Shemara Wikramanayake (born 1962) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

businesswoman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

. She embarked on a career as a lawyer and then as a banker. In 2018, she became the Managing Director and CEO of Macquarie Group Ltd. She has advocated to increase

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

production and has also called on the governments to quadruple renewable energy production by 2030 with the intention to minimize the global effects of climate change. Wikramanayake received a total of $A23.7 million in compensation in 2022, making her the highest paid CEO in Australia for the second year in a row.

Career

Wikramanayake worked as a

corporate lawyer A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel. Roles and responsibilities The role of a corporate lawyer is to e ...

Blake Dawson Waldron Ashurst Australia is the Australian branch of Ashurst LLP, an international commercial law firm. The Australian headquarters of Ashurst are in Sydney. Prior to its acquisition by Ashurst, the Australian firm was named Blake Dawson, one of the ...

before joining Macquarie Group Ltd in 1987. She headed Macquarie's corporate advisory office in New Zealand and she was also instrumental in setting up corporate advisory offices in Hong Kong and Malaysia. She worked with Macquarie Capital for nearly 20 years and was appointed as the head of the Macquarie Asset Management in 2008 and headed the asset management arm of the company for more than a decade. In December 2018, she replaced

Nicholas Moore Nicholas Moore (16 November 1918 – 26 January 1986) was an English poet, associated with the New Apocalyptics in the 1940s, whose reputation stood as high as Dylan Thomas’s. He later dropped out of the literary world. Biography Moore wa ...

as Managing Director/CEO of Macquarie Group. Prior to this, Wikramanayake was the group head of Macquarie Asset Management. She also went onto become the first female CEO of Macquarie Group and also turned out to be the sixth CEO of Macquarie Group. In 2018, she was appointed as the Commissioner of the Global Commission on Adaptation, a commission which was initiated by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

to implement and accelerate

climate adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to the effects of climate change, both current and anticipated.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger ...

action plan. In 2019, she was appointed to the UN's Climate Finance Leadership Initiative by

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

. She is the only female CEO among Australia's 20 biggest companies by market value and the first Asian-Australian woman to head an ASX 200 listed company. In 2019, she also entered the record books as the first woman ever to become Australia's top earning CEO. She was ranked 29th in the list of Most Powerful Women in the World for the Year 2020 by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

. She was ranked 24th in the list of Most Powerful Women in the World for the Year 2021 by

. She was also named as one of Fortune's Most Powerful and Influential Women in a roundup of global female business leaders segment. She was ranked 9th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023. She was also one of the speakers who attended the

2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, coun ...

which was held in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and she spoke about the mobilizing private climate finance for emerging markets. Her presence at the Glasgow G20 International Conference on Climate burnished her reputation and emphasized her green credentials while she was also seated next to Australian Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

. She was initially implied as the de facto leader of Australian delegation during the COP26 summit as rumours started circulating that Morrison would not be probably attending the COP26 conference. In July, 2024, Macquarie announced it had reversed its coal policy, paving the way for its bankers to be involved in coal-sector consolidation on Australia’s east coast and coal mines globally. She was also named as of The Australian Financial Review Business People of the Year for 2021 in recognition of her leadership prowess amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

related uncertainties. She received $16.39 million in compensation in 2021. This coincided with Macquarie recording a $1.3 billion profit in the last quarter of 2021. She also provides advice and consultancy on green technology investment to the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

. She was also appointed as the co-chair of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative in India.

Personal life

She was born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where her

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n father was a doctor. Her father Ranji had graduated from the medical school in 1958 and alongside his wife Amara, he moved to England for further training in medicine in 1958. The family faced major constraints and difficulties during their brief stay in England and were forced to flee the country soon after allegations were made against her grandfather over the breach of money control laws. Her family also said that they had experienced racism in England. Wikramanayake attended a

state school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

before the family moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where she went to

Ascham School Ascham School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding school for girls, located in Edgecliff, an Eastern Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1886, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and c ...

. She moved to Australia at the age of 14 along with her family in the 1970s and the family had only around $200 with them when they reached Australia. In 2018, in an interview with

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

her father Ranji Wikramanayake recalled their life in Sri Lanka and said that they had had a privileged life in Sri Lanka but migrated to Australia after some hard times. The Wikramanayake family settled in Australian city

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1975 and Ranji was offered a part-time job at the

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School at the ...

. She received a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

and

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

in 1985. and later completed the Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 1996. Wikramanayake is married to Ed Gilmartin, an investment banker, and has a son and a daughter. She has an elder sister who is a lawyer and a brother who is a surgeon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wikramanayake, Shemara 1962 births Australian women chief executives 21st-century Australian businesswomen 21st-century Australian businesspeople Living people Australian people of Sri Lankan descent University of New South Wales Law School alumni Australian women lawyers English emigrants to Australia People educated at Ascham School 20th-century Australian businesswomen 20th-century Australian businesspeople