Eat what you kill: Macquarie’s first-ever female CEO is a tough act to follow

July 23, 2026 — 3:06pm

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Running the company widely seen as Australia’s greatest global success story, Macquarie Group, is as drenched in status as it is in remuneration. But it comes with incredible challenges - not the least of which is comparisons with the performance of your predecessors.

Greg Ward will be the fourth modern-era chief executive for Macquarie since the investment bank listed on the sharemarket 30 years ago when he takes the helm after Shemara Wikramanayake’s departure in November. Before her tenure, Allan Moss ran the company when it went public, succeeded by Nicholas Moore in 2008.

Where Ward’s ultimate pay packet will land depends entirely on the future success of the company. Macquarie is renowned for its performance-driven, eat-what-you-kill culture.

They don’t call it the millionaires’ factory for nothing!

It is a formidable line-up of executives that Ward needs to stack up against in terms of financial performance.

Moss, who produced total shareholder returns over 12 years of more than 1300 per cent, is surely impossible to beat. Formidable as he was leading and growing........

© Brisbane Times