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Originally published by Financial Standard, Friday, 26 July 2024

An analyst at KPMG took out the top prize at the Finance Industry Community Aid Program’s annual RockStar event, which raised more than $100,000 for charity.

Performing at The Beresford in Sydney’s Surry Hills last night, KPMG senior audit analyst Lessleen Makoni was named FICAP RockStar 2024 for her rendition of ‘Valerie’, a Zutons song made famous when it was covered by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.

FICAP chair Marnie McLaren said the calibre of performances was higher than ever this year, but Makoni “absolutely owned the stage,” leaving “little doubt as to who would win.”

The event sees financial industry professionals belt out their favourite tunes in pursuit of the RockStar title, all while raising some much-needed funds for charity.

Last night, more than $100,000 was raised for Life Ed, Feel the Magic, and Fighting Chance.

“This takes us to over $3 million raised since FICAP’s inception. We never imagined the journey RockStar would take us on and we’re so proud of the contribution the financial services industry has made to help Aussie kids in need,” McLaren said.

Three other awards were handed out, with AZ NGA general counsel Andrew Symes winning the Challenger Best Vocalist Award for his take on ‘Mustang Sally’, while Thinktank’s Heena Geronimo took home the Band’s Choice Award for her performance of ‘Proud Mary’ by Tina Turner. Chelsea Pernice and Melissa Vincent from BlackRock took out the Financial Standard Best New Talent Award for their cover of ‘Wannabe’ by Spice Girls.

This year’s platinum sponsors for the event were BlackRock and Challenger. The gold sponsors are Alexander Funds, AZ NGA, BT, Colonial First State, HUB24, Ironbark Asset Management, KPMG, Macquarie, Magellan, Maple-Brown Abbott, Montgomery, NMG Consulting, Pedal/Perpetual, PIMCO, Profusion, Schroders, SQM Research, and Thinktank.

This year saw performances by:

Financial Standard is the official media partner of FICAP.