Our People

Evidentia was founded by a passionate team of experts who are not only highly experienced investment specialists but have also owned and run financial planning practices and licensees.

This experience means we have greater insight into what advisers need to build client strategies.

Having witnessed how inadequately mainstream investment products serve clients, we know that with our combined knowledge of investing and advising clients we can work with financial planners to do it better.

Peter Smith

Chairman & CEO

Peter is a business leader with 28 years experience at a Senior Executive, Board, and Business Owner level and has operated in the Wealth Management segment over this whole period.

Peter has experience in international and domestic markets, beginning his career in Brisbane then working in London and Sydney. This experience spans institutional investment management and financial planning. Roles have included end-to-end leadership of large Wealth Management businesses operating in complex and highly competitive markets, and over the last decade, his focus has been on Board and Principal investor roles in the financial services SME segment.

Peter began his career with Macquarie Bank in their Investment Management business. He then joined NAB to run the MLC business in Queensland, before transferring to London for 4 years, where he was the General Manager of the MLC business in the UK, spanning funds management, financial planning, and business consulting. On returning from London to Sydney, Peter joined the NAB Global Asset Management business, a business that went on to manage over $150Bn in assets.

In the Wealth Advice segment, he is a past CEO of Godfrey Pembroke, one of Australia’s largest Private Wealth firms, and then he went on to lead NAB’s Australian advice businesses spanning Godfrey Pembroke, Garvan Financial Planning, MLC Financial Planning, Apogee FP, and Meritum.

Peter is the CEO and a founding Partner of Evidentia. Using his experience across global asset management, private wealth advice, and leadership of fast-growing businesses, his focus is to lead the Evidentia business whist ensuring our primary focus is always to deliver value to our Partner firms.

Peter has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments from FINSIA, and a Diploma in Financial Services. He has also completed the Executive Program at Stanford Business School in the USA.

Will Gramolt, CA AICD

Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer
Will is a successful business leader with nearly 30 years’ finance experience.  He has a global perspective having lived and worked in senior executive positions in Hong Kong, Ireland, the UK, the Americas, and Australia.  He has held a number of CFO positions as well as providing director, business and board advisory services to companies across multiple industries.

Will held the CFO role at China Development Bank’s US$15bn aircraft leasing business where he oversaw all financial activities including attaining the company’s inaugural investment-grade credit ratings, public and private market debt financing, treasury, financial planning, reporting and tax.  He previously held a number of CFO and Treasurer positions within the finance industry and has also worked in foreign exchange, for Macquarie Bank’s infrastructure division. Will also has experience in London working for global accounting and advisory firm BDO as an adviser in their corporate finance division.

Will has taken companies through start-up and transformation phases and has operated in family office, private equity, and public company environments in multiple jurisdictions.  He has a proven track record of instilling and driving culture and strategy and in leading organisational change.  He brings a focus on business and profitability growth and a demonstrated desire to leverage technology to implement class-leading processes.  He has designed, introduced and overseen systems, processes and reporting to the standards required by stock exchanges in the UK, the US, Hong Kong and China, including compliance with Sarbanes Oxley and similar standards.  He has substantial M&A experience on both buy and sell sides and in subsequent restructuring and integration activities, has had significant involvement with the global debt capital markets and bank debt markets and has raised equity capital, including by way of IPO.

Will is the COO and CFO and a Partner at Evidentia.  In this role, his focus is to drive the systems, processes and technology that underpins the Evidentia business to ensure they are class-leading and institutional grade, and to ensure excellence in the financial reporting function.

Will has a 1st Class Honours degree from London University, is a UK-qualified Chartered Accountant, a graduate of London Business School’s Senior Executive Programme and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 Connect with Will on Linkedin

Troy Swann 

Chief Investment Officer

Troy is an experienced and successful executive with global experience specialising in investment management.   As CEO, Troy drove the development of one of New Zealand’s most successful independent Asset Management businesses.  He also led the build out of NAB’s boutique asset management business which saw the acquisition of investment firms across a range of asset classes in Australia, the UK, the US, Canada and Asia.

With over 24 years experience in financial services, he has had a range of senior roles in Investment Management, Strategy, Operations  and Change Management and been a board director of numerous investment management firms.  He also worked as an economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia and as a management consultant with Accenture. During his time at NAB Troy spent 2 years in London with a focus on European strategy and M&A.

Funds management board appointments have included Pengana Capital (Sydney), Fairview Equity Partners (Melbourne), Redpoint Investment Management (Sydney), Altrinsic Global Advisors (New York), Peridiem Global Investors (Los Angeles), Presima Inc (Montreal), Orchard Street Investment Management (London), and Intermede Investment Partners (London).

Troy is the Chief Investment Officer at Evidentia and is a founding Partner of the firm. In this role he is focussed on ensuring the Investment Management program is institutional grade and is underpinned by rigorous and disciplined processes. He also has specific responsibility for the Private Markets offering of the business and is focussed on ensuring our partner firms gain access to globally sourced best of breed Private Markets solutions for their clients.

Troy has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and a Diploma of Finance.  He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Connect with Troy on LinkedIn

Darren Beesley, FIAA

Head of Portfolio Management – Multi Asset

Darren is an experienced multi-asset portfolio manager and brings specialist knowledge in portfolio construction, investment strategy, asset allocation, and risk management. He has held roles in funds management and asset consulting over the past 18 years.

Prior to joining Evidentia Darren was Head of Portfolio Management at AMP Capital where he led a team of portfolio managers and analysts responsible for AMP’s range of multi-asset funds including super, pension, goals based, insurance-linked and passive portfolios totalling $80 billion FUM.

Darren also headed the research and development program of the AMP Capital Multi-Asset Group and oversaw portfolio construction, asset allocation and implementation across the group’s set of multi-asset funds.

Prior to joining AMP, Darren was Portfolio Manager for Perpetual’s Diversified Strategies team where he was responsible for a range of multi-asset funds. Mr Beesley has also worked as portfolio manager and dealer at Ankura Capital (quantitative Australian equities), and as an investment analyst at Willis Towers Watson.

Darren is Head of Portfolio Management – Multi Asset and a Partner at Evidentia. In this role he has responsibility for the Multi Asset component of the investment management function including capital markets research, and asset allocation. He is also the portfolio manager of the Evidentia multi asset portfolios.

Darren is qualified as a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute of Australia (FIAA) and sits on the Actuaries Institute Retirement Income Working Group. He completed a Commerce Degree at UNSW majoring in finance and actuarial studies and was awarded the UNSW Co-op Scholarship in actuarial studies.

Connect with Darren on LinkedIn

Jo Cornwell, CFA

Head of Manager Research
Jo Cornwell is Head of Manager Research at Evidentia Group and a member of the Investment Committee. Jo has extensive experience in manager research, selection & analysis and portfolio construction. Jo also has significant experience and skills in researching and analysing ESG risks and opportunities as part of the investment process. She has held roles in portfolio management and asset consulting over the past 19 years.

Prior to joining Evidentia, Jo was Portfolio Manager for Growth Assets at Aware Super. At Aware Super, Jo was responsible for $70bn in assets spanning Australian and Global Equities investments. Jo oversaw manager research, manager selection, portfolio construction, implementation, and portfolio performance across Aware’s set of listed equity portfolios.

Prior to joining Aware, Jo was an Investment Professional at StatePlus where she was responsible for the investments underlying their range of retirement products. Jo has also previously worked as an Investment Consultant at Mercer both in the UK and Australia.

Jo is qualified as a CFA Charterholder and holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham in the UK.

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

Dr Anthony Corr, PhD 

Head of Asset Allocation Research
Dr Anthony Corr is Head of Asset Allocation Research at Evidentia Group and a member of the Investment Committee. Anthony is one of the leading investment professionals in the Australian market and has over 25 years of experience in investment research and management, having held leadership roles at GMO, Redpoint, and Continuum.

Before joining Evidentia, he was the Head of Research at Redpoint, a quantitative global equities manager, from 2013 until 2022. Prior to Redpoint, he founded Continuum Capital, a boutique quantitative investment manager, which merged with Redpoint in 2013. Before founding Continuum, he was the Head of Australian Equities Research at Boston-based GMO, a leading global equity and multi-asset manager, from 1997 to 2007. During this period, he also spent a number of years as the portfolio manager of the GMO Australian Equities fund.

Anthony is an expert at developing global and domestic equities quantitative investment processes, including signal development, strategy design and backtesting, portfolio management tools, attribution, and more recently he has had a focus on research and portfolio construction enhancements. He has developed and implemented a range of financial theories into portfolios including: valuation of intangibles, inflation accounting, prospect theory, accruals manipulation, ambiguity aversion and behavioural herding.

He has also implemented a range of mathematical modelling techniques including Machine Learning (regression/discriminant based), Bayesian methods, Monte-Carlo & Bootstrapping, and Natural Language Processing. He possesses strong programming skills in Matlab, T-SQL, Python, Java & R.

Anthony has a PhD in Finance from the University of NSW and a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Mathematical  Statistics from UTS. He was also an adjunct lecturer in Risk and Portfolio Construction at Macquarie University.

Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn

Leigh Cronin 

Head of Australian Equities

Leigh is Head of Australian Equities and a founding partner of Evidentia. In this role Leigh leads the Evidentia Australian Equities business and has portfolio management responsibility for the two direct Australian equities portfolios. Leigh is also a member of the Investment Committee. 

Leigh has broad based experience within the financial services industry spanning in excess of 30 years, including more than 25 years focused on Australian equities and in excess of 15 year in senior portfolio management roles within leading funds management businesses.

Prior to joining Evidentia, Leigh was a Co-Founder, Executive Director and Portfolio Manager at Fairview Equity Partners, a boutique Australian smaller companies fund founded in 2008.

He was previously a Senior Investment Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management for approximately 5 years, with broad based stock responsibility across a number of sectors. 

This transition into funds management followed a successful career as a Senior Equities Research Analyst at JBWere & Son, specialising in the Banking & Finance sector, where the team was consistently highly rated amongst institutional and retail clients. 

Prior to entering the investment markets, Leigh was a Chartered Accountant with PwC across both the Audit and Corporate Finance divisions. 

Leigh holds a bachelor of Business (Accounting) from Deakin University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied and Investment (Securities Institute of Australia).

Connect with Leigh on LinkedIn

James Meade 

Head of Partnerships
James has worked in the financial services industry since 1984 and has held a variety of senior roles within some of Australia’s preeminent financial services companies.

James’ career has spanned across Financial Advice, General Insurance and Wealth Management. He operated as a Practice Management specialist, working with leading advice firms to corporatise their practices, improve profitability, embed often-complex succession planning, and ultimately realise value in their firms. He has also focussed heavily on helping advice firms improve their client offer to drive client satisfaction levels and client advocacy.

He went on to hold senior leadership roles such as Head of Partnership Development for NAB Wealth, and for 6 years was General Manager of one of Australia’s largest and most highly rated financial planning businesses, Garvan & MLC Financial Planning. He was also General Manager of NAB Wealth’s National Practice Management offering, and was NSW State Manager of MLC. This broad experience leaves him with a strong knowledge of the challenges that face both advisers and licensees, and he has lead businesses through many complex change programs in the past as they face into these challenges.

James is Head of Partnerships and a founding Partner of Evidentia. In this role James acts as the trusted adviser to our partner firms on many strategic matters such as client engagement, strategic planning, and growth and succession management.

James’ qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Economics and Finance, a Certificate in Financial Markets from the Securities Institute of Australia, an Advanced Diploma in Financial Services, and he has completed the Executive Program at Stanford Business School in the USA.

Connect with James on LinkedIn

Chris Carrodus, CFA

Head of Asset Consulting
Chris has over 18 years of experience in the investment management and wealth management industry working in investment strategy, advice, business development and legal roles in the UK and Australia. Chris began his career as a financial services M&A lawyer in Melbourne and London before transitioning into investment management with leading global fund manager, BlackRock.

In his 12 years at BlackRock Chris held a variety of roles covering product development, multi-asset investment strategy, business development and head of alternatives investment strategy in both the London and Melbourne offices of BlackRock.

Before joining Evidentia Chris worked as CIO for a high-net-worth advice business in Sydney where he designed and managed a suite of model portfolios and also managed a custom portfolio of alternative investment funds.

Chris has deep experience across capital markets with a focus on multi-asset portfolio construction, asset allocation and alternative investments. Chris also has extensive experience working with advice businesses, family offices and foundations on investment strategy, portfolio construction, implementation and on-going portfolio management.

Chris is Head of Asset Consulting and a Partner of Evidentia. In his role Chris has responsibility for the Asset Consulting team who serve our partner firms.

Chris is a CFA charter holder and has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

Greg Pease, CFA 

Principal, Asset Consulting
Greg has over 23 years of experience in the finance industry. His experience spans institutional asset management, sales and distribution, practice development, at a corporate level, as well as accounting and financial planning having begun his career as an accountant in a leading Private Wealth and Accounting firm.

Greg has deep experience across capital markets and has specifically gained asset class experience across listed equities, property, fixed interest, and private equity. Greg has extensive experience in assisting businesses develop their investment philosophy and then implement their approach through establishing and running investment committees whether that be at a firm or UHNW client level.

Given Greg’s experience spans advice firm client strategy, as well as investment management and dealing with asset consultants at a portfolio level, he is uniquely placed to work with Principals of advice firms to design, construct, implement, and manage tailored client portfolios. These solutions have been proven to drive significant benefits for advice firms as well as achieve superior outcomes for clients.

Greg is a Principal, Asset Consulting and a founding Partner of Evidentia. In his role Greg is responsible for taking the Evidentia Asset Consulting offer to Partner firms.

Greg is a CFA charter holder, and has a Bachelor of Laws, and a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) from Queensland University of Technology. Greg also holds a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investments from FINSIA.

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn

Hugh Holden, CAIA 

Principal, Asset Consulting

Hugh is a highly experienced investment and advice market professional and has over 16 years experience in investment management roles.  Hugh’s broad experience in the investment management industry spans multiple asset classes including fixed income, equities, alternatives, and private markets.

Prior to joining Evidentia, Hugh was Senior Vice President at PIMCO based in Sydney specialising in working with Private Wealth firms to utilise PIMCO’s investment solutions and more broadly to assist them to optimise their client portfolios as part of the portfolio construction process. At PIMCO he also played a key role in communicating the firm’s macroeconomic views to the Australian Private Wealth market.

Prior to joining PIMCO nearly 9 years ago, Hugh was a Senior Investment Specialist in NAB’s Global Asset Management business working across a range of specialist investment managers and styles.

As Principal, Asset Consulting, Hugh’s role at Evidentia is to work with leading Private Wealth firms in the Sydney and Melbourne markets to collaboratively design, build and then manage tailored investment programs designed to drive superior business and client outcomes.

Hugh holds a Master of Economics from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney. He also holds a diploma in financial planning.

Hugh is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).

Connect with Hugh on Linkedin

Georgdie Asprey

Principal, Asset Consulting
Georgdie has over 13 years experience in the investment management industry working for leading local and global investment firms. Georgdie spent the last 11 years with Elston Asset Management specialising in the investment management and SMA segment. Prior to this Georgdie also gained experience at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and KIS Capital Partners.

His most recent role involved working closely with the firm’s Portfolio Managers, and Analysts to demonstrate the firm’s investment expertise and effectively manage ongoing client dialogue and investment information.

This involved working with both Multi-Asset and Australian Equity investment teams to ensure partner firms and their clients were well informed on the portfolio approach and market outlook. He was also responsible for providing expert market knowledge specifically aligned to the firm’s investment capability. He is a highly regarded market specialist and was often called upon to provide detailed commentary and analysis on portfolio holdings, performance drivers and market views to partner firms.

Georgdie is a Principal, Asset Consulting at Evidentia. In this role he is focussed on ensuring our partner firms receive the best possible advice and service around their investment programs, and ensuring they have access to the broad Evidentia investment offering.

Georgdie’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Business (Major in Finance and Management) from Queensland University of Technology, a Master of Finance from Griffith University.

Connect with Georgdie on Linkedin

Jayne Smith 

Head of Adviser Proposition

Jayne brings a 28-year background in financial services, having held senior positions in London, Brisbane and Sydney. 

Her career, predominantly with leading global financial services firms, has always been advice-centric. She has dedicated herself to fostering the growth of top financial planning firms in Australia and the UK, guiding them to enhance both client satisfaction and business performance. 

Beginning her career in London, Jayne has held senior positions such as National Account Manager at Friends Provident, a premier UK wealth management company. She then moved to take on the role of Head of Sales for MLC’s UK Multi Manager business, where she led the team that introduced the multi-asset, multi-manager proposition to the UK IFA market. 

Additionally, Jayne also lead the Pivotal Consulting business (a NAB company), providing consultancy and corporate advisory services. The focus in this business was to support UK  Private Wealth firms in refining client engagement approaches, sharpening their value propositions, and evolving their business models to drive shareholder value. 

Relocating to Australia with NAB, Jayne took on the role of State Manager for the MLC and NAB Wealth operations in Queensland. After successfully leading and building the Queensland business, she was promoted to National Head of Platform Sales for the MLC & NAB Wealth Australian division based in Sydney. In this capacity, Jayne oversaw a 60-member national team that promoted the multi-manager investment solution, MasterKey, and the Wrap platform to the advisory market. She managed an annual FUM budget of $10B and was fully accountable for the overall strategy, execution, and people management of distribution efforts. 

On leaving the institutional wealth management segment 10 years ago, Jayne as subsequently been an owner of 2 high performing wealth management SMEs – one in the Private Wealth sector; and one in the integrated Accounting and Private Wealth segment. 

Jayne is the Head of Adviser Proposition at Evidentia and has been heavily involved since the establishment of the firm in 2018. In this role Jayne has responsibility for ensuring our client facing proposition for new and existing partner firms is market leading and most critically, that we are always adding value to our partner firms. 

Jayne has an honours degree in English and French from Lancaster University and completed her Financial Planning Certificate in the UK. 

Ana Sikorski

Principal, Practice Development  

Ana has spent the last 18 years in senior practice consulting and distribution roles in the wealth management industry. Her experience spans sales and distribution, technology integration and practice development roles.

Ana has worked for large institutions in the Asset Management, Platforms, and Advice segment, including more recently Colonial First State as a senior Business Development Manager, MLC and NAB, and Aviva as well as for a privately owned financial planning business in QLD at the beginning of her career.

Ana is known for her passion for building mutually successful relationships with leading advice firms who want to provide high quality, client centric advice while also  growing profitable and successful businesses.

Her experience includes working as a Business Development Manager across both platforms and investments, including multi asset managed funds as well as managed accounts, Practice Development Manager, Technology Integration Manager with a focus on back-office efficiency, and as a Para Planner early in her career.

Ana has helped businesses with practice efficiency, client acquisitions, revenue growth strategies, customer segmentation, capability analysis, staffing and recruitment support, establishment of referral partnerships, client engagement, business projections and exit planning.

This broad skillset puts Ana in a unique position where she understands all aspects of the advice chain and the superior business and client outcomes that can be achieved through improving the investment program and the use of Managed Accounts.

Ana is Principal, Practice Development at Evidentia and responsible for delivering Evidentia’s solutions to Partner firms then working with them to drive better business and client outcomes.

Connect with Ana on Linkedin

Bridget Poolman

Principal, Practice Development  

Bridget has over 23 years’ experience working in wealth management and financial services having worked with major institutions including ANZ, NAB Wealth, Godfrey Pembroke, and Insignia Financial. 

Over this period Bridget has held senior roles across strategy, advice, practice development, sales and investments. These roles entailed overseeing dealer group advisory operations, building relationships with dealer groups and financial advice firms, developing, and executing strategic business plans for advice firms and translating market research to drive business growth across platforms and asset management. 

Most recently Bridget was a Senior Consultant with the Godfrey Pembroke Group where she was charged with building and implementing the high-net-worth (HNW) strategy for the firms in the Godfrey Pembroke network. This involved driving the research project then working with advice firms to build the HNW client engagement programs within their businesses. This also involved working with the advice firms then to ensure their investment solutions suited this client segment. 

Bridget’s role at Evidentia is to work with our partner firms to help them design tailored investment programs and then work with them on an ongoing basis to deliver exceptional business and client outcomes.

Bridget’s qualifications include a BSC Hons from University College London (UCL), an Advanced Diploma in Financial Services and soon to be completed Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance. Bridget has also completed the Executive Program at Stanford Business School in the USA

Connect with Bridget on Linkedin

Neil Murchie

Senior Portfolio Manager, Australian Equities

Neil is a Senior Portfolio Manager within the Evidentia Australian Equities business. In this role Neil works as a key member of the team focused on Australian equities research and the management of the 2 Australian equities portfolios.

Neil has worked in financial services in Australia for more than 20 years, including over a decade of domestic equities. His experience spans institutional funds management, equities research, debt capital markets and treasury.

Prior to joining Evidentia, Neil was Chief Investment Officer and a member of the executive leadership team at non-bank mortgage lender Athena Home Loans. In this role he was responsible for the establishment and optimisation of the Group’s debt funding facilities, including oversight of all senior and mezzanine financier relationships. 

With a background in consulting and banking, Neil was a Senior Analyst at Citigroup, where he covered Banks and Small-Cap Industrials, before spending 10 years with Australian Foundation Investment Company as a Senior Investment Analyst. During this time, he was involved with four separate portfolios, with market-wide sector coverage.

Before entering investment markets Neil spent several years with global strategy boutique, Corporate Value Associates, and National Australia Bank. 

Neil holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical), and a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He also holds a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.

Connect with Neil on LinkedIn

Rehan Chaudhri

Global Equities & Capital Markets Specialist
Based in New York, Rehan Chaudhri is a global investor and specialist in the technology, health care, and emerging energy sectors.  He is a retired Principal and former Portfolio Manager at Altrinsic Global Advisors.

Prior to Altrinsic, he was a portfolio manager with Lazard Asset Management on its flagship its $30 billion global equities investment fund.

His previous investment experience includes as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager with Brandywine Asset Management (Legg Mason group company) focussed on their global and international funds, and as a Managing Director as well as a telecommunications equity Research Analyst for Morgan Stanley.

He is a fellow with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils based in Washington DC and has spoken at the United Nations and Davos on topics of emerging energy effects on enhancing developing economies.

He began his career as a technology and strategy Management Consultant and worked for Booz, Allen & Hamilton.

Rehan is the Global Equities and Global Macro specialist within Evidentia and a member of the Investment Committee. Based in New York, and regarded as one of the world’s leading global equity investors, he provides invaluable insights that feed the Evidentia investment process.

He is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, and received his M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Samantha Feeley, CFA

Senior Investment Analyst
Samantha is an investment professional with over 10 years industry experience having worked in financial markets in the UK and Australia. She has a strong background in financial services and investment management, combined with an enthusiasm for data and financial modelling.
 
Sam has extensive expertise in investment analysis and began her career in OTC Derivatives where she worked at Royal Bank of Scotland and subsequently Macquarie Group.
 
During this time, she delved into the intricacies of OTC derivative valuations across various asset classes such as equities, interest rates, credit, FX and commodities.
 
Sam’s passion for analysis led her to transition into Investment Management, where she has been actively involved in helping financial advisers deliver on their investment strategies via managed accounts.
 
Sam is a Senior Investment Analyst at Evidentia in our Sydney office and is focussed on working as a member of the investment team to develop, implement, and manage evidence-based investment strategies to ensure our Partner firms deliver leading investment solutions to their clients. In addition, Sam plays a pivotal role in driving the firm’s approach to Responsible Investment, shaping and advancing sustainable investment approaches, with a particular emphasis on incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into the manager research process. This dedication to responsible investing underscores a commitment to making investment choices that are not only financially sound but also ethically and environmentally responsible.
 
Sam is a CFA charter holder and holds an honours degree in Accounting and Financial Management.
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Carrick Zhu, CFA CA

Senior Investment Analyst

Carrick has gained extensive experience over his 10 years in financial services. He offers deep knowledge and understanding of tax, accounting and finance, and leverages technology expertise to build financial models and reengineer business process.

Carrick is enthusiastic about data and modelling. What motivates Carrick most at Evidentia is working with a great team to deliver data and evidence based strategies to meet clients’ needs.

Carrick a Senior Investment Analyst at Evidentia and in this role Carrick is focussed on complex portfolio modelling, attribution analysis and performance reporting.

Carrick is a CFA charter holder, and a Chartered Accountant. He also holds a Bachelor of Economics, and a Masters in Management (Accounting) from University of Melbourne. He has also completed the Excel Modelling Program from the Corporate Finance Institute.

Connect with Carrick on Linkedin

Graham Turner

Head of Communications
Graham has over 20 years of financial services experience, beginning his career at a London-based private wealth firm, before spending a number of years in investment banking including analyst roles with Dresdner Kleinwort in London and Macquarie Group in Sydney.

Graham spent the past 12 years working as a Senior Private Wealth Adviser at one of Australia’s leading self-licensed boutique financial advisory firms, where he provided advice to some of the firm’s larger and more complex clients. During the last four years in this role Graham played an integral part in developing the firm’s tailored separately managed account (SMA) program before taking over responsibility for its ongoing management and implementation. A key part of this role involved bringing together his advice and advice writing skills, and investment management experience, to deliver high value communications targeted at both the investment committee and the firm’s clients.

Graham’s role at Evidentia is to drive our communication program to ensure our partner firms receive timely and insightful material for their Advisers and Investment Committee, though crucially also compile high value communications that our partner firms can use with their clients.

Graham was formerly a Certified Financial Planner, has a Master in Applied Finance, the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society (UK), and a Bachelor of Commerce.

Connect with Graham on Linkedin

Dwight Bennell

Communications Manager

Dwight is a communications professional with a decade of experience in financial services. Drawing on a background in professional copywriting, he is skilled at translating complex information into easy-to-read insights for a range of audiences.

Dwight has worked at HSBC, EISS Super, Sunsuper and Australian Retirement Trust developing everything from technical financial planning documents to multi-level marketing campaigns and thought leadership content. Mananging quarterly publications at Sunsuper and Australian Retirement Trust, he consistently produced high quality content for hundreds of thousands of employer partners and super fund members each year. 

Dwight’s role at Evidentia is to support the business with a focus on our communications program. He will deliver useful insights and reporting for our partner firms and their Advisers and Investment Committees. He will also create thought leadership content our partner firms can use with their clients, to help them make more informed financial decisions. 

Dwight has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Western Sydney. 

Connect with Dwight on Linkedin

Murray Neaves 

Senior Manager, Compliance & Risk Management
Murray has 29 years of experience in funds management and financial planning with Insignia Financial, MLC, Godfrey Pembroke, and NAB Wealth.

Over this period Murray has specialised in managing AFSL operations, managing complex regulatory programs of work, and running operational teams. Past roles have included NSW State Manager MLC Advice Partnerships, Head of Regulatory Transformation for MLC’s advice business, and Head of Operations for Godfrey Pembroke. Most recently Murray was Head of Advice Operations for Insignia Financial.

Murray’s role at Evidentia is to ensure our risk management, operational and compliance functions always operate at industry best practice levels and that the operating platform is institutional grade.

Murray has a Bachelor of Economics, a Graduate Diploma in Business Management, and a Diploma in Financial Services (Financial Planning). He has also completed the Executive Program at Stanford Business School in the USA.

Connect with Murray on Linkedin

Paul Moriarty 

Senior Manager, Product and Operations
Paul has 29 years experience having worked in the financial services industry since 1994 in a variety of roles with Insignia Financial (IOOF), NAB Wealth, MLC, and Lend Lease Investment Management.

Over this period, Paul has worked in senior roles across the Asset Management and Wealth Advice segments.  This has included investment management, product management, distribution, advice practice development, policy, and compliance.

Paul’s experience also includes leading complex regulatory change programs. Past roles have included NSW State Manager MLC Advice Licensees and Head of Advice Standards for NAB/MLC’s advice licensees.

Most recently Paul was a Senior Consultant in the Insignia Financial business with a focus on guiding the development of their refreshed Advice Service Model.

Paul has strong project management skills and is experienced in delivering complex projects involving multiple stakeholders, within targeted time frames.

Paul’s primary role at Evidentia is to work with the Asset Consulting team, and our Partner advice firms to build then manage high quality Managed Account product solutions for the firms. Paul also provides critical operational and project support across the broader business with a focus on industrialising systems and processes, driving reporting excellence, and providing governance and compliance advice and support.

Paul’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Mathematics & Finance and an Advanced Diploma in Financial Services (Financial Planning).

Connect with Paul on Linkedin

Jenny Mulders 

Compliance Manager
Jenny is a compliance professional with over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry across Australia and the United Kingdom. Her deep knowledge and compliance and regulation expertise has led to her working with boutique financial planners, investment advisers and fund managers.

As a service provider to Evidentia specialising in providing ‘in-house style’ compliance services, Jenny advises on all aspects of compliance and regulation including quality assurance and provides compliance management programs and auditing processes. She identifies and mitigates risk and is experienced in several financial products and asset classes including securities, MDA’s, Managed Funds, Fixed Interest, Foreign Exchange and more.

A Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and currently the Chair of the IMAP Regulatory Committee, Jenny has participated in numerous industry committees including the FPA, SDIA, ASX, SFA and the Bank of England.

Jenny is an Executive Director of Source Compliance, who offer SME businesses an effective way to obtain highly skilled reporting and regulatory compliance services with the budget certainty businesses need. They provide peace of mind that ongoing compliance obligations will be met reliably; operating as if they are a business’ own compliance department. Having previously worked at Wilson HTM, Suncorp, Citi and Lehman Brothers, most recently Jenny was the Founder and Director of QRC Consulting.

Connect with Jenny on Linkedin

Georgia Byrne 

Executive Support Manager
Georgia has 15 years’ experience as an executive support, event management, and business coordination professional.

Prior to joining the financial services industry, Georgia worked in the performing arts and events industry. Through a 10-year career with QPAC, Georgia worked in multiple roles including Executive Assistant, Protocol Manager and Artist Liaison. She worked on a variety of performance and programming projects during that time – from local productions for charity to well-known musicals, from logistics for international tours to interpreting/translating for some of the world’s biggest ballet companies. Georgia also has experience as an executive assistant in the wealth advice sector giving her an insight into the workings of an advice practice.

Georgia’s role at Evidentia is to provide business coordination, executive support, and to run any event management activities across the business.

Georgia has a Dual Degree in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business as well as a Cert IV in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language.

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Kristie Carson

Business Support Officer

Kristie is a seasoned Executive Assistant with over 15 years experience in supporting C-Suite roles. She also has extensive experience across senior management support, business co-ordination & project support. 

Kristie has supported a number of key Executive roles in national, fast paced organisations including MLC, NAB Wealth and Comiskey Group.  Working across diary management, travel arrangements, corporate communications, payroll and project support.  Kristie’s ability to support across multiple key roles and manage competing priorities, makes her a critical asset to any organisation.

Kristie’s role at Evidentia is to provide operational, project and payroll assistance as well as admin coordination.

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Farah Abdel Aziz

Associate

Farah is a highly ambitious and motivated young professional who is particularly interested in asset management. Having Co-founded RF Tutoring and previously an Academic Tutor at UQ, she brings her passion for helping others achieve their goals and deep problem-solving, business management and analytical skills to the team. 

Farah graduated from Mansfield State High School and achieved an ATAR of 98.65 and was actively involved in leadership and volunteering. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) at the University of Queensland and has maintained a GPA of 7.0/7.0.

Farah is an Associate at Evidentia and is dedicated to working with the Asset Consulting team to provide client focused support on portfolio analysis and attribution, Investment Committee material preparation, and post meeting follow-through. Farah also provides support around the reporting and communications program of work.

She is passionate and curious about all things finance and business and enjoys spending her free time learning about and exploring potential investment opportunities available on the market

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Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it

– Benjamin Graham