About
Future IM/Pact
Future IM/Pact is creating a more diverse and human-centred investment management industry through programs that inspire and enable fulfilling careers.
How we help
We unite the investment management industry in its efforts to attract and retain diverse talent, with a focus on women in front office investing.
Our suite of programs engage people across their careers; from inspiring and enabling university students and women in their early careers to secure intern, graduate or analyst roles, to empowering investment teams and investors at all levels to build a career and life they love.
Since our launch in 2018, we’ve partnered with many of the nation’s biggest super funds, fund managers and other industry participants. These partnerships help us to connect exceptional women to career-defining roles, support teams and leaders to create environments where everyone can do their best work, and inform the ongoing conversation about how we can work together to create a thriving, human-centred industry.
We do this through high-impact events, mentoring, immersive development experiences, inner game of leadership tools and frameworks, free online resources and by profiling exceptional talent.
We believe that to create workplaces that work for women, we need to create workplaces where everyone can do their best work.
Future IM/Pact is a key component of our talent development strategy. They do all of the heavy lifting and give our investment team great exposure to talented students.
Future IM/Pact is backed by:
The problem we're solving
In Australia, women comprise just 28% of investment roles and only 19% of portfolio managers are women.
Australia’s thriving $4 trillion investment management industry provides extraordinary opportunities for great thinkers to impact our economy and society.
Yet in Australia, women comprise less than 30% of front-office investing roles and less than 20% of portfolio managers are women. This is despite women entering into traditional business, economics and finance degrees at near equal rates to men.
Landmark research conducted in 2017, led by Future IM/Pact founder, Yolanda Beattie, when she was at Mercer found systemic and cultural barriers impeding the progress of women in the industry. This led to the creation of Future IM/Pact in partnership with industry leaders to tackle these issues and build sustainable change.
In 2024, Future IM/Pact updated this research with their industry reports Path to parity and Women in wealth, which showed overall progress had been made, but challenges persist, including:
- Opportunities to improve diversity remain limited—many investment teams are small and turnover is low
- The industry doesn’t build grassroots talent from university; it mostly hires talent with 2–5 years experience for junior investment roles
- Building grassroots talent is too expensive and time-consuming for most organisations
- A lack of support, sponsorship and advocacy causes mid-level investors to leave their roles at greater rates than men.
Our values
Impact
We’re deeply motivated to impact the investment management industry. We know a more diverse, human-centred industry will be one where every person can reach their potential and where different perspectives lead to better decisions and outcomes for the clients, members and investors they serve.
Trust
We know leaders and teams who invest in building high-trust cultures enjoy higher levels of engagement, productivity and energy, and less stress and burnout. Self-trust and trusting others is the key ingredient for human-centred cultures.
Growth
Changing the course of peoples’ lives is our guiding purpose. Our programs and initiatives are designed to help participants find and build a career and life they love, anchored by the lifelong pursuit of learning and growth.
Community
We unite the industry in a shared goal of creating an ecosystem where every person can flourish. The work we do thrives on partnership and collaboration to drive meaningful change.
Partnering with Future IM/Pact extends, and complements, the existing programs we already have in place supporting young women at the undergraduate level.
About our Director
Future IM/Pact founder, Yolanda Beattie, spent around 15 years in marketing and public affairs in funds management before applying her trade to elevate the national conversation on gender equality during a three year stint on the executive team at the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). She left WGEA in 2016 to run Mercer’s diversity and inclusion consulting practice before branching out on her own in 2019 as director of Yo&Co, with Future IM/Pact as the flagship program.
Established with eight founding partners with a focus on inspiring women at university, Yolanda has grown the program to include over 20 leading super funds, fund managers and other industry participants.
After recognising the need to do more to retain, develop and promote great female talent, in 2023 she expanded the program’s remit to inspire rising professionals and leaders to cultivate an inner game mindset and create environments where everyone can do their best work.
The Future IM/Pact Mentoring Circle was an incredible experience. The mentors were accessible and offered continued support. It's a really valuable experience for any student interested in investment management.
The Lift sponsorship program helped me gain new insight into how I need to think and act differently to increase my impact as a leader and deliver on our growth ambitions. It has had a profound impact on me.
Partner with us
Find out how your organisation can partner with us to change the face of investment management.
