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The Women’s Commercial Finance Forum has appointed three new directors to continue supporting women in commercial finance.
The Women’s Commercial Finance Forum (WCFF) has announced the appointment of three new directors to its board of directors, including Ulrika Lobo (pictured left), Sonja Pfitz (pictured middle), and Sarah Wells (pictured to the right).
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The new board of directors took on their new roles on 20 January 2023 and will be supporting the founder of the Women’s Commercial Finance Forum, Yasmine Shah, in achieving the forum’s goals in the future.
Among the new positions to lead the WCFF, Ms Lobo will take on the role as director of operations and marketing to the board of directors and will oversee marketing, partnerships, and member program delivery.
Ms Lobo founded Australia’s first female-led private lending business, Sparrow Loans, and has experience across multiple industries including commercial finance, construction management, and marketing.
Excited about the new role, Ms Lobo said it was her aim to connect like-minded women from commercial broking and other commercial professions to advance their practice, business, or career.
“We want to showcase the benefits of commercial finance broking and see more proportionate participation between men and women in commercial broking,” Ms Lobo said.
Taking on the role of new executive director of pedagogy and advocacy, Ms Pfitz, will oversee learning, coaching, and member program development.
The role will support women in commercial finance to access critical resources to upskill themselves and broaden their expertise.
Bringing almost 30 years of experience in the sector, Ms Pfitz also runs her own commercial finance and advisory business as the director of Pfitz Financial.
Despite the challenges for women across the finance sector, Ms Pfitz said a recent survey showed women want to support other women entering the industry.
“[This makes] our community a resource hub for all women considering commercial finance broking or working within it,” Ms Pfitz said.
Widely recognised as a finance expert and commentator, Ms Wells has taken on the new executive director of corporate strategy and will provide key strategic insights to support the growth of the WCFF.
Ms Wells has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry as a business owner, including her experience as a board member at the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
She is also a high-performance strategy coach at The Successful Adviser.
WCFF geared to support women
With over 1,000 members, WCFF has been supporting women in commercial finance since 2020, but Ms Shah said unfortunately more women are leaving the broking industry than entering it.
In fact, research published by the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) revealed that the number of mortgage and finance brokers identifying as female dropped to 25.5 per cent in the six months to March 2022, the lowest figure since the MFAA commenced its research.
“We are starting to see pathways for women in the industry in recent years, and we believe these efforts to include women and women-led groups create a richer and stronger financial services industry for all,” Ms Shah said.
“The WCFF is working with the associations and aggregators in camaraderie to support more pathways for women on how they approach their career in commercial finance.”
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