Full Name: Alice Tagney
Current Role: Chief Financial Officer
Current Organisation: Paypa Plane
Last Role at PwC: Associate Director -Mergers & Acquisition
Time at PwC: 2014 - 2023
What’s the one career achievement you’re most proud of?
I suppose it would be joining Paypa Plane as their CFO. During my time at PwC, I discussed my desire to transition to a role where I could build out a function and team from the ground up, which is ultimately exactly what I get to do every day at Paypa Plane. I’m proud of the way I navigated my c. ten years at PwC to leverage opportunities and expand my toolkit of skills, which ultimately got me to where I am. I’m also proud that I backed myself to leave when the opportunity presented itself!
What’s been your biggest career challenge and how have you overcome it?
My biggest career challenge is confidence - confidence in myself, my abilities, and the right to hold the positions I have worked incredibly hard to get to, which like many people, falls into ‘Imposter Syndrome’. For some people, confidence comes naturally to them, and at times, I can’t help but think I’d love to be a little more like them. But like anything, there needs to be a healthy balance of confidence and reflection. I believe that organisations have a role to play in building environments and cultures that enable everyone to be more confident - not just those who naturally have confidence. I think this can be achieved through greater inclusivity, vulnerability, visibility, and challenging aspects of the traditional structures of business. Now, as a leader, I’m really conscious of this. I want to make sure that I’m enabling the team around me with the tools and opportunities to grow their confidence. I’m still and probably always will be trying to overcome this. Thankfully, I’m getting to an age where I don’t let irrelevant opinions get to me as much as I used to.
You worked at PwC for almost a decade. How did your role evolve and how did your experience help you get to CFO at Paypa Plane?
Working at PwC gave me incredibly diverse experience across industries, businesses, and technical capabilities, which has been and will continue to be invaluable to my career. Starting my career in Assurance gave me a strong technical foundation and taught me important soft skills. I eventually moved into Deals and developed my strategy, leadership, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills – all of which were imperative to being offered the CFO role at Paypa Plane. One of the reasons I stayed with PwC for so long was the opportunity to move internally. There’s always the potential to learn more and build on your career if you’re willing to seek out the opportunities. I left PwC with an amazing professional and personal network, which I will always be very thankful for.
Tell us about Paypa Plane and what excited you most about joining the Brisbane-based start up?
Paypa Plane is a fintech company working in the payments industry. Our payment logic technology standardises and enhances the capability of recurring transactions, ultimately increasing security and flexibility while reducing administrative burden. We sell to financial institutions, but the technology benefits all parties to a transaction. A few things immediately drew me to the company. Firstly, it’s Brisbane-based – the fintech landscape in Brisbane is definitely growing, but there isn’t a constant stream of CFO opportunities presenting themselves, so that was really attractive. Secondly, Paypa Plane’s CEO is Simone Joyce, a female CEO and an individual who is a leading voice in the payments industry in Australia. After meeting with Simone and learning more about the company, I was excited to combine everything I’d learned at PwC and build the finance, strategy, and reporting functions from the ground up at Paypa Plane - an opportunity that doesn’t come by every day!
US card giant Mastercard was recently announced as a Paypa Plane corporate shareholder, joining the likes of Commonwealth Bank, Tyro and others. What does this mean for the expansion of the Paypa Plane business?
We have incredible shareholders. Having such successful corporations invest gives us great confidence that Paypa Plane can do amazing things here in Australia and globally, and our strategic partners are absolutely a component to unlocking our potential. We’ve always been quite conservative with our growth. We aren’t in the business of exponentially growing our team overnight, so we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, which entails executing our current contracts and continuing to sustainably innovate and change the payments landscape in Australia first, and globally next.
What does ‘success’ mean to you?
I grew up in a time when success meant getting the best marks at school, the highest ratings at work, and the fastest track to promotion. The last three to four years have been spent figuring out what success means for me outside of these traditional constructs. In day-to-day life, you don’t get positive reinforcement for everything you do. Ultimately, I believe success is knowing that I’ve given everything I can, regardless of the outcome.
What's your favourite book or podcast and why?
This is an ever-evolving selection for me, and it depends on the time of day/week and what content I am willing to digest. In the mornings, I typically listen to podcasts that teach me something, whether that be how to be a better leader, colleague, or partner. My go-tos now are ‘The Imperfects’ Podcast and ‘How to Fail’. After work, it's often something more light-hearted that allows me to detach a little more from work.
