Experience

Portfolio Construction Forum

• Australia
• Financial Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Managing Partner and Dean

  • Apr 2002 - Present

  My day-to-day business passion is Portfolio Construction Forum, which I founded in 2002, after selling Morningstar, the fund research business I founded 18 years earlier. I use LinkedIn to keep my connections regularly updated with the latest on Portfolio Construction Forum - the specialist, independent investment continuing education, accreditation and certification service curated primarily for for Australian and NZ investment portfolio construction practitioners: - Managed via our multi-media learning platform, portfolioconstructionforum.edu.au/.ac.nz - Focused on five knowledge domains - markets, strategies, investing, finology, philosophy - which determine our curriculum - Featuring a selected, authoritative faculty of subject matter experts - who contribute presentations & papers - Presented via online and live CE, accreditation and certification programs designed to facilitate learning and member engagement. Portfolio Construction Forum serves approximately 15,000 members - practitioners and advocates - primarily in Australia and NZ. Our Learning Management System, MyCE, manages and reports the accredited CE of our members. The Forum curates and publishes a wide range of live and online CE activities across the five knowledge domains - programs, perspectives, courses and subscription services. With respect to our certification programs, the Forum is the CIMA Society of Australia’s strategic partner in the management and delivery of the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) certification and accredited continuing education services; the CIMA Society is the professional community for Certified Investment Management Analysts in Australia and NZ. I am the Executive Director of the CIMA Society. The Forum is a Registered Education Provider of the Investments and Wealth Institute (Denver, CO), owners of the CIMA certification marks. For more detail, please visit portfolioconstructionforum.edu.au, a brillient! publication.



brillient!

• Publisher and owner

  • Apr 2002 - Present

  I established brillient! in 2002, after having left Morningstar as founder, CEO and owner, and transitioning my holding company activities from Fiduciary in New Zealand to brillient! in Australia. brillient! is a specialist professional practice which publishes PortfolioConstruction Forum, and its multi-media learning platform portfolioconstructionforum.edu.au. Founded with Deirdre Keown, it was the first and is still the only curator and publisher of a unique multi-media mix of specialist, independent investment continuing education and certification programs solely focused on investment portfolio construction matters. PortfolioConstruction Forum is now the only business activity of brillient!. In 2006, brillient! established and successfully developed a new managed fund data collection business, FundData, which was subsequently sold to IRESS Market Technology in 2009.



CIMA Society of Asia Pacific

• Australia
• Education Administration Programs
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Executive Officer

  • Jul 2019 - Present

  The CIMA Society of Australia is the professional Community for Certified Investment Management Analysts in Australia and New Zealand, and those who support them. As Executive Officer, my role is to manage and grow the CIMA Society by supporting the Independent Board of Directors and CIMA Society strategy. brillient!, a company in which I am a principal shareholder is contracted to provide secretariat services to the CIMA Society, in addition to its subsidiary Portfolio Construction Forum being the CIMA Society Preferred Education Provider.



Morningstar Australia and New Zealand (previously FPG Research)

• Founder, CEO, Managing Director and owner

  • Jan 1999 - Mar 2002

  In 1999, I sold part of my successful and dominant fund research business - FPG Research - to create a joint-ventured with Morningstar Inc, a US fund research business, and changed my company's name to Morningstar Australia and New Zealand to enable the Morningstar brand to establish itself. This was Morningstar, Inc's first joint-venture with a pre-existing fund research and ratings business and the beginning of their international expansion. At the time of my departure as CEO in late 2001 and from the Board of Directors in 2002, the business dominated the retail managed funds data and ratings arena in Australia and New Zealand. Morningstar Inc fully acquired the Morningstar Australia and New Zealand business from my holding company, Fiduciary Ltd, interests in 2007.



Fiduciary

• Founder, Managing Director and owner

  • Jan 1983 - Mar 2002

  Following a study tour to the US, looking at trends in financial services and advice, I left a business management role with Norwich Union (now Aviva), and established and managed Fiduciary as a holding company of a range of New Zealand-based financial information businesses, providing services to financial advisers in New Zealand. This included founding Financial Planning Group (1983, the first financial planning practice in NZ, and later sold), FPG Research (1983, the first managed fund research house in Australia and NZ, expanded to Australia and later sold to Morningstar U.S. to become Morningstar Australasia in 1999), AdviserLink (1987, the first financial adviser training company, and later sold), and financialalert (1990, the first trade publication for financial advisers in NZ, and now part of PortfolioConstruction Forum). In its five years through to 2001, Fiduciary had an independent Board of Directors, chaired by the Hon. Ruth Richardson, past Minister of Finance for NZ. All four businesses established by Fiduciary continue to operate successfully. I founded the NZ chapter of the U.S. International Association for Financial Planning, and the Certified Financial Planner program for NZ, for which I have been recognised with various awards. It was with the passion of youth and a commitment to helping make a better world of investment advice that had me commence in business on my own account. Each of these related entities, and also my active involvement with various professional associations, were part of fulfilling that passion. The rest, as they say, is history. These experiences together enabled the successful establishment of Portfolio Construction Forum in 2002. I stopped the trading activities of Fiduciary soon after leaving Morningstar as CEO, with the establishment of brillient! as my publishing and holding company in Australia, and its focus on Portfolio Construction Forum. Fiduciary sold its remaining shares in Morningstar in 2007.



FPG Research (subsequently changed name to Morningstar)

• Founder, Managing Director and owner

  • 1983 - 1999

  I founded and was for 16 years CEO and publisher of FPG Research, the first retail funds data, research and ratings company in Australia and New Zealand. During this time, the business expanded from NZ to Australia, initiated and introduced fund data collection and distribution, and in 1997 launched fund star ratings to investors, advisers and fund managers. In 1999, FPG Research was joint-ventured with Morningstar Inc, a US fund research business, and changed its name to Morningstar in Australia and New Zealand to enable the Morningstar brand to establish itself. At the time of my departure as CEO in late 2001 and from the Board of Directors in 2002, the business dominated the retail managed funds data and ratings arena in Australia and New Zealand. Morningstar Inc fully acquired the Morningstar Australia and New Zealand business from my holding company, Fiduciary Ltd, in 2007. FPG Research was established in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 1 April 1983 and turned out to be the first managed fund research business in Australia and New Zealand. FPG Research initially researched funds offered in New Zealand only, however in 1993 FPG Research acquired Independent Funds Research Pty Ltd from Perpetual Trustees, and extended its funds research business to include funds offered in Australia and New Zealand. in 1996, FPG Ressearch introduced the concept and term "fund ratings" and commenced offering a composite qualitative and quantiative fund ratings software subscription service to investment advisers, investment advisory firms, funds management firms. FPG Research pioneered the unique qualitative and quantitative "star ratings" that were regularly published in numerous media, and from this the Fund Manager of the Year Awards.



Financial Planning Group

• Principal and owner

  • 1983 - 1989

  I established Financial Planning Group, the first financial planning practice in New Zealand, and subsequently also Money Concepts NZ, a national financial planning network. Both of these businesses were subsequently sold in 1989 to enable them to continue to operate independently from the investment information services provided by my holding company business, Fiduciary Ltd. I established Financial Planning Group, the first financial planning practice in New Zealand, and subsequently also Money Concepts NZ, a national financial planning network. Both of these businesses were subsequently sold in 1989 to enable them to continue to operate independently from the investment information services provided by my holding company business, Fiduciary Ltd.



Aviva

• United Kingdom
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Investment and life insurance sales and management

  • 1975 - 1983

  I commenced my career in financial services working as a sales representative of Norwich Union (now Aviva) after leaving the University of Otago. Following five enjoyable and successful years in Dunedin, I moved with Norwich to Christchurch to head the Canterbury region of the business. Here, in 1980, unit linked investments were first introduced to New Zealand, and I was part of their development. It was in this context that my interest in investment advice was particularly stimulated. As part of a Norwich business and marketing strategy initiative, I completed a study tour of early financial planning firms in the United States. I learned that investment advice was a distinct discipline and skill, and distinct from "selling" investments and insurance! I met with the International Association for Financial Planning (IAFP) in Atlanta, GA. These experiences and the resulting passion consequently led to me establishing Financial Planning Group, the first financial planning practice in New Zealand, and FPG Research, the first investment fund research business (which I then developed across into Australia, and ultimately sold to Morningstar, Inc.), and to me leaving Norwich Union. Thus began my career in the world of investment advice and in supporting the information needs of investment advisers.