Despite a self-confessed impostor syndrome, Katelyn Adams has forged a career acting for ASX-listed companies in a company secretarial role.
A partner in accounting firm HLB Mann Judd’s corporate advisory division, where she has worked for 18 years, Katelyn Adams also has extensive knowledge of corporate governance, risk management, strategy, company secretarial duties and capital raising processes.
After following a typical accounting pathway and cutting her teeth in audit with Grant Thornton, she migrated to the corporate side where she guides companies in the role of external CFO, financial controller and company secretary.
A product of country South Australia, Adams was, until recently, a non-executive director with Clean Seas Seafood, where she also chaired the audit and risk, remuneration and nominations committees. Her myriad roles include a decade on her children’s school board.
What inspired you to seek a board role and how did you secure that first directorship?
In my company secretarial work, I’ve effectively grown up around the board table. I’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly — everything from a well-functioning board to something completely dysfunctional.
My first foray was on community group boards — the school and the local surf life saving club. That was a soft launch, where you get to meet a lot of passionate people who are there for different purposes.
For my first actual non-executive director role at Clean Seas Seafood, I was head-hunted for specific skills they were looking to bring to the board, plus female and age diversity. They needed someone with a strong finance background who knew listed companies, risk management and governance. My resume ticked all those boxes.
Just like they would have done their due diligence on me, I did my due diligence on them. Are these people I want to sit on a board with? There had been some board movement previously — why was that? Am I coming in as a puppet for someone and won’t get to make my own decisions? Am I being recruited as the token female? Once I was comfortable with that, and had met the chair and management multiple times, I thought it had a strong South Australian focus. I’m a country girl at heart and it aligned with my background and who I am. Understanding the provenance story was important for me.
What critical skills helped you get there?
Being company secreatary on various listed company boards for a long time gave me a good insight into the world of a listed company. That ASX knowledge was crucial. From what I’ve seen, quite often, directors don’t come in with any. To ask the right questions before announcements go out has been helpful.
By observing boards for a good 10 years before taking on any of these roles, and also acting as their external CFO, I knew the types of questions, the information a board needs in order to make effective decisions. You can bring that when you’re challenging management or asking for further information.
Strong governance was another key. I would’ve been a lot more nervous taking on the Clean Seas role had I not had that deep knowledge of company secretarial duties, ASX listing rules and a finance background.
My diverse point of view has also been important. Across all of my ASX directorships, there have only been a few female directors. We’ve still got some work to do. You take on these roles and you know you’re getting approached partly because you’re a female. But someone has to be first. If it feels a little bit uncomfortable, hopefully it will be a little less uncomfortable for the next person, and a little less so the next time, before it becomes the norm.
What was the most valuable learning on your first board and how have you taken that forward into other board roles?
It takes a while to learn the business. I was a bit tough on myself for not being up to speed in the beginning. I’d read all the past board papers, but it wasn’t until I got on the ground that I really understood.
Farming fish sounds like it would be pretty simple, but it’s so complicated. Getting over to Port Lincoln and immersing myself there was a valuable learning — just talking to management and gaining understanding through site visits.
Know you don’t necessarily have to be an expert in the business — that’s management’s job. I kept taking myself back to my skillsets and how I could use them to impact the business at board level? And remembering I was there to act in the best interests of shareholders.
Sometimes, that’s making tough decisions that will benefit shareholders, but knowing there’s a personal impact at the start. It might be making a call on making staff redundant. Try to remove some of the emotion out of it and remember you’re there for the best interests of shareholders and the business overall. Regularly aligning myself back to that was a thorough learning for me.
What advice would you give to those seeking their first board?
Your first role might not be on a listed company — perhaps look to community groups or school boards. Some of those roles have taught me the most. People are there for different reasons, with different skillsets and abilities. They are extremely passionate, but not great for getting a single outcome. I moved up from sitting on the board to chairing some of those community groups and I’ve taken my biggest learnings from them.
If you feel like taking the step into the listed world is a bit too much to begin with, take a softer path. See how a board works, see how management interacts with boards. That could be a good road to your first listed role. Or perhaps a subcommittee on a listed company, if they take independents outside the board. I’ve been on the school board for 10 years, and chair for the past six or seven. Parents are there for their kids and can forget they’re sitting on the board for the whole school. There’s nothing more emotional than the parent-child relationship. Trying to manage that has been intense.
If you can get through a school board meeting, anything else is easy. They’re multimillion-dollar businesses. They’re paying staff for a purpose and there is also government involvement. Some of those are doozies.
I’m most impactful when I bring my skillset and my genuine self to a business. I don’t have to pretend I’m someone else. I don’t have to pretend I’m a 60-year-old man sitting around the board table because that’s what I grew up with. Now, I feel more comfortable presenting just me. You can only do what you can see. Now I know, and I’ll bring more of that into the next role, the following role and the one after that.
This article first appeared as 'Know your product' in the December 2025/January 2026 Issue of Company Director Magazine.
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