Anglican Financial Care (AFC) recently appointed Margaret Bearsley as Chief Executive. After being in the role for a month we decided to sit down and have a friendly Q&A with her.
What excites you about this role?
It completely aligns with my professional experience, my faith, and my skills and strengths! It means I get to work with other people with similar values to my own. Moreover, as a practising Roman Catholic, I am very excited by the ecumenical experience of Church that I am now living professionally. You know, we pray twice weekly with the team in the Anglican Missions Board—how ecumenical is that! I love it!
What are your biggest strengths?
First and foremost, my deep commitment to Christ and his Church. Secondly, my commitment to supporting the team. I believe profoundly in the strength of teams. In my view, if you have the right people doing the right job for the organisation, we can achieve anything! So, I love walking with my team-members and supporting each person to be and to do their best to achieve the organisation’s goals.
How has your first few weeks been?
It’s been a total joy to get to know the people here and the Board members. I have been well supported by the Board and by the team helping me to get up to speed. I can see how committed everybody is, and how competent everybody is in their role. So, it’s a real delight to come to an organisation that is functioning so well and thinking maybe I can help to achieve even more. Just to support what we’ve got and aim for the stars.
What is your vision for AFC?
To proclaim its Christian character as our competitive advantage, and to be seen to be serving the People of God, and all people of goodwill who want to align their saving and investment decisions with their values. And that’s us and that’s who we are.