Our Team
Our people make all the difference
Our team is passionate about helping Australians obtain their financial security and freedom.
At our Head Office in Sydney, we have a team of over 60 professionals who work behind the scenes to support and service around 650 Count Advisers across Australia.
We take pleasure in introducing just some of them to you.
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David Lane Managing Director/CEO |
Anna Smith Senior Executive |
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Colin Simkin Senior Executive |
David Lane
Chief Executive Officer of Count Financial Limited
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Count Financial Limited (Count) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and a franchised network of financial planning/wealth accountants and advisers.
David is responsible for the strategic growth and financial performance of Count. He is a Member of the Board and a Director of Count subsidiaries.
David has broad experience in wealth management and investment banking. Prior to joining Count, David was the CBA General Manager Strategic Development, Wealth Management and a member of the Wealth Management Leadership Team. He also worked as Chief Operating Officer of Neuberger Berman's hedge fund business and at Aetos Capital, a New York based alternative asset manager. Prior to that David worked in New York, London and Sydney with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
David received a Bachelor of Economics Degree, with distinction, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stephen Aguilera-Mendoza BEc (Hons), GDip Fin Planning, MPA, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
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"Count
continues to evolve products and services that expand
the way each adviser can service their clients – ensuring
a full service approach in the best interests of each client, whatever their stage of life.” |
Stephen has over 17 years financial services experience, 12 of which have been with Count in various roles including Product Manager for our first investment platform, wealth-e-account, Business Development Manager and Senior Executive – IT & Data Solutions. Stephen has also spent some time as a financial planner in a Count franchise in Western Sydney. From October 2007, Stephen held the position of Senior Executive – Finance and in November 2010, Stephen was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Count Financial.
Brendan Irwin
Senior Executive - Research, Product & Platforms
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Brendan joined Count in 2011 as Senior Executive – Research, Product & Platforms. In this role Brendan and his team are responsible for screening and approving what we believe are the best investment products (including managed funds and direct share models) and services (including wealth protection and margin lending) that it's members can advise on. In addition the division has responsibility for reviewing and managing the relationship with its external platforms and service providers.
Brendan has over 30 years' experience in managing and advising on international and Australian assets working with some of the world's largest fund managers and global private banks.
Anna Smith BA, Dip. Law, LLM
General Counsel & Senior Executive - Corporate Services
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Anna is Count Financial Limited's General Counsel & Senior Executive – Corporate Services and also Company Secretary and is responsible for compliance, risk and legal functions within Count. This also includes helping to ensure Count's compliance with ASX and other legal and regulatory requirements.
Anna is a member of the Law Society of New South Wales and the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and has extensive experience of over 20 years in the financial services industry incorporating a broad range of commercial and advisory work, with an emphasis on financial services, compliance, risk and human resources
Colin
Simkin MBA, B.Bus D. FP
Senior Executive - National Network Development
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"Don't limit your wealth
potential! Seek knowledge, understanding and ongoing financial advice." |
Colin moved into the role of Senior Executive - National Network Development
in July 2007. This role involves him recruiting high quality accounting
and financial service firms into the Count Group. In addition, with mergers,
acquisitions and succession of ownership of both accounting and financial
planning firms becoming more frequent amongst the Membership, Colin is
also involved in assisting Members who are looking to acquire, merge or
sell their businesses.
Colin’s previous role was Senior Executive – Business Development,
which he held since 2001. Since joining Count in 1994, he has worked in
a variety of roles across the business including Project Development,
IT Support and Business Development and Compliance.
Dean Bornor B Bus (Acc), Dip FP, Dip SM
Senior Executive - Advice
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"The provision of quality advice ensures the delivery of a strategy or recommendations that will meet your goals - whilst taking into account your personal circumstances”
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As Senior Executive - Advice, Dean oversees the provision of
advice throughout the Count network. This involves liaising with various
teams
across the business to ensure that efficient, quality advice is being
delivered throughout the network. The role also involves the supervision
of teams including the Member Services, Technical, Paraplanning and
Training teams.
Lee Tonitto
Senior Executive - Business Development & Marketing
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Lee has 30 years' experience in the marketing industry - primarily as a General Manager in senior executive roles in distribution, marketing and strategy, and divisional/general management with three of Australia's leading organisations, namely Revlon, AMP and Count Financial.
Lee is a specialist in designing and building new businesses, start-up operations and business transformation. Her focus has been on developing and leading innovative strategic growth programs, distribution and business performance initiatives.
Lee has deep market knowledge, expertise and insight in financial services, with particular areas of expertise in corporate strategy, marketing, brand management, distribution, customer value strategies, and new ventures.
Lee completed a Bachelor of Commerce in 1981, earned her MBA in 1999 and has a Diploma in Financial Planning. Lee was appointed the Australian Marketing Institute Chair in Nov 2010.
