Let’s Meet a Chapter Member …
Each eNews, we introduce you to some of our wonderful Chapter Members.
This week the Member in the hotseat is: Julia McKenna, Director of Development & Community, St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School
My path to school advancement was anything but linear, which perhaps makes it all the more meaningful.
I began my career in international investment banking after completing a Business degree, a role that took me first to Sydney, then to the United Kingdom and finally to Singapore, where I managed financial markets trading risk across twelve countries in Asia. It was a world of financial complexity, cross-cultural negotiation and high-stakes decision-making. Skills I could not have anticipated would one day serve a very different purpose.
When I returned to Australia, I established and co-led a national not-for-profit organisation supporting victim survivors of domestic violence. That work fundamentally shifted something in me. The discipline of the corporate world met the urgency of genuine human need and I discovered that philanthropy was not simply something I cared about, it was where I was most effective.
So when the position of Director of Development and Community became available at St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, my own school, it felt less like a career move and more like a convergence. My business background, my experience in the not-for-profit sector and my deep affection for the school came together in a role that has proven to be the most rewarding of my professional life.
What sustains me in this work, day after day, is witnessing what happens inside a school community when it functions at its best. The staff at St Aidan’s are extraordinary, and every decision, every initiative, every act of care is oriented toward the students. The result is visible. Our Alumnae leave with a quiet, enduring confidence; a belief that they can do whatever they choose to do with their lives. That is not a recent development. It is a trait that has characterised every generation of St Aidan’s women across the school’s 97-year history and it is a privilege to play a part in sustaining it.
For those newer to school Fundraising, my strongest piece of advice is this: relationships are the work. Fundraising is not a transaction; it is the cultivation of genuine connection between donors and a cause they believe in. Take the time to understand what motivates your community. Listen more than you speak. And never underestimate the power of a well-told story to move someone from interest to investment. Authenticity, consistency, and patience are not soft skills in this profession; they are the foundation of everything.
At St Aidan’s, 2026 is a year of considerable momentum. We are in the early stages of a ten-year Comprehensive Campaign, anchored by the school’s Centenary in 2029. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure the school’s future, expanding scholarship access, enhancing facilities, and deepening our connection with Alumnae, current families and friends of the school across Queensland and beyond. To be leading this work in the lead-up to such a significant milestone is both humbling and energising.
Away from the office, I am most content in the company of family, a good book, or somewhere in the world that reminds me how much there is still to discover. We have been fortunate to travel extensively, a legacy of those years living abroad, and while the list of places that have left their mark is long, Italy holds a special place. The Cinque Terre, in particular, has a way of making everything else feel very far away, which is of course precisely the point.
It is a genuine pleasure to be part of the educate+ Queensland community, and I look forward to the conversations, collaborations and shared learning that lie ahead in 2026.
