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Name: Bernard McInerney

Current Position and organisation: Company Secretary, Toll Holdings Limited

What was your first job and what did it teach you?

My first job was as an auditor at Touche Ross & Co. What did it teach me, in the first 12 months, was how to photocopy and socialise at the pub on a Friday night. But eventually, it taught me that accounting and business was a very diverse world and that I wanted to be someone who contributed at the input end, and not a receiver at the output end.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

Its challenge and diversity. At Toll, it helps to have an element of being a deal junkie. Working with a strong dedicated and extremely intelligent group of people in the trenches during a deal is a great place to be. At the end of each deal though, I always stand back and ask if I’d like to have a beer with the people who were on the other side. That’s my measure of whether or not people conduct themselves professionally and appropriately. Unfortunately, the answer is not always yes.

What keeps you awake at night?

Generally, not much. But at the moment it's got to be my wife as we are expecting a child in the next few weeks. J I’m guessing that in the future it will be the baby. From a work point of view, I try to de-stress and not take work issues to bed with me. Mind you, I’m not always successful at the de-stressing bit.

When my work/life balance isn’t balanced?

Prioritising life over work is extremely important to me. My health, relationship, children etc must be in balance otherwise it becomes impossible to focus and give your all to work. Way too many professionals learn this lesson too late in life. My motto at work is, always put family first and work hard and smarter as a consequence.

What’s the best place you have been as a tourist and why?

This is a hard one as I have been lucky enough to have experienced some lovely places. Taking my kids camping and four wheel driving on Fraser Island was an adventurous buzz, and taking my soulmate to The Hilton in the Maldives was great for a total relax and reinvigoration in a true paradise, a memory that will never fade.

If I hadn’t been a lawyer, I’d be a …?

I’m not a lawyer so this is easy to answer. I’m one of those company secretaries that knows enough to be dangerous and unpredictable to the real lawyers. But when I was in secondary school, I was great at accounting, maths and technical drawing. So if I had not become an accountant, I would have more than likely become an architect or draftsman.

My next big challenge is…

Given that I am soon to be a dad again, remembering how to change nappies. The last time I held my own child as a baby was over 16 years ago. But on the positive side, sleep deprivation is something I think I can cope with as that’s one thing Toll’s M&A activity has taught me over the years.

If you had to put your philosophy of life onto a t-shirt, what would it say?

Love life, smile, be happy and don’t forget to enjoy the journey.