Judging Panel

Geoff Dixon, former CEO Qantas

Geoff Dixon was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Qantas in March 2001. He was Chief Executive Designate from November 2000, after serving as Deputy CEO since November 1998. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in August 2000. Geoff is a Member of the Qantas Safety, Environment and Security Committee and a Director of a number of controlled entities of the Qantas Group.

Geoff Dixon's tenure as CEO of Qantas coincided in a period when the aviation industry has been under pressure to remain competitive, with rising fuel and insurance costs. He has outsourced a range of business activities to off-shore areas, including in-flight and IT services. He also established the low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways to compete with rival carrier Virgin Blue.

Geoff retired from Qantas and the Qantas board on the 28th November, 2008.

Geoff is a former director of Leighton Holdings Limited and before joining Qantas, Mr Dixon was Director of Marketing and Industry Sales at Ansett Australia and General Manager of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Australian Airlines.

Prof. Steve Christie, Macquarie University

Steve is currently Associate Professor at the Macquarie Applied Finance Centre, where he specializes in Private Wealth Management.  Steve has many years experience in finance and investments, specializing in private wealth management and private client services. Before joining the Macquarie Applied Finance Centre, Steve was Head of Private Wealth Management and a Director of Ord Minnett,  where he continues to work as Asset Allocation & Strategy Consultant and as Chairman of the Ord Minnett Investment Committee.  Steve has held many senior private wealth management roles, including Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Asset Allocation at Goldman Sachs JBWere ("GSJBW") Private Wealth Management,  Head of Ord Minnett Private Asset Management and General Manager of Leveraged Equities.  Prior to moving into private wealth management, Steve was a banking & finance lawyer with Minter Ellison.

Bruce Weatherill, Chairman Global Private Banking Council

Bruce was until 30 June 2008, Global Leader of the PwC Private Banking/ Wealth Management Practice which he developed to now operate in 35 countries and which generates significant consultancy fees to PwC. He is also the author of the widely respected and in-depth Global Private Banking / Wealth Management Survey which in 2007 covered 265 institutions from over 35 countries. Bruce leads and supports a wide range of consulting services on a global basis to Global Wealth Managers and is well known in the sector to the Boards of many Wealth Managers and Investment Management Companies

Bruce worked in PwC predominantly in the Wealth Management / Investment Management area providing both audit and consultancy services where he also gained a wide experience in Banking, Private Equity, Real Estate and Insurance Broking. He was a trusted advisor to a number of global clients and was for a few years an adviser to the Governments of two offshore centres. He was until 30 June 2008, the Global engagement partner responsible for the provision of audit and consulting services to a number of PwC’s most significant global clients such as Fidelity International Limited, Equity Trust Group, Rathbone Brothers Plc, RBC-Dexia Investor Services Group and Fleming Family and Partners. In the past Bruce has been responsible for advisory and audit services to a number of other prestigious clients such as Gartmore PLC, Schroders Investment Management, Kleinwort Benson Private Bank, Alliance Dresdner Asset Management, Brown Brothers Harriman, WestB Merchant Bank, Westpac, Union Plc and the Doughty Hanson and Kleinwort Benson Private Equity Groups.

Bruce has always also provided a wide range of consultancy services and has led special projects from initial strategy work, market entry, the formation of new businesses, development of regulatory and risk management strategies to advice on product development and other advisory projects. He has also performed a wide range of acquisition, mergers and disposal reviews for institutions in the UK, USA and offshore centres reporting publicly on listings and prospectuses. He was an accredited due diligence partner, a Quality Review Partner on listed clients, a member of the UK Investment Management Group Technical Group and was until 2007 the UK representative on the Global IFRS Investment Management technical Committee. He was accredited to sign assignments under UK GAAP, US GAAP and IFRS.

Dr Martin Fahy, CEO Finsia

Dr Martin Fahy is Chief Executive Officer of Finsia – the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Finsia is the only professional association representing the entire spectrum of financial services across Australasia. Its reach extends to more than 17,000 members working across the broad categories of banking, wealth management and capital markets.

Prior to joining Finsia, Martin held the role of director for Asia Pacific at The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants(CIMA).

Before his directorship at CIMA, Martin was an academic at the National University of Ireland in Galway. He is widely published in the areas of Shared Service, Business Process Outsourcing and Finance Transformation.

Martin is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and holds a PhD in Business Information Systems from University College Cork, Ireland. He is also a former Senior Fulbright Scholar.

Angela Flannery

Angela Flannery is a partner with the Australian office of Allen & Overy. Angela has over 15 years banking and finance experience, with a practice focusing on syndicated financing, including acquisition and leveraged financing and project financing. She is also experienced in restructurings and structured finance. Angela has a strong market reputation. She is quoted as "an outstanding lawyer with a strong commercial bent, who is always responsive to our requirements" in Chambers Global in 2009 and was voted by her peers as one of Australia's Best Lawyers (Australian Financial Review 2009) in Banking and Finance.

Angela is an editor of the Securities and Mortgages section for the Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice. She writes extensively, with recent articles including one on Personal Property Securities Reform in the February edition of Australian Banking + Finance and an article on the Octaviar decision in the UK journal, Corporate Rescue and Insolvency. Angela is a member of the Documentation/Legal Issues Sub-committee of the Australian Branch of the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association. She also lectures in Masters courses at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.