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Jeanette Royce recently returned to Macquarie Capital in a role in Private Capital Markets, after six years working for infrastructure corporates in treasury and investor relations. Reflecting on her 20-year career she says she’s learnt a lot.
Jeanette Royce is based in Macquarie Capital’s Melbourne office, where she is a Division Director in Private Capital Markets.
Having carved out a twenty-year career in financial services, Jeanette says she’s seen many changes and learnt a lot.
I have come full circle, Macquarie invested in me early in my career and I was excited about the new role and the opportunity to return to the business.”
After completing a Bachelor of Commerce and Law degree with the University of Melbourne, whilst undertaking an accounting cadetship, Jeanette’s interest in capital markets was piqued by friends who suggested she apply for Macquarie’s graduate program.
In 2008, she interviewed with Macquarie and was immediately attracted by the dynamic work, as well as by the people she would be working with and learning from. She accepted a role with Macquarie’s Melbourne-based Equity Capital Markets team.
When the first signs of the Global Financial Crisis started to appear just two weeks later, Jeanette was grateful for the support of her senior leaders.
“In my first two years, I spent a lot of time executing deals in a really challenging environment,” Jeanette says. “But it ended up supercharging my experience and I learned the power of resilience for myself, my colleagues and my clients.”
Over nearly seven years, Jeanette worked on a variety of interesting and challenging transactions. These ranged from IPOs, secondary equity raisings to hybrid raisings with complex structures.
She also completed a Masters in Finance with INSEAD business school. She credits Macquarie for supporting this incredible learning experience that saw her travel around the world to study in different locations and build networks with global peers.
“I was lucky to be able to study in New York, Singapore and France for three weeks at a time, in a truly immersive educational experience.”
By 2015, Jeanette had been promoted to Vice President. Looking to gain new perspectives, she decided to leave Macquarie to pursue the chance to work in-house at a range of companies in the transport and energy sectors.
She believes this experience shaped her approach to client management and engagement in her current role.
“The six years I spent away from Macquarie were invaluable and provided me with the experience of being a client.”
Jeanette says that during this time, she also changed her own perspective on what defines success at work.
“When I was younger, I felt I had to sprint,” she explains. “I’ve learned that careers are long, and you can’t learn everything in a day or a week. It’s incremental, and you need space to develop over time.”
In 2022, Jeanette took an opportunity to re-join Macquarie Capital as Division Director in the Private Capital Markets team.
Jeanette describes it as an incredible opportunity that gave her the chance to work with a global team.
I was drawn to return to Macquarie as I knew I’d be challenged in new ways. It was the perfect next step in my career."
“The team is growing, we work closely with offshore colleagues and Australia is an attractive market and geography for capital deployment,” Jeanette says.
Jeanette says she was also attracted back to Macquarie for the inclusive culture.
“People are supportive of individual needs and that’s incredibly empowering,” she says. “It allows you to do what you need to do to balance responsibilities outside of work.”
Jeanette looks after superannuation funds, infrastructure funds and sovereign wealth funds looking to deploy capital in Australia. She also works closely with the industry teams for clients looking to invest in real assets, including infrastructure and infrastructure like businesses. The result is that every day presents a unique challenge.
“While I’m back at Macquarie, I’m in a completely different role, which gives me a long runway,” Jeanette says. “I am very much enjoying the diversity that I have in my new role.”
Jeanette also finds it satisfying being involved in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), an area of increasing focus and public interest.
“Many clients want to invest into renewable assets in line with the push to net zero,” Jeanette says. “Investors not only want and need to expand their portfolios to balance their existing carbon footprint, but they can also see that a focus on ESG is improving the longevity of returns.”
“Macquarie has given me the opportunity to define myself, and follow my interests,” Jeanette says.
“I’ve found that if you have the ideas, you are given the space and support to create a niche for yourself.”
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