For Marnie Baker, a decorated career in banking came down to a last-minute decision before graduating from high school in Cohuna.

“I’d always wanted my whole life to be a primary school teacher like my mum,” she said.

“At that point in time, there was no jobs for teachers as they were coming out of university or college.

“So I thought to myself, ‘well, I’m not too bad at maths, and I hear accountants make good money: I’ll do accounting’.”

She went on to study at La Trobe University in Bendigo, and began working as a lending secretary at Sandhurst Trustees a year into her degree.

Since then, a series of ‘sliding doors’ moments catapulted Ms Baker from her first banking role to the position of chief executive at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in 2018.

“I worked in every part of the bank over my 35 years,” Ms Baker said.

“I’ve only ever applied for one job in writing, and that was the chief executive role. I had to come up with a CV very late in my career.”

A long list of achievements in that time has culminated in Ms Baker being recognised with one of the highest national honours.

On Monday, June 9, she received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) award for significant service to the banking and financial sectors.

Ms Baker described the achievement as a humbling experience, and one that came as a surprise.

“It’s not something that you ever expect, and it’s a bit surreal when it does happen, but it’s very, very special,” she said.

Over her career, Ms Baker watched Bendigo and Adelaide Bank grow into a $7 billion business, becoming the only ASX 200 company headquartered outside a capital city.

She attributes some of the bank’s success to its regional roots, citing a lower barrier for communication between community members, customers and staff.

“I think it keeps you very grounded as an organisation and as a person. You sort of never get too big for your boots,” Ms Baker said.

“You can be the chief executive of a large company in a capital city and sit on the 36th floor, and perhaps never come across your customers.”

Since leaving the chief executive role last year, Ms Baker has been focusing on advocating for regional Australia.

She is a director of the Regional Australia Institute, and is working with the government on shaping policies for country communities.

With 9 million Australians living outside capital cities, Ms Baker wants to ensure their voices are heard and policies consider the nuances of their perspectives.

Dispelling myths about regional areas not being innovative or having opportunities is another goal of Ms Baker’s.

“People that live in the country, they actually have to be quite innovative,” she said.

“They don’t and haven’t necessarily had the infrastructure their metropolitan counterparts have, and so they have to be really smart about how they innovate.”

Her work involves extensive travel domestically, but her foundations are still in northern Victoria, where she lives on a property outside of Bendigo.

While the journey to receiving an AM medal is an individual achievement, Ms Baker recognises the many people who have helped her along the way.

“Community is such a big word now, but when you live regionally or rurally, is when you actually experience community,” she said.

“It’s really important to me, and it’s really important to a lot of regional and rural Australians because it makes us feel we’re part of something bigger than ourselves.”

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Friday, 11th July 2025

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