Leading businesswoman Miriam Silva AM has been appointed Deputy Managing Director of the Crescent group of companies – Crescent Wealth, Crescent Finance, Crescent Foundation and Crescent Institute.
Crescent Wealth is Australia’s first Islamically-compliant super fund, Crescent Finance is an Islamically-compliant lender, while the Crescent Foundation and Crescent Institute are not-for-profit organisations focused on community and refugee support and networking events respectively.
Ms Silva has more than 20 years’ experience managing large and geographically diverse teams, across multiple industries including pharmaceuticals, banking and agribusiness. As Deputy Managing Director her focus at Crescent will be holistic, she said.
“My ‘why’ is to be of service to others, and I am committed to being of service to everyone within the community. In my experience, for an organisation to be really great it needs to have balance between for profit and for the good of the community, and thanks to Crescent Wealth’s track record and investment in its not-for-profit entities, it is well placed to realise this.
“A key part of my role will involve refreshing the focus of the Group to ensure it continues to build and resonate with our growing community, while also providing clarity and differentiation in an increasingly competitive financial services sector,” she added.
Ms Silva has held a number of leadership roles including Acting CEO of TAFE South Australia, Chief Operating Officer for FleetPartners, a leading leasing and fleet management company across Australia and New Zealand, General Manager Commercial Operations at Elders, responsible for operations on a national level and prior to that held a number of roles with the ANZ Banking Group.
She has extensive board and committee experience including being Chair of InTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence, Chair of Contemporary Arts Precincts, Director of AMES Australia, the South Australia Film Corporation and the Malek Fahd Islamic School.
In 2022, Ms Silva was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and has previously been named as one of Australia’s inaugural 100 Women of Influence in the Westpac/AFR Awards.
Crescent Wealth Founder & Managing Director Talal Yassine OAM said Ms Silva’s appointment was a significant milestone for the Group as it builds solid capabilities to rapidly build scale, take market share and have a much stronger community impact over the next five years.
“As a well-respected business and community heart leader with a tremendous ability to empathise and articulate a compelling vision that others will follow, Miriam is the perfect person to help the Crescent group of companies achieve its wide-ranging goals.
“She is equally at home discussing balance sheets as she is talking about cultural capital and cross-cultural relations, whether in the boardroom or community hall. I look forward to the enormous contribution she will make,” Mr Yassine said.
