Our board
CHARBEL NADER (CHAIRMAN)
is a Chartered Accountant and investment banker with a background in Finance, Media and Mergers and Acquisitions. He is founding Chairman of Metro Media Holdings, publisher of The Weekly Review.
Charbel was instrumental in MMH’s start up, expansion and sale to Fairfax Media at a valuation $144m within a five-year period.
He established and led the Melbourne office of Pitt Capital Partners Ltd, a subsidiary of one of Australia’s oldest listed companies Washington H Soul Pattinson, which has advised on in excess of $8bn of M&A and ECM transactions.
Mr Nader has also worked with News Corp’s venture capital vehicle e-Ventures and with PBL in intellectual property financing and was previously an Executive responsible for structured finance at Village Roadshow where Mr Nader specialised in intellectual property and venture financing including credit enhanced future flow securitisations, cross border leasing, tax arbitrage financing and specialised asset finance.
PROFESSOR ROBERT OFFICER
is Professor Emeritus of the University of Melbourne.
Professor Officer was at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Business School as a Professor of Finance from 1986 to 2002. Previously, he was Professor with the Department of Accounting and Finance at Monash University. He is an honorary Professor of the University of Queensland.
He is a past President of the Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand and for eight years was Editor of Accounting and Finance and has held positions at the Universities of Chicago, Queensland, Rochester (USA), Stanford Business School and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Officer was Chairman of the Victorian Commission of Audit in 1992/3, and Chairman of the National Commission of Audit in 1996. He was Chairman of the Victorian Work Cover Authority (1997-2001) and Chairman of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation (2002-2006).
He was on the Board of the Bank of Melbourne before its takeover by Westpac (1993-1998) and Transurban Ltd (2010-2012). Currently, he is Chair of several fund management companies each covering different products of financial markets.
Professor Officer has published research papers in Australian and overseas journals covering a number of areas including corporate finance and taxation, share markets, statistics and the regulation/deregulation of business and particularly an entity’s cost of capital.
RICHARD MCKINNON
has enjoyed a long and successful commercial career covering executive responsibilities in the finance sector and advisory responsibilities covering a wide range of industries including:
- 4 years as Group CFO of National Australia Bank carrying principal responsibility for the financial stewardship of a balance sheet with an annual funding requirement of $10 billion and over $20 billion of shareholders’ funds.
- 7 years developing and implementing an international takeover strategy for NAB
- 17 years providing advice on strategy, takeovers and corporate finance to a wide range of leading Australian companies.
- 3 Years with Britain’s largest finance company conducting research into and implementing a statistically based technique for measuring monitoring and controlling consumer credit quality.
During his time at NAB, Richard was responsible for the following key projects:
- Development and implementation of the bank’s U.S. Bank acquisition strategy Development and implementation of the bank’s funds management acquisition strategy; culminating in the $4.6 billion acquisition of MLC in 2000;
- Restructuring of the banks finance resources into a global team of 1,000 finance professionals reporting to the Group CFO;
- Assisting in the revitalisation of the Board Audit Committee and twice tendering the bank’s audit
- Preparation of NAB for the implementation of major regulatory change including International Financial Reporting Standards, Basel 2 regulatory framework, Sarbannes-Oxley Act in the USA and CLERP 9 in Australia.
After leaving National Australia Bank, Richard worked as a private consultant and has advised on balance sheet restructuring, acquisition and private equity transactions. Since 2012 he has concentrated exclusively on Non-Executive Directorships.
JOHN DAHLSEN
is Chairman and Sole Owner of the JC Dahlsen Group, the largest independent hardware and timber business in Australia, with stores and manufacturing plants across Victoria, Metro Sydney and the north of WA and NT.
John was a Director of ANZ for 20 years, commencing in 1985 and retiring February 2005 with many years as Chairman of the ANZ Audit Committee.
John co-founded Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Ltd which grew from a small company ($3 million in equity and $27 million in debt) to a company that was sold to Fairfax for approximately $1.7 billion.
John is one of Victoria’s most accomplished businessmen and among many achievements has been Director or Chairman of many of Australia’s leading companies and organisations including:
- ANZ Banking Group Limited
- Woolworths Limited (Chairman)
- Melbourne Business School Limited (Chairman)
- Southern Cross Broadcasting (Aust) Ltd (Chairman and Co-Founder)
- Herald and Weekly Times Limited (Chairman) as well as Director of Associated Companies:
- Advertiser Newspaper Limited
- Herald Sun TV Pty Limited
- Television Broadcasters Pty Limited
- Queensland Press Limited
- Myer Emporium Limited (Deputy Chairman)
- OVS Investment Corporation Limited
GEOFF DAHLSEN
is the CEO of JC Dahlsen Pty Ltd operating over 50 timber, hardware and building material stores throughout Australia mainly servicing the trade. Having built this business to be the largest independent merchant in this industry,
Geoff has gained invaluable experience in an industry that is not only undergoing massive change but is also dealing with intense pressure from corporate retailers battling to dominate the sector. Geoff has a broad range of skills covering all aspects of business management.