Melissa's expertise on complex lending has been covered across leading industry titles.
Recognised as one of the market's leading commercial brokers
Melissa came to broking as a second career, with a law degree and years running Australian fashion retailers, Josh Goot and Leona Edmiston, where she was the General Manager to over 130 staff at age 26. In 2002 she joined the commercial and asset finance brokerage her father John Macalyk established in 1988, built her name in the market's most demanding territory, and now leads the firm as Managing Director.
The industry noticed: the only woman on MPA's Top 10 Commercial Brokers list in 2021, then Commercial Broker of the Year and Commercial Finance Broker of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards, 2022 and 2025. She now also sits on the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA)'s board as a Non-Executive Director, and in 2026 joined the board of ASX-listed property group Desane Group Holdings. Melissa is often asked to speak at events and on panels, including MFAA panels, sharing her commercial finance expertise.
Every enquiry to AAA reaches Melissa personally, and every client gets her and the team she has selected around her. Her specialism is the whole capital structure: advising developers across full project lifecycles, structuring lending across entities and trusts, and knowing which of more than eighty lenders genuinely suits a deal.
Her experience spans residential lending, commercial finance, development funding and private credit, particularly for borrowers that traditional lenders struggle to service. When a bank can't move fast enough for a complex borrower, she has the private banking relationships to get the deal done. She works with clients the way she describes it herself: as a partner in the next twenty years, not the next transaction.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts/Law · Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management · Diploma of Financial Planning and Services · MFPA
Appointments:
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Non-Executive Director, MFAA (elected 2025) The peak body for Australia's mortgage and finance brokers; member of the Audit & Risk Management Committee
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Non-Executive Director, Desane Holdings ASX-listed property development company
Recognition:
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Specialist Finance Group NSW High Achiever Certificate of Recognition 2026
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Commercial Finance Broker of the Year 2025 Women in Finance Awards, plus an Excellence Award at the same event
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Commercial Broker of the Year 2022 Women in Finance Awards
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MPA Top 10 Commercial Brokers 2021 ranked on value of loans settled; the only woman on the list
Melissa is a world class professional - easily the best I’ve worked with. She used her creativity, problem solving and sheer hard work and persistence to find solutions to get the best loans - would recommend to my closest family
SAM BUSH
Host of the P.O.W.E.R podcast
Melissa hosts P.O.W.E.R: Property, Ownership, Wealth and Everything Related, in conversation with the people and ideas shaping property, finance and development.
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