John Dunster: Empowering others to become the best they can be

John Dunster works in HR to empower people to develop themselves personally and professionally – a role that is informed by his experience of living with vitiligo and his work supporting carers within the workforce.

For John Dunster, choosing a career at Macquarie is about working with a sense of purpose. 

“I’m a very values-driven person,” he says, “so what Macquarie stands for, and what it’s trying to achieve in terms of investing for a better future, aligns very well with what I stand for.” 

In 2023, John joined the Commodities and Global Markets (CGM) human resources team in London as Senior People and Culture Partner after a career working in both the financial services and energy sectors. “When the opportunity at Macquarie came up, it seemed like the perfect blend of my experience in banking and energy,” he says. 

As a partner within the HR team, one of John’s priorities is implementing the CGM people strategy, which currently has a focus on developing early talent into the next generation of leaders. 

That strategy also has a strong emphasis on social mobility, John says, citing Macquarie’s “Rise To It” programme. “This programme provides financial assistance and access to career development resources at Macquarie for students from low socio-economic backgrounds who might have assumed financial services roles weren’t for them,” he says. 

Making it matter at Macquarie 

“It’s important for me to feel that I’m making an impact,” adds John, citing the company’s work promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and the role he can play in empowering people to feel they can be themselves at work. 

This is a subject close to John’s heart, having lived with vitiligo, an incurable condition that causes skin to lose its pigmentation, since he was 19 years old. 

“At the time I was diagnosed, a lot less was known about vitiligo. The prognosis was quite bleak, and I felt a feeling of helplessness and despair – that I was always going to be different in this unusual way. I found it exceptionally difficult to deal with,” he says. 

The condition affected John’s self-esteem and relationships for much of his twenties. However, travelling the world with his wife during a sabbatical in 2019 transformed how he felt about it. He found talking to strangers about why he looked different provided a kind of “immersion therapy”, and seeing people cope with poverty during his travels helped put his own problems into perspective, he says.

On his return, he resolved to help others with the condition, becoming a trustee of The Vitiligo Society, a small charity working to help people diagnosed with the condition, raise awareness and help fund research into treatments. In 2021, he became the charity’s chair.  

“It’s been an absolute privilege to see the charity grow. It’s completely dependent on volunteers, and the goodwill and altruism of people out there never fails to amaze me,” he says. 

Taking the time to volunteer

"I'm extremely grateful that Macquarie provides me with volunteering time - so I can best support the Society," John says.

Full-time employees are entitled to two days’ paid leave each year to support non-profit organisations. Macquarie also matches fundraising up to $A50,000 each year per employee and donates $A10,000 to charities where an employee has served for a year on the board.  

Vitiligo is estimated to affect one to two percent of the global population, and John urges anyone who is directly or indirectly affected by the condition to look at what The Vitiligo Society can offer. “It’s UK-based, but we can provide services and support to people wherever they are in the world,” he says.  

Caring for carers 

As well as his work on vitiligo, John has a passion for supporting those caring for others in their personal lives. At a previous employer, John served as co-chair of the company’s carers network, which helps employees juggling work and care responsibilities. 

“My mum was diagnosed with dementia at 60, and I had some challenging times supporting her. I received amazing support, which motivated me to help others,” he says.  

John is continuing this work at Macquarie, as a Wellbeing Ambassador for Caring. There are 15 such ambassadors, (in the EMEA region alone,) who provide a point of contact for colleagues who may need someone to talk to who has had, or is having, similar experiences.