In the March 2026 quarter, brokers wrote a record 81% of new home loans nationally, up from 76.8% a year earlier, according to the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia’s (MFAA) March 2026 Quarterly Market Share Report. Yet the women behind that record-breaking share remain a minority whose representation has not grown at the same pace.

Female representation among Australian mortgage brokers sits at just 26.8%, a figure the MFAA’s Industry Intelligence Service Report says has hovered near 27% since 2017. The pipeline tells the same story: of brokers who joined the industry between April and September 2024, 68% were men and 32% were women – a split almost identical to 2021, according to MFAA data.

That combination, a workforce gap that has barely moved and a perception gap that has just shifted for the first time in years, is the backdrop against which this year’s Elite Women were nominated and chosen.

In April 2026, MPA invited industry professionals across the country to nominate exceptional female leaders for its Elite Women 2026 list. Nominees had to be working in a role that related to or impacted the mortgage industry and had to demonstrate a clear passion for their work. After a thorough review of every nomination, the MPA team narrowed the list to a final 77 Elite Women.

For Melanie Kafka, executive, member experience and partnerships at the MFAA, the standard to stand out in 2026 has changed. “Success is no longer measured simply by loan volumes or business growth,” she says. “Today’s leading women are recognised because they combine commercial success with professionalism, strong client outcomes, innovation and a genuine commitment to developing others.”

What has not changed, she argues, is why visibility matters in an industry still short on women at senior levels. “Research consistently shows that you can’t be what you can’t see, and that’s especially relevant in an industry where women still represent only around 27% of mortgage and finance brokers.”

Kafka is also direct about where the industry’s effort should go next. Asked what single step lenders, aggregators or associations should prioritise over the next year, she does not point to another awareness campaign. “It would be to make sponsorship, not just mentoring, a priority,” she says. “Mentors provide advice. Sponsors actively create opportunities.”

Kafka’s argument is not just a personal view. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) own research into mentoring and sponsorship has found that sponsorship consistently produces stronger career outcomes than mentoring, while women are more likely to receive mentoring and men are more likely to receive sponsorship, a pattern the agency says can be reversed only by organisations deliberately extending sponsorship to women.

The 77 women profiled in this report are, in one sense, the answer to that call already in motion: brokers, brokerage owners, aggregator executives, lenders and association leaders who have built sponsorship, mentorship and visibility into their own operations well ahead of any industry mandate to do so.

The reversal in the lack of visible female leaders is not only a focus for 2026’s Elite Women but also indicates the industry’s approach has started to shift.

Kafka, however, points to one area still worth attention regardless of improvement. “The barriers today are often less about attracting women into the industry and more about supporting them through key career transitions, particularly into business ownership and senior leadership,” she says.

 

The pattern shows up well beyond broking, too. Women hold just 10% of CEO positions across the ASX 300 and 31% of executive leadership roles, according to the 2025 Chief Executive Women Senior Executive Census, while men continue to hold 80% of the CEO pipeline roles, such as chief operating officer, chief financial officer and group executive, from which most chief executives are eventually promoted.

 

The financial stakes behind that gap remain real, too. Financial and insurance services carry a gender pay gap midpoint of 21.4%, per the WGEA’s 2024-25 Employer Gender Pay Gaps Report, and separate research from HR platform HiBob found 35% of Australian women surveyed in 2026 say they are no longer interested in pursuing leadership roles at all. WGEA’s own 2025 Gender Equality Scorecard adds another data point behind that disillusionment, finding Australian women CEOs earn $83,493 less on average than their male counterparts in base salary.

That the perception gap is closing while the structural gap remains wide is not a contradiction. It suggests visibility is moving faster than the workplace mechanics that would sustain it. The women profiled in this report sit inside that gap between perception and structure, having built the ownership, seniority and influence the data says is still hard to reach.

 

MPA sat down with some of this year’s Elite Women, asking them to go beyond the achievements on paper. The conversations covered the moment they knew this industry would be their career, the hardest calls they’ve made in the past year, the wins they’re proudest of and the advice they’d give the next generation coming up behind them.

     

Nearly a decade ago, Gabrielle Da Luz built SCOOP Finance from nothing. The business she leads today, alongside her sister and business partner Andrea Da Luz, who joined two years later, is still accelerating rather than coasting on tenure. So far in FY2026, it has exceeded the year prior by more than $25 million in settlements, with the second quarter coming in as its strongest quarter of settlements on record.

“We each bring different strengths, aren’t afraid to challenge each other and always support one another through life and business,” Da Luz says. “The partnership and shared commitment to putting the business and our clients first is what has built SCOOP Finance to what it is today.”

What keeps her in the industry after nearly a decade is less about the numbers than what sits behind them. “I realised that I genuinely looked forward to solving the difficult lending scenarios and helping clients through some of life’s biggest milestones,” she says. “Every client has a different story, and I really enjoy being part of that journey. Seeing someone achieve something they never thought possible is incredibly rewarding, and knowing you helped make that happen is what makes this career so fulfilling.”

That momentum has drawn recognition beyond her own client base, with the SCOOP finance team receiving finalist award nominations at the 2025 SFG National Conference and Awards for Best Branded Office and WA/NT Broker of the Year, acknowledgements that point to a dedicated team with a shared commitment to exceptional client outcomes and trusted brand standards, as much as loan volume. Da Luz has used that platform deliberately, recruiting new talent into the business and taking an active role in SFGEmpowher, the national network connecting women in finance.

Ask her what she’d want her team, or her own kids, to remember her for, and the answer has nothing to do with settlement figures. “I’d want them to remember my resilience,” she explains. “Life and business don’t always go to plan, but if you keep showing up, learn from the hard times and keep moving forward, you’ll get through it. When times are tough, I remind myself that tomorrow is a new day.”
 

 

 

Q: What’s the hardest professional decision you’ve made in the past 12 months, and what did it cost you to get it right?

A: Expanding further into commercial lending by growing this part of the team. It has meant investing a significant amount of time into training, processes and support before seeing an immediate return, but it will be the right decision for the long-term growth of the business.

Q: If a woman 10 years behind you in this industry asked you one thing before making a big career leap, what would you actually tell her, not the polished version?

A: You can do anything you set your mind to. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions that feel silly, because that’s how you learn. Everyone starts out as a rookie, so keep learning and focus on becoming a little better every day. Confidence comes from doing it, not waiting until you feel ready, so just back yourself and give it a go.

Q: What keeps you moving forward when things get hard?

A: My family has always been my biggest source of strength and support. They remind me of what’s important: to stay focused on what I can control and keep me moving forward. Stay positive, keep taking one small step at a time, and you’ll achieve more than you ever thought possible.

   

Long before Tammie Rimon owned a brokerage, she was the client sitting on the wrong end of a lending decision. Moving her family from Darwin to Queensland with three young children, the youngest just six months old, she and her husband found themselves between homes when their bank came back with a valuation that fell short and refused to lend the amount they needed.

With a week’s accommodation booked and nowhere to land, a broker stepped in and got them approved with a different lender within six weeks. “That person went to bat for us, and I really, really appreciated that,” she says. “That had a big impression on me.”

It would be another four years before Rimon entered the industry herself, moving into banking in 2006 before making the leap into broking in 2015, where she built a relationship with a company connecting first home buyers, many of them the first generation in their family to ever own a home, with builders and land.

She worked with more than 100 of those clients over the years that followed. Many are still her clients today, some having gone on to upgrade their homes, buy investment properties, or set up self-managed super fund transactions. “I just saw the difference it made in these people’s lives, and it was so rewarding,” she says. “It was a career for me, not a job.”

More than 10 years into running 20/20 Finance Brokers, that instinct has become a business philosophy, one built on consistency rather than shortcuts. It shows in how she has built the brokerage into a training ground for other women entering the industry, employing, guiding and mentoring several female brokers over the past decade and currently taking a new broker under her wing.

Rimon’s nMB Medallion Club status in each of the past two years reflects the production behind that culture, but it is the careers she has helped build alongside her own that set the business apart. She also points to broking’s flexibility as part of what makes that possible. “It’s an incredibly flexible career,” she says. “You can do it in and around having a family.”

Outside her own office, she stays active across multiple women in business networks, using her standing in the industry to open doors for others rather than advocate from the sidelines.

Asked how she would want to be remembered, she points to mentoring, helping her team build confidence and encouraging clients to create wealth through property and hoping her own children end up doing work they love. “If you work in a job that you love, you don’t work a day in your life,” she adds.
 

 

 

Q: What’s the hardest professional decision you’ve made in the past 12 months, and what did it cost you to get it right?

A: Probably making the decision to purchase commercial premises and gut it for a completely new fit-out. It was a huge financial commitment but also a logistical nightmare because we were selling the property we’d traded from as a residential home and had to vacate it for renovations while still trading, and the new premises wasn’t ready yet.

We had about two and a half months with staff working from home and no meeting place for clients, so we went back to old school, meeting them in their homes. It cost more than I thought it would, and it was so stressful, but I’m really glad we did it. We love it here.

Q: If a woman 10 years behind you in this industry asked you one thing before making a big career leap, what would you actually tell her, not the polished version?

A: Stop waiting until you’re ready. If you’ve got the drive and the support structures in place, you will work it out, and the learning you do while progressing through a new career is what builds resilient leaders. Just start. Dip your toe in the water and get going with it, because time waits for nobody.

     

Shelley McGinty doesn’t trace her career to a single defining moment. It was a gradual shift in how she saw the job itself. “Early in my career, I thought I was helping people just secure finance,” she says. “Then I realised the loan was never the important part of it. It’s the person sitting across the table.”

Every application, she came to believe, represented something bigger than a transaction – a first home, a growing family, a business opportunity or a retirement plan. “Success was never about the settlements,” she says. “It became about the impact that could have on someone’s life.”

That belief led her to found Preston Point Capital in July 2019, just seven months before the pandemic reshaped the lending landscape. Rather than a setback, she found the disruption created room for brokers to prove their value. “Clients needed an ally; they needed help more than ever, and the banks just turned on them, bringing out different policies,” she says. “That’s really where brokers got to shine.”

Seven years on, Preston Point Capital has built its name on a specialisation that sets McGinty apart from the broader broking field, working across complex investor and SMSF lending while also structuring finance for professional athletes whose circumstances rarely fit standard criteria, work she keeps deliberately private on her clients’ behalf.

That technical range sits alongside a team culture built around thoroughness over speed, an approach she reinforced this year with the decision to acquire a second mortgage brokerage.

Rather than moving quickly, she spent months in due diligence with lawyers, compliance specialists, her aggregator and trusted mentors, determined to protect the culture and client experience she had spent seven years building. “It cost time, momentum and a few sleepless nights,” she says. “But it reinforced an important lesson: growth isn’t measured by how quickly you expand.”

Reflecting on the legacy she hopes to leave, McGinty says, “I want our clients to remember that they felt heard, supported and genuinely cared for. I want my team to remember that they were trusted, challenged and encouraged to grow into leaders themselves.”
 

 

 

Q: What’s the one thing you’d tell a woman 10 years behind you in this industry before she makes a big career leap?

A: Stop waiting to feel ready, because the truth is you probably never will. There’s no perfect moment, and I think women believe confidence comes first. In my experience, it happens the other way around.

Q: What do you protect most as your business has grown?

A: Reputation. People become their reputation, and it’s one of those things worth protecting. If I’ve built a business where relationships matter, integrity comes first, and people leave feeling better than when they walked through the door, then that’s a legacy I’m proud of.
 

 

More than 25 years across Westpac, ANZ, RAMS and the non-bank sector sit behind the national sales and distribution overhaul Belinda Wright led at Thinktank Property Finance this past year.

She unified strategy across commercial and residential channels while rolling out simplified commercial application forms and stronger serviceability tools that have measurably sped up broker turnaround times.

The results show in the numbers, with record settlement and application volumes and deepened aggregator partnerships across the country.

That focus on solving problems traces back to how Wright came to see the industry in the first place. “The more time I spent working with brokers and customers, the more I enjoyed solving problems and helping people achieve outcomes they didn’t think were possible,” she says. “I also discovered how much I valued the relationships. That’s probably when it stopped being just a job and became a career I genuinely wanted to build.”

The hardest decisions behind this year’s transformation came down to patience. “One of the biggest challenges has been making decisions that prioritise long-term outcomes over short-term wins,” she says. “Sometimes that means saying no to opportunities that don’t align with where we’re heading or investing time in change that’s uncomfortable before the benefits are visible. It costs time, patience and occasionally difficult conversations, but they’re the decisions that ultimately build stronger teams and better outcomes.”

Wright has been placed on MPA’s Global 100 list in consecutive years and was named to MPA’s Elite Women in 2024, recognition built on more than internal performance. She actively mentors emerging finance professionals and pushes for pathways that let women build sustainable, high-income broking businesses, a focus that shows in how visibly Thinktank’s female talent is supported and connected across the industry.

When she considers what her industry impact is, she doesn’t reach for the sales overhaul or record volumes. “I’d hope it would be the way I showed up rather than any particular achievement,” she says. “If my team felt supported, were challenged to grow and knew I backed them, I’d be incredibly proud of that.”
 

 

 

Q: If a woman 10 years behind you in this industry asked you one thing before making a big career leap, what would you tell her?

A: You’ll probably never feel completely ready, so don’t wait for that feeling. Back yourself before you think you’ve earned the right to. Ask questions, take opportunities that stretch you, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because that’s where the learning happens. Most importantly, build relationships with people who genuinely want to see you succeed.

Q: What would it mean to you if your daughter saw the way you’ve built your career?

A: If she saw that you can work hard, stay true to your values and still make time for the people who matter, I’d consider that a success.

 

Vanessa Lewis found mortgage broking almost by accident after moving to Australia in the final stretch of an MBA.

An undergraduate degree in banking and insurance had already taken her into a first role at BNP Paribas based in India, giving her a foundation in finance and a growing interest in helping people make informed financial decisions.

“Towards the completion of my degree, I discovered my true passion for mortgage broking,” she says. “I recognised the significant impact that tailored lending solutions can have on individuals and families looking to build wealth through property ownership.”

Lewis joined Investorus on the Gold Coast, working her way up through support roles before earning her own accreditations. That grounding shows in her production numbers over the past year, climbing from $1.5 million in lodgements in February 2025 to $19 million in March 2026, with a peak of $20 million in October 2025, achieved while sharing support staff with another broker instead of running a large team behind her.

But the growth nearly came at a cost. “As demand increased, I found myself working longer hours, taking client calls after hours and sacrificing time with my family and my own health to keep up,” she says.

Lewis made the call to put stronger boundaries around her schedule and invest in systems that improved efficiency, accepting that growth might slow in the short term. “The cost of getting it right was immediate,” she explains. “I gave up some potential revenue and worked through the challenge of changing client expectations. The outcome has been worth it.”

That client-first approach, favouring explanation over a flat yes or no and walking clients through pathways, has built a strong base of repeat business and earned her this year’s Bankwest Superior Client Service Award, a recognition she rarely puts herself forward for.

Describing her recent success, Lewis points to a Broker Finalist of the Year nomination achieved with a small support team. “If my kids remember anything, I hope it’s that success isn’t measured solely by awards,” she says. “It’s measured by the impact you have on others, the way you treat people, and the resilience you show when pursuing something important.”
 

 

 

Q: If a woman 10 years behind you in this industry asked you one thing before making a big career leap, what would you tell her?

A: Don’t wait until you feel ready. Most of the opportunities that changed my career came before I felt fully prepared for them. Some days you’ll feel like you’re doing all of it well, and other days you’ll feel like you’re falling short everywhere. That’s normal. Protect your health, set boundaries early and don’t wear burnout as a badge of honour.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give about comparing yourself to other people in this industry?

A: I’d tell her to stop comparing her chapter one to someone else’s chapter 20. Focus on building trust, doing the right thing by your clients and staying true to your values. Reputation compounds over time in this industry far more than quick wins ever will.

If the broker channel’s growth trajectory holds, from 55.3% market share in 2018 to a record 81% in the March 2026 quarter, the industry these women are leading in will keep expanding faster than almost anywhere else in Australian finance. The open question is whether female representation expands with it or continues bobbing around 27%.

Kafka points to sponsorship – not mentorship – as the lever most likely to move that number over the next 12–24 months, citing the MFAA’s Women in Finance Broking initiative and international models such as She Means Business as examples worth building on locally.

For winners like McGinty and Wright, already building specialist lending practices, national distribution roles and rapid-growth broking businesses, respectively, that shift would mean less time proving a business case and more time being actively placed into the senior roles their track records already support.

   

Melanie Kafka took on her current role in 2023 and has been a respected member of the mortgage and finance broking community for more than 25 years, recognised as a leader across the third-party broking industry with extensive experience in both aggregation and lending. Before joining the MFAA, she held senior roles including regional manager NSW/ACT at MyState Bank, head of northern region at aggregator PLAN Australia, and national manager and head of broker distribution at NAB.

Q: Women are joining the mortgage industry in growing numbers, but multiple industry reports point to retention and progression into senior roles as bigger sticking points. Why do you think that gap persists?

A: It’s encouraging that we’re attracting more women into the profession, but we also need to ensure we’re creating clear pathways for long-term careers and leadership.

Many women build highly successful broking businesses while balancing family responsibilities, business ownership and leadership, and sometimes progression doesn’t follow a traditional corporate path, so we need to think more broadly about what leadership looks like. Representation matters.

When women can see others succeeding in senior roles, it reinforces that those opportunities are achievable.

Q: Which specific programs or policies are making a measurable difference for women right now, and which feel more symbolic than effective?

A: The initiatives making the biggest difference are the ones that create lasting capability rather than one-off moments. At the MFAA, we’ve been investing in our Women in Finance event series for the past four to five years, with a consistent focus on increasing the participation of women in mortgage and finance broking, supporting retention and career progression, showcasing role models, building strong peer networks and fostering more inclusive businesses.

Recognition programs like MPA’s Elite Women are equally important because they celebrate success and create visible role models for the next generation. The real measure of success isn’t how many events we hold. It’s whether more women are progressing into leadership, growing successful businesses and influencing the future of the industry.

Q: How does Australia’s female leadership pipeline in mortgages compare with other markets, and is there anything worth borrowing from overseas?

A: Australia has made strong progress, and we’re seeing more women leading successful mortgage and finance broking businesses, executive teams and industry organisations than ever before.

One of Australia’s strengths is the entrepreneurial nature of the broker channel. Many women have built thriving businesses and created leadership opportunities on their own terms. Internationally, there are some excellent examples of structured sponsorship programs and leadership pipelines that deliberately prepare women for executive and board roles, and programs like She Means Business have reinforced that industry-specific solutions work best.

Ultimately, the goal isn’t simply greater representation. It’s ensuring the industry benefits from the broadest possible range of perspectives, experiences and ideas.

Q: Beyond sponsorship, what else needs to happen in the next 12 months to open more senior opportunities for women?

A: We need to continue investing in leadership programs that support women at the career stages where they’re most likely to leave or hesitate before taking the next step. Evidence shows retention at these critical transition points delivers better long-term outcomes than focusing solely on recruitment.

The MFAA is committed to this through initiatives such as Women in Finance Broking, which continues to create opportunities for connection, leadership development and visibility across the profession. There is no shortage of talented women in our industry. The opportunity now is to ensure they’re being seen, supported and given every chance to lead.

What connects this year’s Elite Women is not a single career path but a shared willingness to build the pathway not only for themselves, but for others to follow.

For example, Rimon and Da Luz have sustained brokerages for almost a combined two decades while actively bringing other women through behind them. McGinty paired technical specialisation with community leadership. Wright rebuilt national distribution while mentoring emerging finance professionals. Their attitude may be the clearest answer to this year’s data. These women are at the leading edge of a reformation of the industry, as now the perception gap has started to shift, regardless of whether the workforce and leadership numbers underneath it are not moving nearly as fast.

That is why the example laid down by 2026’s Elite Women is about creating opportunity rather than waiting for it and looks like remaining the most reliable route for future generations of female success. Quite simply, they are passing the Elite Women baton on to the next generation, even if the industry as a whole doesn’t come with them at the same speed.

Not only are this year’s honourees outstanding professionals but also changemakers on course to permanently alter the industry. There can be no higher impact than that.