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Former AMP Bank boss bolsters Culture Amp's executive team

Yolanda Redrup
Yolanda RedrupRich List co-editor

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Former AMP Bank boss Sally Bruce has re-entered the corporate world after a year off, joining local $1 billion employee engagement tech company Culture Amp as its new chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

The move comes as a surprise even to Ms Bruce, who until meeting Culture Amp co-founder Didier Elzinga earlier this year had pictured herself going back to work for a big business.

Former AMP Bank CEO Sally Bruce is joining Culture Amp as its new COO/CFO. Eamon Gallagher

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, Ms Bruce said she realised Culture Amp was a company where her three loves – building a culture that encourages diversity, "positive disruption" and change – could be unified in a different setting.

"Culture Amp had been on my radar, but never from a perspective of working there. I'd been watching their mission ... and I'd always been interested on matters of culture," she said.

"I'd always envisaged that I'd keep on doing that in big corporate settings ... [But at CultureAmp] I could do that not just in my leadership shadow, but with a mission to positively impact 100 million people. That really piqued my interest.

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"My greatest ambition is to seamlessly enter the organisation and amplify that mission. I expect in six months to be able to say that's true and to be part of the furniture."

Ms Bruce, who started in the new role at Culture Amp six weeks ago, has held various leadership roles at National Australia Bank and Macquarie Bank, as well as spending four years running AMP Bank, before leaving in October 2019 to relocate to Melbourne to spend more time with her high school-aged daughters.

'Focused on delivery'

In the four years under her leadership, the bank managed to double its contribution to AMP Group's profits and kept out of the Hayne royal commission (while AMP's wealth management business faced the fee-for-no-service scandal).

Ms Bruce said she was proud of what she'd achieved at the bank during her tenure, both in terms of culture and its performance, saying that even when times were difficult, her team "focused on delivery".

Culture Amp, which was valued at $US700 million in 2019 following a $US82 million capital raising led by Sequoia Capital China, allows companies to survey their employees and then uses the data from these surveys to give companies an insight into how they can change workplace culture, improve performance and create better working environments.

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It has more than 3000 customers, including Airbnb, Go Cardless, Nine (owner of The Australian Financial Review), Salesforce, Slack and McDonald's.

Earlier this year, it was forced to make 36 staff redundant, equating to 8 per cent of its workforce, as COVID-19 slowed the survey start-up's growth.

Because of the pandemic, Ms Bruce has met only two people face-to-face since starting in her new role.

While this was not how she had imagined starting a new job, she said it had gone better than expected.

"The induction process engages a lot of the team. Very quickly you build a rapport with the organisation and I haven't found it as difficult as I thought I might," she said.

"I like to deeply engage with people I work with with a view to understanding them, their desires, strengths and vulnerabilities.

"My style is to personally engage, with a resolve to actually set people up for success. I'm always learning from the people around me, regardless of their level ... It makes me wiser ... and it informs smart strategy and smart solutions. It's an environment of high trust and high information exchange."

Yolanda Redrup is the co-editor of the AFR Rich List. She previously reported on technology, healthcare and Street Talk. Connect with Yolanda on Twitter. Email Yolanda at yolanda.redrup@afr.com

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