Focus Finance founder reflects on stunning double win at 2025 Australian Mortgage Awards
Spirits must be high at Focus Finance this week.
The Newcastle-based brokerage is celebrating not one but three wins at the 2025 Australian Mortgage Awards, held at The Fullerton Hotel Sydney on Friday, 17 October.
Focus finance founder and managing director Katie Thomas won NAB Broker of the Year – Regional, only to return to the stage to be crowned Westpac Australian Broker of the Year.
Maddison Brown (pictured, below), meanwhile, secured Focus Finance’s third trophy of the night after nabbing Bendigo Bank Broker Young Gun of the Year.
For Thomas, the wins were all about “how we did it and who we did it with”.
“High tides raise all boats, and Focus Finance has always been about lifting each other up,” she told MPA. “Hearing my name called wasn’t about me, it was recognition for a team that shows up every day, backs each other like family, and believes in what we’re building together.”
Thomas has a clear fondness for the team that surrounds her.
“We can go from cracking up at each other’s jokes to cracking billion-dollar settlement strategies in the same breath,” she said. “One minute it’s pure team banter, the next it’s systems, structures, and strategies that turn heads, then straight back to giving each other stick over lunch.
“That mix of fun and focus keeps us sharp, keeps us sane, and drives results. At the end of the day, let’s laugh our whole way to a billion because when the culture is this good, the success follows.”
While Thomas is beaming from her double win, Brown’s award was also a deeply emotional moment for her.
“There was a time when the entire business was just the two of us and her loyalty was unwavering,” Thomas said. “I will always be so grateful to her for being there from the ground up. She has stuck with me through everything, helped build out a huge team alongside me, and then stepped into her own as an award-winning broker in her very first year.”
What’s next for Focus Finance?
Looking ahead, Focus Finance has its sights on scaling the business at length across Australia to build a truly national presence.
“That means growing the team, creating opportunities for ambitious brokers, and making sure our systems let us scale without losing the sharp, personalised edge we’re known for,” said Thomas.
“We want Focus Finance to be the place where high performers come to play bigger, think borderless, and level up, but only if they've got a sense of humour and know how to have a little fun!”
Successes and challenges
Thomas first cut her teeth at Westpac, where she spent 13 years in roles across management, lending and business banking.
In 2019 she made the leap into broking “because I wanted clients to have more options, not just the limited menu of one bank”.
“I wanted to build something bigger than me, a business that could deliver solutions on a broader scale and help people achieve their goals in smarter ways,” she added.
Katie Thomas (left) accepts Broker of the Year trophy from Westpac's Sarah Willsallen (right)
The biggest challenge for Thomas has been scaling the business “without losing our edge or fun”.
But watching her team win awards of their own, while growing into leaders and getting recognised nationally, “has been just as rewarding as anything I’ve ever achieved”.
“The wins only matter because of the people I get to celebrate them with,” Thomas said.
When she is not driving Focus Finance to new heights, Thomas enjoys family time with her husband and three kids.
It’s her kids that keep Thomas humble, “and a reminder that life’s too short not to have fun while you’re building a weapon of a team”.
