Sarah Richardson didn’t enter the industry with a grand plan; it was more a case of following interesting opportunities.
Early on in her career, Richardson worked in roles very close to customers across marketing, partnerships, and commercial teams at Telstra, Suncorp, Australian Post, Sapient Nitro, and Myer, and always loved anything where strategy, data and human behaviour came together.
She was curious about what made people stick with a brand and has taken this passion across diverse industries.
“Loyalty sits in that space between psychology, technology and creativity, and I love the idea of building experiences that feel genuinely rewarding rather than purely transactional,” said Richardson, CEO of the Australian Loyalty Association.
She said that her mentor and boss at Telstra, Peter Swaddle, truly understood how to cut through the noise in big companies, remove barriers, and let his staff shine.
“Without him, I’m not sure I would have been able to succeed in the way that I have. And he got me through some very tough times.”
Her advice was to believe in oneself and learn to distinguish between feedback that comes from a genuine desire to see one succeed and feedback that is a veiled attempt to destabilise one.
Over the years, Richardson said, the industry has changed a lot, and that loyalty used to be much simpler.
When she started, mobile phones were hardly in operation. Now it’s about understanding the complex customer journey, commercial modelling, relevance, data, personalisation, emotional connection and AI.
The evolution of loyalty has been evident in this year’s submissions to the 2026 Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards, with particularly strong growth from New Zealand and across the broader Asia Pacific region.
Richardson added that this year’s finalists exemplified how loyalty has evolved beyond traditional programs to deliver meaningful, long-term value for both customers and organisations.
She continues to be motivated to hang on and see the next chapter of this wonderful journey, and to work with the exceptional people on the team.
Looking ahead, she’d love to see loyalty become even more customer-led; less about mechanics and rules, and more about flexibility, choice and genuine recognition.
“When loyalty feels intuitive rather than engineered, that’s when it really works.”
Discover the stories of more women in business here
