Welcoming Ryan Greaves to the Board

Like many other Qantas staff, Ryan Greaves has spent his entire career at the company. Having joined as an apprentice engineer in 2008, he then became a tradesperson in 2011, based in Brisbane Hangar 3.

Now, 11 years into his Qantas career, he’s taken on a bit of a different role: Group C Director at Qantas Super. The position was vacated by the long-standing John Sipek earlier this year.

The role will allow Ryan to blend two of his passions – his work as an engineer and his studies. Ryan recently completed a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in both Finance and Economics.

Along with his interest in finance, Ryan said it was his appreciation for his colleagues and the work they do that pushed him to stand for election.

“My colleagues make going in to work every day worthwhile; they’re passionate about what they do, and they’re such a great bunch of people to work with,” he said.

His biggest supporters through the election, Ryan said they have already started coming to him with questions about their super. This, in turn, has helped reinforce the importance of having member-elected directors on the Board.

“You are there for the members; being able to talk to members every day, get a feel for what their wants and needs are, and take that back to the board room or committee meetings and say, ‘This is what I’ve heard from the members, this is what they want, this is what they expect’…that’s one of the most important roles,” Ryan said.

Ryan had a swift introduction to life on the Qantas Super board: just a few days after his election in September, he attended his first board meeting.

Luke Murray, Cecilia Ho, Mark Thorpe, Rachel Yangoyan, John Atkin, Hendrick van Calcar, Lorraine Berends, Bruce Roberts, Andrew Monaghan, Ryan Greaves.

One of his biggest takeaways was the passion both the board members and management team bring to their work.

“When the management team talk about what they’re doing, it always comes back to, what’s the best outcome for members?” he said.

Similarly, Ryan said this question will be his focus as he settles into and gets going in the role.

“I’m on the board to help make sure members are getting the absolute best out of their super, and that they’re happy with the products and services they’re receiving,” he said.

“I want to make sure that when I leave that boardroom I’ve given my absolute best, and that the product myself and other members are receiving is the best product that we can possibly get.”