Bachelor of Commerce 2006
Career highlights
- Helped represent Australia and fifteen members of the Asia Pacific Constituency at the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As the Chief Advisor to the Executive Director for Asia Pacific, Ms Preston helped drive the constituency’s economic agenda on the international stage.
- Led a team within the Budget Policy Division of the Commonwealth Treasury that helped shape the government’s fiscal strategy and monitored progress against fiscal policy objectives. Ms Preston and her team delivered over nine budget estimates updates and provided real-time advice to the Treasurer and key stakeholders on the state of the nation’s finances.
- Helped provide strategic financial management advice to Departmental Secretaries and Executive Boards across the public sector to enable them to grapple with resource optimisation in the context of successive governments’ drive for public sector efficiency.
- Recipient of the prestigious Treasury Secretary’s Award for Excellence for two years running, driving a series of financial transformation and organisational change initiatives within the Treasury.
- Contributed to improving public financial management across the public sector, including with the IMF to help improve public policy outcomes and enhance public financial management capacity in emerging and developing economies.
Career philosophy
“Just because you haven’t done it before, doesn’t mean you can’t. Anything is possible with the right mindset, courage, determination and a willingness to learn. This means your path won’t always be comfortable, but feeling uncomfortable shows that you are learning, growing and always challenging yourself to be better. So, get comfortable being uncomfortable! Go the extra mile.”