Speaker Profiles

Greg Connolly was responsible for the AMP business program which helped AMP Financial Planners transition from a commission to a fee-for-service remuneration model from 1 July 2010.

Taking an industry lead, Greg and his team worked closely with more than 700 financial planning practices across Australia to deliver a practical and tailored solution to the challenging task of shifting the way planners charge for and deliver advice, and how consumers pay for this advice.

    Greg has more than 20 years experience in the financial planning industry. He has held various senior roles including National Practice Development Manager at Godfrey Pembroke, and NSW Regional Manager at AMP Financial Planning (AMPFP). His recent position as Head of Business Implementation at AMPFP has seen him lead a number of AMP’s significant change initiatives.

Greg currently sits on the FPA's Transition Committee for Financial Planner Remuneration and is a member of the AMP Financial Planning Leadership Team.

Debby Blakey is the Executive Manager – Member Advice at HESTA Super Fund, responsible for HESTA’s national financial advice service. Debby holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics, and is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional.

Debby brings more than 20 years experience in superannuation and financial planning to HESTA. She started her working life with consulting actuaries, advising on large defined benefit plans, before launching her own consultancy business in South Africa where she focused on corporate super.

She considers herself extremely fortunate to have found her way into the industry fund sector in Australia, and is passionate about finding cost effective ways to deliver advice to industry fund members and addressing the inadequacy of members’ insurance and retirement benefits.

Mark has held senior roles in consulting, regulation and risk in the UK, Hong Kong, China and in Australia. Mark was appointed the Chief Risk Officer, Wealth Management in December 2008. He joined CBA from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in 2006 where he supervised a number of major banks and wealth managers and represented APRA on the Joint Forum a global committee of regulators looking at financial conglomerate supervision.

Mark spent six years in Hong Kong managing Mercer’s Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai operations during the 1990’s. He was on the Hong Kong Government’s ‘Panel of Experts’ which assisted in the design of Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund system.

Richard was appointed Executive General Manager of Advice & Marketing for MLC & NAB Wealth in May 2009.

Prior to joining MLC & NAB Wealth, Richard was Head of the Commonwealth Private Bank for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). He was also previously the General Manager of Distribution for Colonial First State overseeing all aspects of CBA’s Wealth Management distribution, including third party relationships, direct distribution, superannuation, and the management of CBA’s advice businesses.

Richard joined Colonial First State in August 2003 from IOOF, where he was General Manager, Retail Funds Management. Between 1988 and 2000 he held various positions at AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, including National Retail Sales Manager, Head of AXA Adviser Services, and Business Manager International Operations.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Business and a Graduate Diploma in Economics. In addition, he is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Bryan has many years experience in providing advice to clients in the financial services industry, joining BT Financial Group in May 2001. Prior to this, Bryan worked for six years at KPMG Sydney within their taxation division.

Bryan is the Senior Manager, Technical Consulting, providing technical support to financial advisers and their associates. This role also involves giving technical presentations and writing technical bulletins to ensure advisers are kept up-to-date with the latest legislative changes and have access to effective strategies for their clients.

Bryan has a Bachelor of Commerce, a Bachelor of Laws, and has a Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning.

Ross Clare has degrees in Economics and Law from the Australian National University.

Prior to joining the staff of ASFA he held senior positions with the Australian Treasury and an Australian Government research agency.

Ross, as Director of Research at ASFA, has over the last decade or so, prepared a wide range of research papers and contributed to numerous submissions, including those to the Henry and Cooper Reviews. Much of the work has focussed on adequacy issues. He initiated the publication by ASFA of Retirement Budget Standards which are widely used by funds, financial advisers and by public policy and academic researchers.

Amongst other things his current research work involves updating the Budget Standards to better reflect contemporary needs and to extend the Budget Standards to cover the older old population and also to cover retirees in other countries, including New Zealand.

Michael E. Drew is Managing Director, Lifecycle Strategies at QIC (Queensland Investment Corporation) and Professor of Finance at the Griffith Business School, Griffith University. Prior to joining QIC in 2010, Michael held appointments with QSuper, Wilson HTM and J. B. Were & Son.

Michael’s research has studied and developed new approaches to the design of the default option in superannuation funds, as well as devising winning strategies for lifecycle and target date funds. He has published more than 50 articles in academic journals, including the Journal of Portfolio Management.

In June 2009, Michael was invited to appear before a joint hearing of the US Department of Labor and the Securities Exchange Commission in Washington DC where he presented his research into target date funds.

Michael received his Ph.D. from the University of Queensland in 2000 and is Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Association of Australasia (Finsia).

Ron Lesh attained a Bachelor of Business in 1980, qualified as an Australian Chartered Accountant in 1992 and completed a Graduate Diploma in Information Technology in 1987. Ron was employed by a number of accounting practices in Melbourne and the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1985 and became a practice principal in 1985.

In 1989, Ron left full time professional accounting to join BGL Corporate Solutions and in 1991 became Managing Director. Ron is a Registered Tax Agent and Company Auditor and has extensive experience in corporations law, taxation and superannuation matters. Ron is a past member of the ASIC Business Advisory Committee.

In 2008, Ron was confirmed as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Hazel Bateman is an Associate Professor of Pension Economics and Director of the Centre for Pensions and Superannuation in the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. She has teaching and research interests in the areas of public and private provision for retirement. Her current research focuses on the complexity of retirement saving decision making. Hazel has been a consultant on superannuation and retirement income issues to a range of Australian and international organisations including the OECD, the World Bank and most recently, the China-Australia Governance Program.

Dr Robert J. Bianchi is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Griffith Business School. He joined the Griffith Business School at Griffith University in 2009 after three years as a Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology. Robert is also a director of H3 Global Advisors Pty Ltd, a boutique fund manager in Sydney, Australia.

Prior to this, Robert worked as a portfolio manager at Queensland Treasury Corporation managing asset and liability fixed interest portfolios. Robert holds a Ph.D. in financial economics from the Queensland University of Technology. His research expertise is in the areas of asset allocation, hedge funds and alternative investment strategies.

Mathew Kaleel is the co-founder and Portfolio Manager. Mathew’s expertise in trade execution, futures, equities, and programming forms a key part of H3 Global’s quantitative investing strategy. He has a degree in economics from Sydney University, and also holds an honours degree in Construction Management from the University of Technology, Sydney.

The Kaleel brothers have built a reputation as confident and authoritative commentators on a range of market topics such as emerging markets, hard and soft commodities, gold, currency, oil and equity markets, as well as investment trends and macro-economic influences. Their market outlook and analysis comments are often used in the mainstream media such as the AFR and they regularly appear on Sky Business, CNBC and ABC Lateline.

Robyn Petrou is CEO of ESI Super, a platinum-rated $2.7 billion industry superannuation fund providing complete retirement planning solutions to members.

Robyn has been involved in financial services for almost two decades. Her experience encompasses a wide range of areas in superannuation including governance, risk management, operations and investment management.

She has worked in senior roles in superannuation administration, retail super and financial services. Prior to joining ESI Super, she was Manager - Compliance, Operations and Strategy and Senior Vice-President of a superannuation administration company.

Robyn is a director of FEAL, the Fund Executive Association Ltd, and actively involved in the subcommittees of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

She holds a Bachelor of Economics, Graduate Diploma of Superannuation, Graduate Certificate in Management, is a Fellow and Accredited Investment Fiduciary of ASFA and is currently undertaking post graduate studies in organisational leadership at the Melbourne Business School.