Kylie George

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) formally recognized a number of outstanding members of the financial advice community at the 2015 AFA National Adviser Conference in Cairns last week.

In partnership with Zurich, the AFA bestowed the professions most significant individual honour – the AFA Adviser of the Year Award – on Sydney’s David Reed of The Retirement Advice Centre. Melbourne-based Kearney Group was awarded the prestigious AFA Practice of the Year Award.

The AFA Adviser of the Year Award pays tribute to advisers who demonstrate outstanding adviser performance, advice strategies, dedication to professional education and achieving informed client consent through building the financial literacy of their clients. The AFA’s Practice of the Year Award is awarded to a financial advice practice that has achieved outstanding levels of client satisfaction, business performance metrics, effective marketing, efficient operations and a proven contribution to the profession.

Mildura-based adviser Kylie George of Harvest Wealth became the 2015 AFA Rising Star. The AFA’s Rising Star Award, supported by ANZ Wealth recognizes emerging talent within the financial advice profession.

The AFA, partnered by TAL, also named Victorian NAB Financial Planning adviser Sharon Walker as the winner of the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award. This Award recognizes a female adviser with a passion and commitment to professionalism and quality advice, and who actively supports other women in financial services whilst also contributing to the betterment of financial literacy for women.

Charles Badenach received the AFA Excellence in Education Award, supported by Asteron Life, which recognizes an adviser’s commitment to ongoing professional education and self development.

Industry stalwart and Synchron Queensland state manager Gerry Porter was awarded the AFA’s Michael Murphy Award for his contribution to the advice community and the growth of the AFA. The Award is named in honour of AFA legend Michael Murphy who, after leading the resurrection of the AFA, lost his battle with cancer in 2012.

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Brad Fox

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and leading life insurance specialist TAL yesterday announced this year’s finalists for the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award (the Award).

The Award was established as a joint initiative of the AFA and TAL in 2011 and is awarded annually at the AFA National Adviser Conference. Submissions from nominees are assessed by a panel of experts and the Award is given to the female financial adviser judged to have made the most significant contribution to clients, the financial advice profession and the wider community with a particular emphasis on financial literacy work with women in the community and their client base.

This year’s finalists are:

• Esther Althaus from Perspective Financial Services
• Tricia Peters from PetersMcKeown
• Sharon Walker from National Australia Bank

Brad Fox, AFA CEO, says the Award is an important way of publically recognizing the achievements of women working in financial advice, but its purpose goes beyond simply honouring the success of one individual woman.

“We established the award with the aim of promoting positive change in the form of gender diversity within financial advice, by encouraging more women to enter the industry, and take leadership roles.

“Women are typically less likely than men to seek financial advice, and are frequently inadequately resourced for retirement compared with their male counterparts. We believe that one way of addressing this challenge is by encouraging a better representation of women in senior roles in financial advice,” Mr Fox said.

Commenting on the group of nominees for this year’s Award, Group CEO and Managing Director of TAL, Brett Clark said that submissions were of a uniformly high standard, which made choosing semi-finalists and finalists a very difficult task.

“It goes without saying that the semi-finalists and finalists are all outstanding financial advisers, but their achievements extend beyond offering high quality financial advice, they were also judged on their leadership qualities, mentoring activities and contribution to the wider community,” Mr Clark explained.

The 2015 Female Excellence in Advice Award winner will be announced at this year’s AFA National Adviser Conference in Cairns on Tuesday, 27^th October. The winner will receive a full scholarship to complete either a Postgraduate Certificate in Management or an Executive Education Leadership Development Program run by the Macquarie Graduate School of Management scholarship and valued at $12,000.

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