Western graduate leading with heart

A caring teacher set Corrina Davison on her path to university and a rewarding corporate career, writes Katrina Lobley.

Financial executive Corrina Davison credits an astute teacher with steering her onto her high-flying path. At her lower Blue Mountains public high school, a career counsellor had advised the young student to study home economics because “that’s what girls are doing”.

“My economics teacher, Mr Brown, intercepted and said, ‘Actually, I think you have the potential to do extension economics and I’ll support you',” recalls Corrina at her Sydney office’s meeting room (named Whadjuk in honour of traditional owners in Perth, Western Australia).

“He said, ‘You have the capability to go on and have a career in economics or finance, so let me help you see that and also let me help you by opening doors’."

“Not only did he encourage me to do something I didn’t necessarily see in myself, he’s the one who supported me to apply for the [accounting] cadetship and the scholarship [at Western Sydney University]. He definitely changed the trajectory. I was the first person in my family to go to university – it wasn’t something I thought was in my realm of reality.”

It was a pivotal early lesson for Corrina, now managing director of American Express, Australia and New Zealand, in the importance of “getting behind people who don’t see potential in themselves”.

She can now pay it forward - not only with decisions in her job but also in her role as a board member for the Australian Business and Community Network, a not-for-profit that connects students from lower socio-economic backgrounds with corporate mentors.

“Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not equally distributed,” she says.

Corrina’s career hasn’t followed a plan. After two years as an accountant, she realised her real interests were customer service and marketing. By 19, she was running a travel agency.

“That literally opened the world to me because I’d never travelled before that moment,” says Corrina.

After seven years in the travel industry that included working with airlines and hotels, she moved into financial services, seeing it as the next “learning opportunity”.

“I’ve had incredible opportunity to grow, to learn – but also to serve,” she says.

It’s all a long way from those early days when Corrina was attending Western’s Westmead campus part-time while completing her accountancy cadetship.

“I was doing university at night with a very diverse group of individuals who were juggling careers and family – that’s a very different experience to being a full-time student,” she says.

“That diversity of learned experience in the lecture room was so valuable, so rich, because it was the theory alongside practical work and life experience.”

That young university student couldn’t have foreseen that she would eventually move to New York City with her husband and young daughter while working for American Express.

“Again, this is an example of mentorship and sponsorship,” says Corrina.

“The leaders of the organisation thought, ‘You can do this – why don’t you come to New York and help us build and launch this business?’

“It was far away from everything we knew so it was a very big risk and such a great adventure. What I learnt from that is that growth happens at the end of your comfort zone. I learned about my own courage, my adaptability, my ability to learn new stuff and be successful – not just personally but as a family.”

In New York, her family thrived while based near buzzy Washington Square. Corrina’s extroverted husband found a role as athletic director at an international school while her daughter, from the age of nine, was fronting rock bands and belting out tunes by The Doors.

Corrina has now worked for American Express for 26 years – what has the company done to gain such loyalty?

“I found myself in a company where the values aligned and the opportunities have been endless,” she says.

“I have the privilege of working across multiple markets with a team in the Philippines, a team here and a team in New Zealand, and I have leaders who have inspired and supported me.

“Leadership is a learning journey and it never, ever stops. It really requires you to be self-aware, so that you’re aware of your blind spots. I have brought in coaches at various times because I think it’s important to have that outside perspective of where your blind spots are.

“You’re also in a constant state of humility and learning to be fundamentally selfless, because leadership is about everybody around you – it’s not about yourself. It’s about lifting others up. If you’re serving others to be the best that they can be, that’s what creates followership.”

Corrina also credits her formative years with shaping her into an empathetic leader.

“I grew up with parents with incredibly strong values who served others throughout their lives,” she says.

“My dad was a boilermaker and he had a very significant accident; my mother did lots of things just to put food on the table. I heard my mum having a conversation with my piano teacher, begging her to keep me on even though she couldn’t afford the bills. She was doing everything she could to serve.”

While issues such as gender equality and early mentorship are important to Corrina, the cause that’s closest to her heart is mental health – part of the reason she has an open-door policy with colleagues.

“I do everything to make sure that I’m approachable because I want people to tell me when things are not right,” she says.

“It’s our responsibility – as leaders, community members, humans – to help people and provide support.”

ENDS.

18 September 2026
Media Unit