Shannon O'Keeffe

Shannon O'Keeffe, Director, Social Sustainability, currently leads the Global Social Sustainability function within the Infrastructure team at IFM. Her role involves working with our asset directors, the broader team, assets and stakeholders to identify and mitigate social risks.

As part of her role, Shannon is working in partnership with the University of Sydney Business School, to define what constitutes a sustainable infrastructure workplace, and establish metrics for measuring it across our global portfolio. This allows her to synthesize her academic and practical experience in one. When asked why this is important to her, Shannon explained:

“My whole working life has been spent around workplaces and communities. I started my career as a labour market academic at the University of Sydney and then worked as a campaign strategist in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. I was fortunate to get to lead global projects, working across every continent. I’m passionate about workplaces because we spend around one-third of our lives at work so what makes them productive is important for asset owners like IFM but also the experience for workers. The roles I have taken in the past have always been about advocating for change, whether it be inclusion, mental health, modern slavery, diversity, or community.”

Speaking about her professional career, Shannon notes the areas of importance and what differences she’d like to make.

“I believe in connectivity and actively building a community that works better together to drive change. This sometimes means taking people, including me, outside their comfort zone. I like building teams where people feel safe to challenge each other.

“I have always been interested in driving societal change, but specifically workplaces and the people that belong to a workplace. I have seen investors begin to take a much closer look at the sustainability space which, in many ways, was supercharged by COVID-19. Now, from that momentum, we have a great platform to look at the whole system, both risks and opportunities, to build a better workplace for all. I’m excited to see how I can be a part of that.”

In addition to this, Shannon also has responsibilities external to IFM.

“I’m the Deputy Chair of ‘Australians for Mental Health’, which is a National Mental Health not-for-profit, focused on driving structural change for how we treat, fund and support better Mental Health outcomes. I’ve also just finished an MBA that I started during the COVID-19 lockdown.”

Outside of work, Shannon’s time is kept busy with her three teenagers. This also means she is very active in her local community and children’s schools. IFM’s flexibility and support allows Shannon to carry out all her business inside of work and outside of it that she commends the organisation for.

“The support and flexibility IFM has given me to be able to develop professionally, but also support and enable the parenting of my three teenagers and community responsibilities, is great. I am so grateful for the ability to be so active in my community, to prioritise the needs of my family and to continue studying. IFM has been able to provide support for my MBA under the Professional Study Leave policy.”

Shannon was excited to discuss the recent launch of our PrIdeFM community, which began from our partnership with The Pinnacle Foundation, and will focus on building a community of people committed to making IFM even more open and inclusive.

“When I joined IFM, I felt I had an opportunity to take a leadership role in the I&D space. What I wanted to see and feel to make me more comfortable and to feel included, I felt is what others would want too. We all have an obligation to create the workplace we want to work in, to ensure that members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies feel a strong sense of connection and belonging. I am very happy to take on a lead role for PrIdeFM and get this community up running.”

When asked ‘Why IFM’, Shannon expressed how much she likes being a part of the organisation’s evolution, and how it empowers her to strive for more inside and outside of work.

“I am really proud to work at IFM and the work we are doing with our First Nations strategy, our Inclusive Workplace objectives, and the work we are doing on Sustainable Workplaces with Sydney University. I like that I get to work with really smart people on projects that draw on my academic, workplace and community experiences to support outcomes for our investors."