Life Beyond Barker

Anna Bernasek (Class of 1986) is currently the Global Head of Thought Leadership at State Street Corporation, one of the largest providers of financial services in the world. She shares her experiences since leaving Barker.

After Barker I attended university in the US and then came back to Sydney to begin my writing career. My writing on business and economics subjects has included positions at two of the world’s leading newspapers (The Sydney Morning Herald and The New York Times) and several magazines (TIME, Fortune and Newsweek) as well as at a global management consulting firm (McKinsey & Company) and now a global financial institution (State Street). I have lived and worked in Sydney, Canberra, Prague, Budapest and New York (where I’ve lived since 1999). I’ve published two books, All You Can Pay: How Companies Use our Data to Empty Our Wallets (Nation Books 2015) and The Economics of Integrity (HarperStudio 2010). Somehow along the way I married an American lawyer and had two beautiful babies who are now accomplished young women.

What inspired your career path?

My father. He was a professor of economics at Macquarie University and we always talked about economics together. My father was old school. To him, the goal of economics wasn’t to build the fanciest mathematical model but to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

My daughters, Lily (20) and Natalie (16), are the pride of my life. Professionally I have derived the most satisfaction from contributing to progress on some of the most significant issues we face, including building a sustainable economy and using artificial intelligence for widespread benefit.

What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? Coming up with new ideas. A new way to understand a topic, a new angle to view an issue, a way to bridge the gap between opposing concerns.

Do you have a favourite memory from your time at Barker?

After a hard week of studying my friends and I would meet on Friday afternoons at a coffee shop in Chatswood. It was our safe place where we could decompress from the week and plan the weekend. Going to parties, seeing bands, and hanging out together were really important to us.

Do you have any advice for today’s students?

Don’t be afraid! Try things, keep trying, and keep learning about yourself. Don’t count setbacks as failures, they are steps on the path to success. Learn what you like and what you don’t like, and along the way, develop a sense of what a successful life would look like for you. Go for it!