Adam Fletcher
2021 Cohort
Adam is exploring how First Nations communities can build economic sovereignty through coordinated action to support Nations’ other sovereign objectives.
Adam is NSW/ACT Associate Director Indigenous Business and Community at National Australia Bank. Here he provides Indigenous banking services to Indigenous business owners and community-controlled service providers, and is working to extend financial products and services to help First Nations assert their sovereignty through the establishment, accumulation and utilisation of economic capital.
A proud Gringai man of the Wonnarua Nation in the Hunter Valley NSW, Adam is an experienced Indigenous banker. He has a history of working in roles across the banking industry including internal audit, project portfolio management, strategy execution and customer journey mobilisation.
He has served as treasurer for a social democratic think tank, the John Cain Foundation, and as the secretary and president for the Victorian ALP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee. He is passionate about supporting economic sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Nations through the responsible provision of financial products and services.
As an Atlantic Fellow, Adam is keen to understand what economic sovereignty means for First Nations and explore the feasibility of alternative models to Western finance markets. Adam sees the potential for alternative market constructs designed from an Aboriginal perspective, to address cultural and community needs first.
Adam holds a Bachelor of Business/Economics, with majors in Marketing; Management; and Money, Banking, Trade and Finance from the University of Newcastle and a Certificate of Executive Management Development, Executive Management from the University of New South Wales.
Social change work
Over the course of his foundation year, the scope of Adam's social change project shifted focus from learning from “international best practice” to work with Wonnarua Elders and Aboriginal Corporation to understand what Economic Sovereignty means to them. Over the next few years, he will work with his community to explore how economic sovereignty can support their other sovereign objectives - expression of their culture and language and providing economic opportunities for their people.