Cynthia Whelan is the Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at Scentre Group (Westfield in Australia) and Chairman of the Foxtel pay-TV business. Cynthia was the Group Executive responsible for Telstra’s New Businesses portfolio prior to the Scentre appointment. She was also a Director on the Board of Telstra Ventures and Chair of the Telstra Health Panel.

Cynthia joined Telstra in August 2013 as the Group Managing Director Strategic Finance covering Group Strategy, M&A, Corporate Development, Treasury and Investor Relations and was responsible for Telstra’s International operations from 2015-2016. She was a Director of Chinese internet company Autohome from 2013 and Chair of the Board from 2016 until Telstra divested the shareholding.

Prior to joining Telstra, Cynthia had a career spanning more than 20 years in investment banking in the Asia-Pacific region and her last role was the Chief Executive for Barclays in Australia/New Zealand. She has also previously held roles at Merrill Lynch and UBS.

She is a member of the Australia Advisory Board for Room to Read, a global organisation focused on literacy and gender equality in education.

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Japanese Studies) from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and has completed the Oxford Strategic Leadership Program.

Areas of Expertise