Revolving Doors – October 2023

Another month, another World Cup – this time rugby.  Unfortunately, the Wallabies are not doing well so sadly no World Cup winning Public Holiday on the cards.   

In CFO land typically, August and September are slower months for CFO activity – companies are finalising their audit and their annual reports, working out bonuses and locking in AGM dates.  We tend to see more activity towards the end of September through to Melbourne Cup Day in November, bonuses get paid and businesses focus on who they need to hire to be successful for the next financial year and beyond.

There were still some interesting moves during the last month.  The CFO moves I found of interest this month are the following:

ASX CFO Moves In

•             After over 5 years in Singapore and Dubai, Jason Burriss returns to Sydney and joins infection protection company Nanosonics as their new CFO.  Jason replaces long standing CFO McGregor Grant whose resignation was mentioned in my June update.

•             ZIP’s CFO of seven years, Martin Brooke, steps down and is succeeded by Gordon Bell.  Gordon has a strong financial services career from Westpac and Barclays.

•             The GPT Group are in the market for a new CFO following Anastasia Clarke’s resignation. Anastasia moves across to Charter Hall as their new CFO and will join Charter Hall in early 2024.

•             Investment Management business Clime have appointed Tushar Kale as their new CFO.  Tushar takes over from Andrew Plum who had been interim CFO.

•             Greg Tamvakellis has been promoted from Financial Controller into the CFO role at energy procurement and energy management services business – Energy Action.  Greg replaces Simon Smith whose resignation was announced in my July update.

•             Glenn Day joins TASK Group Holdings as their new Group CFO.  TASK are moving their head office from NZ to Sydney.  TASK develops engagement and transaction management solutions for the Hospitality sector.  Glenn was most recently CFO of previously ASX listed businesses Kyckr, and Class Limited.   

•             Last month it was mentioned that Samuel Samhan had left Digital Wellness – I can now announce that Samuel has moved to global semiconductor business, BluGlass as their new CFO.  Samuel replaces Rob Ambroglo, who was CFO part time.

•             Keith Leung will start this month as the new CFO at Count, the accounting and financial services business.  Keith is coming from APA Group where he spent 15 years in senior finance roles.

CFO to CEO/COO

•             Russell Proutt has resigned after over 6 years as CFO at Charter Hall.  Russell will move to The GPT Group as their new CEO.  Russell is expected to join GPT no later than March 2024. A little bit of swapsie with Anastasia’s move mentioned earlier.

•             Global software company FirstWave Cloud Technology have made some key management changes.  One of them is the appointment of current CFO Iain Bartram, into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer. 

Interesting Moves outside the ASX

•             The Not for Profit sector has picked up a new recruit with Kathryn Kerr being appointed as the CFO at St Vincent de Paul Society NSW.  She is my favourite CFO!!

•             Retirement villages business Levande have locked in Emmanuel Zammit as their new CFO.  Emmanuel had been interim CFO following Anthony Rice’s move to Estia Health.

•             Laurent Toussaint, who was CFO at Count, has moved across to Mason Stevens as their new CFO.  Mason Stevens are a wealth management platform provider.  Laurent replaces Wayne Twomey.

•             Michael Bradburn is on the move. Michael is leaving as CFO of Ausgrid and joining Australia Post as their new CFO.

•             Andrew McIntyre’s career has taken off as he joins Newcastle Airport as their new CFO.

•             Simon Downey moves from Bravura Solutions where he was Commercial Director, to robotic process automation business Cloudwerx as their new CFO.  Simon replaces Yvonne Martins.

•             After leaving Cloudwerx, Yvonne Martins has a new role as the CFO at NSW Land Registry Services – a body that creates and maintains land title records on behalf of the NSW Government.

•             Singapore Post owned Couriers Please have delivered Marc Jacobson as their new CFO.  Marc has a strong transport / logistics background coming from Australia Post.

•             After 15 years M&C Saatchi Group bid farewell to Jeff Krug, CFO Asia Pacific / Africa.  Jeff is replaced by Jenn Butler – who moves up internally.

•             Cyber security business UpGuard have appointed Kevin Levine as their new CFO.  Kevin comes from Appen, where he was CFO for over 7 years.

•             Renewable energy business, Atmos Renewable have a new CFO, with Nick Learmonth recently joining.  Atmos has the 5th largest renewable portfolio in Australia.  Nick comes from another renewable energy business – Iberdrola.

•             Daniel Papallo has started in a new CFO role.  Daniel joins OnlyFacts as their CFO – OnlyFacts is a start up business that aims to provide climate data to help find solutions for climate change.

About the Author – Colin Kerr

With over 25 years’ experience, Colin is a specialist interim and contracting recruiter within Accounting and Finance. If the role requires a qualified accountant – that is Colin’s area of expertise. He focuses on the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role and the direct reports (Financial Controller, Finance Manager, Management Accountant, Financial Planning & Analysis), as well as any other finance roles that sit in a corporate head office – tax, internal audit and treasury.