The new appointments bring the firm’s total national adviser base to 91.

Commenting on the expansion, Michael Chisholm, chief executive of Crestone said that over the past several years, the Crestone client base in Queensland had grown, demanding the establishment of an expanded Queensland presence.

Shane Fisher has 28 plus years’ experience in Financial Services with a diverse background and joins Crestone from Westpac Private Bank and St George Private Bank. A former Director for Global Investment Services with the Westpac Group, Mr Fisher has extensive investment experience across all traditional and alternative asset classes, dealing with boutique and private wealth businesses, private banks, foreign investment banks, HNW clients and family office investors.

John Paul Geribello joins Crestone from Westpac Global Investment Services, where he was an Investment Director, responsible for the implementation and delivery of the direct wealth proposition for self-directed clients of Westpac Private Bank and St George Private across Queensland. With over 20 years’ financial services experience, Mr Geribello has a proven track record in providing investment advice, opportunities, insights and thought leadership to Institutional, Corporate, Family Offices and HNW investors on their investment strategies and risk management of traditional asset classes, structured solutions and alternative investments.

Darryl Wasserman is a financial services specialist with over 19 years’ experience in the banking and communications sector. Mr Wasserman joins Crestone from Westpac Private Bank where he was previously a Private Banker providing specialised service and advice to some of Queensland’s wealthiest families. Mr Wasserman has a double degree in Finance and Economics and is passionate about delivering exceptional outcomes for his clients.

Chris Mackenzie has 19 years’ experience and joins Crestone from ANZ Private, where he was a Private Wealth Adviser. He provided wealth management services through provision of retail and wholesale personal advice on structuring and investments to HNW families and individuals.

Simon Rogers joins Crestone from Perpetual Private, where he was a Partner, responsible for leading a high-performance wealth management team in the provision of both retail and wholesale advice. He has been providing personal advice to private clients for almost 15 years: his clients have included charitable foundations, wealthy families, not-for-profit organisations, medical specialists, successful business owners, landowners, senior executives and entrepreneurs.                                              

Jason Poppi has 10 plus years’ experience and joins Crestone from NAB Investor Sales, where he was previously an Associate Director. In this role, Mr Poppi was responsible for building and managing a portfolio of HNW investors and has a proven track record of building deep relationships with HNW and UHNW families. 

All new hires will report directly to Michael Tritton, Head of Advisory for NSW, QLD and SA.

Commenting on the new appointments, Mr Tritton said that the competency within the team reflects a continuing desire to deliver unparalleled insights and investment solutions to business owners, the not-for profit/charitable sector, HNW individuals and their families in Queensland.

“The new advisers are welcome additions to our growing team. Crestone offers global, multi- asset class portfolio construction and management solutions and we are confident the expertise these six advisers possess will complement our existing business and offering.”

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Commenting on the expansion and creation of an Adelaide based team, Michael Chisholm, chief executive of Crestone said that over the past several years, the business had been growing a client base in Adelaide and regional South Australia which warranted the establishment of an on-the-ground presence.

“Our entrance into SA presents dual opportunity. Firstly, for HNW and UHNW individuals based in SA, Crestone can provide access to a broader set of global diversified investment opportunities than may currently be available to them. Secondly, for local investment professionals or those looking to build a career in SA, Crestone’s unique employee-owned business model should prove attractive.”

The new local team includes five appointments, bringing the firm’s total adviser base to 91.  The bench strength present within the team reflects a desire to deliver unparalleled insights and investment solutions to SA business owners, higher net worth individuals and their families.

The SA team will be led by Manager of Advisory SA, Kieran Purcell, a 25 plus years ‘veteran’ of the wealth management industry. Mr Purcell joins Crestone from Morgans Financial, where he was previously General Manager for Adelaide.

Prior to Morgans, Mr Purcell was Macquarie’s Office Head in South Australia where he was responsible for 100 plus employees.

Mr Purcell will report to Head of Advisory for NSW/QLD/SA, Michael Tritton.

The remainder of the newly appointed Investment Advisers for the SA office includes Sonya Brocklehurst, James McBride, Nicholas Hamersley and Ida Wong Taylor.

Sonya Brocklehurst has 20 plus years’ experience and joins Crestone from NAB Australia, where she was previously a Senior Private Client Manager. Ms Brocklehurst was responsible for managing and growing a portfolio of 130 international and local HNW clients.

James McBride joins Crestone from ANZ Banking Group, where he was a Private Banker, responsible for managing a portfolio of HNW families with a view to grow, sustain and transfer their wealth. With over 10 years of financial services experience, Mr McBride has a proven track record of building deep relationships with HNW and UHNW families.

Nicholas Hamersley joins Crestone from Westpac Private Bank SA, where he was an Associate Director for the SA Global Investment Service. With 20 plus years’ experience, Mr Hamersley has extensive experience with HNW individuals and institutional clients, with a focus on investment products across multi asset classes.

With almost 20 years’ experience, Ida Wong Taylor joins Crestone from Westpac Premier, where she was a Lending Area Manager. Previously, Ms Wong Taylor worked at Bank SA Private Bank & CBD Mobile as the Lending Area Manager. Prior to joining Bank SA’s and Westpac’s Retail Lending Leadership Team, Ms Wong Taylor worked across the Credit Suisse segments of Alternative Investments (Private Equity) & Private Banking in Sydney.

All will report directly to Kieran Purcell in his role as Manager of Advisory for SA.

Mr Chisholm said the combination of depth of experience and alignment of interests between advisers and clients were key determinants in the recruitment process.

“Our South Australian presence is an exciting growth opportunity and so it was crucial to hire a team with a depth of local experience, aligned to Crestone’s strong client-centric culture. We believe it is a testament to our business model that Crestone can attract advisers of this calibre. Ultimately, this expansion supports our vision to be the first-choice advisory firm for wealthy individuals across Australia.”

Crestone is finalising arrangements for its local presence, with a new office to soon be opened in the Adelaide business precinct.

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Scott Haslem

Leading wealth adviser Crestone Wealth Management (Crestone) has announced a partnership with Conscious Investment Management through its Impact Fund.

Through its continued commitment to ESG and sustainable investing, partnering with the Impact Fund is part of a wider impact investment approach at Crestone to offer its high-net-worth, family office and not-for-profit clients investment solutions that deliver competitive returns alongside real and measurable social and environmental impact.

Conscious Investment Management is an independent impact investment fund manager based in Melbourne that focuses on investing in social and environmental property and infrastructure, with the aim of generating market rate returns of between 7-11% pa while realising a tangible and measurable social benefit. The portfolio has focused on assets including specialist disability accommodation, affordable housing, community rooftop solar and social impact bonds.

Crestone’s Chief Investment Officer, Scott Haslem, commented “at Crestone, we are committed to providing value-aligned investment solutions for our clients that deliver truly competitive returns. We are excited to be partnering with Conscious Investment Management, a leader in impact investing, and we believe our partnership will unlock investment opportunities for our investors that can deliver real social impact.”

The investment team at Conscious Investment Management is led by Chief Investment Officer, Matthew Tominc, (ex-Goldman Sachs and most recently Head of Impact Investment at a Melbourne-based family office), and overseen by an experienced independent investment advisory board. Board members include ex-Escala and JBWere Chief Investment Officer, Giselle Roux, ex-JBWere and Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer Paul Sundburg, Partner at Affirmative Investment Management, Kate Temby, and ex-Macquarie Investment Banking Executive Director, Richard Price.

Commenting on the partnership, Matthew Tominc said “impact investing has the potential to attract significant mainstream capital to fund assets that have a social and environmental benefit, while adding uncorrelated return potential to an investment portfolio.

We focus on using our capital to invest in assets that can be operated by charities or socially conscious businesses for positive impact. We are delighted to be working with the team at Crestone, who has been a great supporter of impact investments, to help grow this emerging area of finance.”

The market for impact investing has tripled over the past two years from $5.7 billion to $19.9 billion[1] as investors increase their focus on the sector.

Conscious Investment Management’s impact fund is open for investment and is designed for institutional and wholesale investors and their advisers. Channel Capital partnered with Conscious Investment Management in November last year to provide the manager with non-investment services including national distribution, marketing and public relations.

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Crestone is pleased to confirm eight new appointments completed in the latter part of 2019, bringing the total adviser base in the firm to 80.

The appointments reflect a desire to deliver unparalleled insights and investment solutions to clients, and underscore Crestone’s unique owner operated and product agnostic business model as an attractive destination for advice professionals.

Earlier in 2019, Paul Shalhoub, Duane O’Donnell, John Taylor and Elliott Greenberg were appointed as Investment Advisers in Crestone’s Sydney offices. Shalhoub joined Crestone from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), where he was an executive manager in the private banking business.

O’Donnell, Taylor and Greenberg were previously relationship managers at Credit Suisse Private Banking.  In October, Rachel Etherington joined from a Sydney-based family office.

All will report directly to Michael Tritton, Head of Advisory for NSW and Queensland.

Commenting on the appointments, Tritton said the combination of depth of experience and alignment of interests between advisers and clients were key determinants.

“Delivering the best investment-led offering for clients was instrumental; a focus on client outcomes, an owner-operated partnership, a well-resourced CIO team, some of the best strategic relationships, alongside truly global investment opportunities and a strong governance pedigree really made Crestone an exciting choice for these advisers,” he said.

Jaime Sanqui also joined Crestone’s Melbourne office from a previous role as investment adviser with CBA Private Office. Sanqui reports to Crestone Head of Advisory for Victoria, Adam Ginnivan. In December, Greg Tripis joined from CBA, along with Nick Mandie from Ord Minnett.

The new advisers bring a combined 150-plus years of experience in the ultra-high net worth advisory space, which further adds weight to Crestone’s already strong reputation in the market, Ginnivan said.

“It is a testament to our business model that Crestone can attract advisers of this calibre. Each was looking for specific qualities in their next business opportunity. Crestone was able to clearly demonstrate these attributes, making the decision to join us an easy one,” Ginnivan said.

In addition to new hires, Crestone has promoted a number of its existing staff to more senior advisory positions. Amy Low, Mat Camillieri and Dan Chang have been appointed to the role of Investment Adviser, while William Nason, Joel Edmondson and Blake Single have become Associate Advisers.

Clark Morgan, Vice Chairman and Head of Strategy and Development added, “Being able to hire externally and promote internally says a lot about the attractiveness of our business and the opportunities available to our current employees. Organic and inorganic growth within key client-facing roles supports our vision to be the first-choice advisory firm for wealthy Australians.”

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Ms Ward brings significant financial industry, operational and international experience to Crestone. She is a director of Qantas Airways Limited and chairs the company’s Audit Committee, is currently a director of Caltex Australia Limited and a number of Brookfield Multiplex Group companies. 

Ms Ward was previously a director of, among others, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Lion Nathan Limited, The Sydney Opera House Trust and Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation. 

Ms Ward served as a senior ministerial adviser to the Honourable PJ Keating  from 1979 to 1985 and was CEO of Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services from 1993 to 1998.

Regarding her election to the board, Ms Ward said, “I am excited about joining the team at Crestone Wealth Management, they are a great company and have established themselves as a leader in the High Net Worth Wealth Management sector.”

“In this period of disruption for wealth managers, Crestone has developed a unique operating structure and offering – being owner operated and providing advice to wholesale clients exclusively.” 

“Crestone’s approach has been embraced by the high net worth segment and the interaction with clients and breadth of investment solutions is second to none in the Australian Wealth Management landscape. I am looking forward to supporting the strategic development of the business as we continue to grow over the coming years,” said Ms Ward.

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Stan Shamu

Crestone Wealth Management (Crestone) has announced two additions to its Investment Products and Services team.

Stan Shamu has been appointed to the role of Senior Portfolio Strategist and Anshula Venkataraman CFA has been appointed to the role of Investment Consultant, effective immediately.

Both will report directly to Scott Haslem, Chief Investment Officer of Crestone.

Mr Shamu previously worked as a consultant for Jana Investment Advisers, where he conducted managed funds research and provided advice to a wide range of clients, including charities, endowments and large superannuation funds.

“I am delighted to join a firm with an unparalleled desire to deliver on client outcomes by providing high quality investment ideas across a diverse range of asset classes,” Mr Shamu said.

Ms Venkataraman joins Crestone from Morningstar’s Manager Research team in Sydney, where she conducted research on managed investments across asset classes.

“I welcome the opportunity to be a part of a team focused on research rigour and uniquely positioned to provide long- term guidance around ever more complex and sophisticated portfolios,” said Ms Venkataraman.

Adam Ginnivan, Head of Investment Products and Services at Crestone said Mr Shamu and Ms Venkataraman’s wealth of expertise in their respective areas would make welcome additions and further bolster Crestone’s strong in-house investment capability.

“We are proud to have two talented individuals join Crestone who share our vision. We offer client’s global, multi- asset class portfolio solutions and the skills and insights that these two bring to the table will truly complement that offering,” Mr Ginnivan said.

“We have invested heavily in creating a truly robust investment team to support our advisors, ensuring clients can access advice across more asset classes; both in Australia and offshore. This approach to investing and manager selection allows Crestone to meet the growing expectations of our high net worth clients, who are increasingly demanding an institutional investor level of service and quality,” he said.

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Now in its second full year of operation, Crestone is growing in line with its three-year strategic outlook and the firm is ahead of its forecasted revenue and profit targets. Crestone’s revenues have increased by 16 per cent to $97.9 million producing an EBIT of $9.8m.

In the past 12 months, Crestone’s AUM has increased by 16 per cent to over $17 billion due to new monies coming in and positive performance of client portfolios.

The directors note that with the current climate and focus on wealth management and banks in Australia, Crestone’s privately-owned business model, having sought to eradicate the systemic issues associated with vertically integrated models, provides a strong alternative to existing offerings and the success of this model is demonstrated by its improved growth and performance.

“During FY18 our team has continued its focus on building a business that delivers client-centric advice orientated towards preserving and enhancing the wealth of multi-generational High Net Worth (HNW) and Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients. We do this through accessing the best investment minds in the business, executing seamlessly and assisting clients with their broader wealth needs,” Crestone chief executive Michael Chisholm said.

“Diversification is critical to achieve this, and you need to have unfettered access to all key asset classes across all geographic regions. This is a level of access that we provide to all our clients.”

Through continuous training and development, Crestone’s advisers and staff are uniquely positioned to provide long-term guidance around ever more complex and sophisticated portfolios. The group continues to invest in capabilities and processes to ensure the business provides the very best solutions to our discerning clients.

Crestone’s first year results (30 June 2017) included significant investments in superior systems and services for the long term, which are now enabling the firm to deliver the best service possible to its clients.

With partnerships in place with leading global organisations including Credit Suisse, UBS, Northern Trust, CBA and Avaloq, the group is well-placed to continue its growth by providing clients access to unparalleled insights and investment solutions and a holistic view of the investment world.

The directors have declared a dividend of 5¢ for the 2018 financial year.

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Daniel Petre

Chief Executive Officer of Crestone Wealth Management Michael Chisholm says investor access to the quickly growing technology sector is an important investment and social consideration in the current market cycle.

Mr Chisholm said access to private equity or venture capital funds, which are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes, can help cushion portfolios against any equity market downturn.

Crestone recently invited a group of Australia’s leading venture capital (VC) investors to provide their views on technology. The panel included Paul Bassat, Co-Founder and Partner from Square Peg Capital, Daniel Petre, Co-Founder and Partner from AirTree Ventures, Niki Scevak, Managing Director and Founder from Blackbird Ventures, Emma Weston, Co-Founder and CEO from AgriDigital.

The panel concluded that VC investors should target technology businesses with a sustainable differentiation over a long period, which can help to build wealth over time and protect portfolios against an equities market downturn.

“Such investments not only present opportunity to high net worth (HNW) and ultra high net worth (UHNW) investors to access a growing arena of high growth assets, but also provide investment opportunities that are uncorrelated to traditional assets and asset classes,” said Mr Chisholm.

“Crestone’s mission is to help investors explore the many private equity or venture capital funds that are investable and investment grade. The challenge for investors is to find opportunities that tick the right boxes as investable assets, plus have the bonus of helping to solve some of the bigger problems in the world today,” said Mr Chisholm.

“VC programmes have been a phenomenal motivator to push capital into the market.”

Square Peg Capital’s Bassat said the starting point for investors should be to ask, “is this an amazing company and is it solving important problems?” Valuations are a secondary consideration.

“We’re no longer living in a world where you can be the best in your suburb. You’ve got to be the best in the world to have a sustainable business in most areas,” said Bassat.

The best time to invest is typically before a business gets to an Initial Public Offering (IPO), as much of the money and growth has already been achieved.

Blackbird Ventures’s Scevak describes how the ‘private life’ of a company has extended from five or six years to an average of about 11 years. That means technology companies are often no longer ‘pre-revenue’ when they IPO, but bona fide businesses where significant valuation uplift may have already occurred. However, subsequent VC funding rounds, before IPO, still present an opportunity for investors to participate in any valuation uplift, says Scevak.

The panel agreed that artificial intelligence (AI) will have the most significant impact on technological advancement over the next decade. Successful investors will select businesses that can apply AI well and demonstrate expertise in areas where competition is less.

“You need to ask the question of whether a company can disrupt a market place,” says AirTree Ventures’s Petre. It is important to ensure that the company has created a differentiated offer in ‘white space’ where nobody else is. One area Petre finds interesting is the application of machine learning in medical science, where image recognition will dramatically change the delivery of medical diagnoses. An example of this is how software can now diagnose melanoma with greater accuracy than humans—and at a fraction of the cost.

Bassat feels most of the important technology disruption today is driven by software-enabled business models. “There are lots of exciting things happening—everything’s moving to the cloud, which is a really important theme, and we’re ten years into that theme.” The defining theme in the next 20 to 30 years will be AI “which will change the world in ways we can’t imagine,” says Basset.

But while a lot of things are going well for Australia, the country needs to be more innovative and competitive. Additionally, Bassat believes that we need to be smarter about the way we harness the capital available in our superannuation industry. This is an important source of funding that should allow us to create value “not just for tomorrow, but also for future generations,” he says.

Federal government VC programmes such as Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnerships and Venture Capital Limited Partnerships are positive for the industry and for VC investors. The taxation benefits for registered early-stage and VC limited partnerships include an exemption to investors from capital gains tax on eligible investments. “This has been a phenomenal motivator to push capital into the market,” Petre claims.

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Concurrently, and in line with its objective to secure a Board comprised of a majority of non-executives, respected Chief Operating Officer Michelle Inns will also retire from the Board and focus on her management role.

Additionally, Leigh Clifford assumes the position of Chairman, succeeding John McDonald who remains a non-executive director on the Board.

“These changes complete the build out of Crestone’s Board and position us strongly for the future, with a strong Board and management to steer the growth of the firm,” said Mike Chisholm, Crestone Chief Executive Officer.

Sheila McGregor is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading information technology (IT) legal practitioners, currently serving as a senior partner and board member at law firm Gilbert & Tobin.

In addition to her legal and IT experience, Ms McGregor brings extensive experience in business strategy and governance obtained through board roles across listed, unlisted, and not-for-profit organisations.

Her experience includes having served on the board of Seven West Media where she was a member of the firm’s Audit & Risk Committee. Ms McGregor previously served at Freehills as a board member and senior partner.

Ms McGregor’s experience extends to financial services. She has served on the board and Audit & Risk Committee of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s life and general insurance companies. She is an active participant in the not-for-profit sector, serving in various roles.

Her appointment expands the number of non-executive directors on Crestone’s Board to four, in line with Crestone’s stated goal of securing a majority of non-executive directors.

Given Ms McGregor’s appointment, Chief Operating Officer Michelle Inns will step down as a director following Crestone’s annual general meeting in November. Two executive directors will remain on the board: Mike Chisholm and Crestone Vice Chairman and Head of Advisory, Clark Morgan.

Mr Chisholm said: “Crestone’s significant client base of high net worth individuals, family offices and not-for-profit organisations is expected to grow significantly in 2018 as we build up our resources and capacity to provide a valuable and distinct offering to our clients across a range of investment opportunities.

“Crestone has strong strategic partners, including UBS, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse and Northern Trust. This provides Crestone clients with global investment research, domestic and international securities dealing, custodial services and investment capabilities that are unsurpassed in the Australian market,” he said.

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A distinguished banking and financial services director, Mr Hawkins will join Crestone’s Board from the end of September 2017.

Mr Hawkins’ appointment expands the number of non-executive directors on the Board. Crestone’s Chairman, John McDonald, welcomed Mr Hawkins as a high-calibre and accomplished member of the Board.

“Peter’s extensive experience across the domestic and global sectors of banking, financial services and wealth management will add an invaluable perspective to our firm,” he said. “We appreciate Peter accepting our invitation to join the Board, and look forward to his counsel and guidance,” Mr McDonald said.

Mr Hawkins serves on the boards of Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) and is Chair of the Technology Committee for the WBC Board. He also serves on the Boards of Mirvac Group and Liberty Financial.

Mr Hawkins’ career includes a 34-year tenure with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, where he held various senior executive and directorship positions, including Group Managing Director, Group Strategic Development. This role saw Mr Hawkins oversee the expansion and reshaping of ANZ’s businesses.

His independent counsel and direct knowledge of the regulatory and technology shifts impacting the Australian financial services sector will help to guide Crestone’s strategic positioning.

Mr Hawkins said he is looking forward to joining the Crestone Board.

“Crestone has demonstrated a capacity for maintaining the strong trust of its significant client base of high net worth individuals, family offices and not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

“Crestone provides a valuable and distinctive offering to its segments of the market with outstanding research, execution and access to a range of investment opportunities.

“Its ownership structure and access to best-of-breed partners has created a real opportunity in the Australian market that is very exciting for the business and its clients,” Mr Hawkins said.

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