together.
“Leadership has to come from all of us,” she notes.
“The young kids coming out of uni, the senior planners, the big institutions and the education arms all have to work together to meet the future challenges.”
ProfileVicky Ampoulos Name of firm: Commonwealth Financial Planning. Ampoulos works with the self-employed advisers licensed through the Bank. Years in the industry: 23 in this industry and two as a high school teacher. Academic qualifications: Bachelor of Education, postgraduate diploma of management, Masters of business coaching. Accreditations: Senior fellow at FINSIA Professional association memberships: FPA, FINSIA, ICAA Other memberships: Future2 Grants Committee, FPA CPD Assessor, Practitioner member of the International Institute of Coaching Federation, Senior Fellow FINSIA |
