Kellie Davidson spent 25 years building a career at Pitcher Partners, including a decade of part-time work while raising her twins.
Overview
- Kellie Davidson has spent 25 years at Pitcher Partners, moving from Associate Advisor to Partner in Charge of the Investment Advisory team.
- She worked part-time for approximately ten years while raising twins, then returned to full-time work when her youngest child started school.
- Pitcher Partners’ Pathway to Partner Program and ongoing career conversations kept her progressing even while she stepped back.
- Under her leadership, the Investment Services team has grown from 25 people managing $330 million to more than 70 people managing $5 billion.
Kellie Davidson didn’t set out to become one of Australia’s leading investment advisors. While at university, she worked at BP and slowly discovered an interest in financial advice, drawn to the mix of numbers and people.
“What appealed to me was the opportunity to combine two things I was passionate about, helping people make informed decisions about their finances and achieve their personal goals, while also drawing on my genuine interest in investing and financial markets,” she says.
Her first corporate role was as a Paraplanner at Towers Perrin, a superannuation consulting firm with a small financial planning practice. It gave her a foundation in both the technical and personal sides of advice, and confirmed the industry she wanted to build a career in.
“Financial advice is a particularly rewarding industry for women. A lot of financial decisions are deeply personal and often involve an emotional element, so qualities like empathy, listening and building trust are incredibly important.”
By the time Kellie was ready for her next step, the path to becoming an Advisor at Towers Perrin depended on someone else leaving the business. She wanted an organisation where she could keep growing, and Pitcher Partners turned out to be exactly that.
“I very quickly realised I had found a really great place to build a long-term career. I found myself surrounded by like-minded people, working with great clients and being part of a team that genuinely cared about delivering quality advice.”
Her husband noticed it too.
“When my husband would introduce me to people, he would often say, ‘This is Kellie, she’s in financial planning and she loves her job.’ Looking back, I think that says a lot about how connected I felt to the work and the people around me.”
A portfolio built around real life
Kellie joined Pitcher Partners in 2001 as an Associate Advisor and became an Advisor within two years, taking on her own client relationships and managing their portfolios. Her path to Partner wasn’t a straight line.
When she was first approached about becoming a Partner, she was also expecting twins. She decided to take some time before making that next step, and the firm kept the conversation open.
“The conversations about my career and future opportunities continued, and I remained supported to continue developing and progressing,” she says.
After returning from parental leave in 2009, Kellie worked part-time for around ten years, moving back to full-time work once her youngest child started school. She became a Partner in 2016 and recently stepped into the role of Partner in Charge of the Investment Advisory team.
“The flexibility I was given during that period was incredibly important. It allowed me to continue contributing, developing and progressing to Partner while also being present for my family.”
Pitcher Partners Melbourne offers a range of flexible working arrangements, from flexible hours to job-sharing and more.
The people who backed and mentored her
Kellie points to the people around her as a defining part of her progression, including Sue Dahn and Adam Stanley, who she describes as both being particularly influential.
“A big part of my progression has been having people around me who believed in me, sometimes even before I fully believed in myself.”
Even while on leave, Kellie stayed connected to the firm through training days, events and team celebrations. Today, she sees the same support built into Pitcher Partners’ Pathway to Partner Program, which encourages career conversations and helps people identify mentoring and development opportunities on their way to Partner.
Making room for a full life
Kellie credits her husband, her wider family and, for eight years, a nanny, as the support network that let her build her career without giving up her family life.
“I couldn’t have progressed in my career without having a supportive partner, family and wider support network. Reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg as part of a leadership course also reinforced what I already knew. There was a chapter about the importance of having a supportive partner that really stood out to me .”
What she’s most proud of
Kellie has watched the Investment Services team grow from around 25 people to more than 70, and funds under management grow from roughly $330 million across 100 clients to $5 billion across 977 portfolios and 541 client groups.
“What makes me most proud is how we’ve grown while maintaining a strong client-first approach and creating an environment where people want to build their careers.”
More than half of her team have been with Pitcher Partners for over seven years, a mark of the kind of workplace Kellie has helped build. One where a career can grow at its own pace, without anyone having to choose between the two.
