Valentina Stojanovska Cal

Valentina has more than 18 years’ experience as a corporate, commercial and tax lawyer advising funds, listed investment companies, financial institutions, responsible entities and ratings agencies, as well as national and multinational (outbound/inbound) corporates, across a diverse range of industries, including mining, finance, airlines, retail and manufacturing, property and construction, equity and capital markets and private equity.

Valentina has held senior positions at KPMG, Phillips Fox, Corrs and Minter Ellison, and has worked in-house at Multiplex and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, including as General Counsel.

Valentina is a Consultant at Sparke Helmore and is Chair of the firm’s Sports and Entertainment Law practice. She is admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister in Australia.

Valentina is Chairman of the Australasian Football Institute and is a director on the boards of Black Book Management Pty Ltd, Australasian Football Foundation, SP7 Management Pty Ltd and The Charlie Teo Foundation. She is also an Executive Patron of the Taronga Zoo and Ambassador of The Australian Ballet.

Valentina has a Bachelor of Law/Arts (LLB/BA) and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Melbourne, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), has completed the Leadership Program – Mount Eliza, Melbourne Business School and is a Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA) – The Tax Institute.

Martin Switzer

Martin has held the positions of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company since 27 October 2017. Prior to that, he was a Director of the company since 26 August 2016. Marty has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Martin is currently a director of WCM Global Growth Limited.

Before his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Martin was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Switzer Financial Group, a content and financial services business. He has been a host on the Sky News Business channel, as well as a consultant to the Australian Defence Force Financial Services Consumer Centre.

Michael Liu

Michael has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry including executive positions at Macquarie Group and UBS Investment Bank. Michael has extensive experience in capital management, mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, credit ratings, capital markets and corporate finance.

At UBS Investment Bank, Michael was Head of Capital Management and advised ASX-listed entities, including listed investment companies, on a range of capital management matters including share buy-backs and dividend policy.

Michael was also admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1996. At law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, Michael provided legal advice on tax, superannuation and corporate finance matters.

Michael has held non-executive positions at a number of companies including wealth advisory firm Affinity Private and a community bank franchise of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. Michael is currently Asia Pacific Director at WorldRemit Ltd, a global money transfer organisation headquartered in London, and is a member of the Board of Directors of WorldRemit Ltd’s Australian and Hong Kong subsidiaries.

Michael has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.

Stephen Merlicek

From 2009 to 2017 Steve was Chief Investment Officer at IOOF, an ASX-listed financial services organisation with over $140 billion under management, administration, advice and supervision. He was responsible for the Funds Management Division, comprising IOOF’s multi-manager products and Quant Plus (quantitative manager).

Prior to joining IOOF, Steve was chief investment officer at Telstra Super for 10 years, during which time it was a top performing fund winning numerous investment awards. Steve was an early supporter and the instigator of a very successful alternatives program at Telstra Super, including global and local private equity, listed and unlisted infrastructure and various hedge fund programs.

Earlier in his career, Steve was an international equities portfolio manager, an economist and a regular soldier in the Australian Army.

Steve has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from Monash University in Melbourne, a Master of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and is also a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA).

Steve was named CIO of the Year at the inaugural CIO/COO National Achievement Awards in 2012.

Paul Rickard

Paul was the founding Managing Director of CommSec, which he led from 1994 through to 2002, and was chairman until 2009. In 2005, Paul was named ‘Stockbroker of the Year’ and admitted to the Industry Hall of Fame of the Australian Stockbrokers Foundation.

After a 20 year career with the Commonwealth Bank, finishing in the role as Executive General Manager Payments & Business Technology, Paul left in 2009 to team up with Peter Switzer and found the ‘Switzer Super Report’’, a subscription based newsletter for the trustees of self-managed super funds. An expert in investment and superannuation, he is a regular commentator on TV, radio and online, and overseas editorial development at Switzer.

Paul is also a Non-Executive Director of Tyro Payments Ltd, Property Exchange Australia Ltd and Switzer Asset Management Limited, a position he has held since 1 September 2009.

Paul has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, 1982 and a Diploma of Financial Planning from the RMIT University, 1994.