Flying High - Merren McArthur (TC '79)
When I was in Year 10 at Toorak College we were given a careers project involving the selection of three potential professions. Mine were very eclectic: guide dog trainer, marine biologist, and lawyer. Clearly I had no clue what I wanted to be!
By the time I finished school, I had done an exchange in South Africa and wanted to be a diplomat. I was told a law degree would open doors to this and other careers, so I enrolled in a combined law/arts degree. I found the study of law very tedious and swore I would never become a lawyer. Unfortunately, my disinterest meant that I didn’t achieve the marks required to join the diplomatic service. My career ambitions were already in tatters! I begrudgingly decided to complete my legal qualifications by doing my ‘articles’, a kind of apprenticeship, at a law firm. As it turned out, I discovered a legal practice specialty that really suited my skills and interests – commercial law. It involved negotiating and writing contracts and sitting across the table from businessmen (and the occasional woman) learning about their business. My 20-something self would have been very surprised to hear that I ended up becoming a partner in a major law firm and practising law for over two decades!
Eventually my legal career led me to discover my passion for aviation when I became General Counsel and Company Secretary of Virgin Australia. By this stage, I was more interested in business than law, so when I was given the opportunity to lead a business function at the airline, I jumped at it. From there I went on to hold various airline CEO roles, including with Virgin Australia Regional Airlines and Tigerair Australia.
Ultimately the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself – to start up a brand-new airline from scratch in Canada. Our four daughters were grown up and independent, so my partner and I packed up our belongings and headed to Canada in June 2021. It was a challenging time, right in the middle of the pandemic, but we managed to successfully launch Lynx Air in April 2022.
The biggest challenge I faced throughout my career was undoubtedly sexism. I worked in male-dominated industries and had to battle hard to overcome the inherent bias that acts as a barrier to career progression for women and minority groups. At Toorak we were encouraged to pursue our dreams and to aim high; there was never any suggestion that our gender would get in the way. The values and beliefs instilled in me at Toorak gave me the courage and determination to challenge and overcome those gender-based barriers, and this in turn has enabled me to enjoy a rewarding and exciting career journey.
My advice to students at Toorak is not to worry about mapping out a long-term career path – keep an open mind and be ready to grab the opportunities as they present themselves. This requires a willingness to take risks and to be prepared for failures and disappointments along the way. I firmly believe my career was more defined by my failures than my successes – the rejection letter from the diplomatic service was just the beginning! To quote CS Lewis, “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”