Who we are
Brian Bissaker
Chief Executive Officer
Brian joined Colonial First State in 2002 and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2006.
Prior to joining Colonial First State, Brian spent eight years at BT Funds Management where he was an Executive Vice President and Head of Product.
Brian commenced his career as a taxation and superannuation consultant at KPMG servicing the finance, funds management and superannuation industries.
Brian has extensive experience in dealing with Government and industry bodies on policy and technical superannuation and savings issues. He is a Director of the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) Board and chairs the IFSA Economics, Tax and Savings Board Committee. He is a former director of the Australian Superannuation Funds Association (ASFA) Board.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Sydney University and is a Chartered Accountant. He has also completed the International Executive Program at INSEAD, France.
View Executive Team organisational chart
Graham Hand
General Manager Funding & Alliances
Graham Hand joined Colonial First State in 2001 to arrange the funding facilities for the internally-geared share funds, and now manages several billion dollars of borrowings, including via global capital markets programmes. He has overseen the growth of the geared funds into a major business across many asset classes. He also negotiated exclusive retail boutique alliances in Australia with 452 Capital, PM Capital, Colliers International, Acadian Asset Management, Generation Investment Management and Research Affiliates (Realindex Investments).
Graham worked at the Commonwealth Bank from 1976 to 1988, becoming General Manager, Capital Markets, responsible for the bank?s borrowing in all major international markets. At State Bank of New South Wales from 1988 to 1995 as Deputy Treasurer, global balance sheet management, including interest rate risk, trading, funding and liquidity, reported to Graham. He coordinated major changes to the structure of the State Bank?s balance sheet prior to its sale to Colonial in 1994 (the Commonwealth Bank bought Colonial in 2000).
During 1995 and 1996, Graham was Managing Director, Treasury at NatWest Markets Australia. From 1996 to 2001, he mixed full-time writing with consulting to the finance industry. He has had two books published and written extensively in major finance magazines, including Euromoney, International Financing Review and CFO. Graham has an honours degree in commerce, major in economics from the University of New South Wales, and is a graduate of FINSIA.
View Funding and Alliances division organisational chart
Peter Chun
General Manager Strategy
Peter Chun first joined Colonial First State in 2002. As General Manager Strategy, Peter is responsible for developing the company's strategic direction in conjunction with the management team, producing the business plan, advocacy and general CEO support. Prior to that, he was Head of Product Solutions, Product & Investment Services.
He was previously Director at Credit Suisse Asset Management as Head of Product and Marketing for 3 years and prior to that spent 5 years at BT Funds Management as Product Development Manager and then later Vice President, Product Development. He has also held actuarial roles at ANZ Funds Management, Towers Perrin and Prudential.
Peter is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (FIAA) and holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University and Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investments (ASIA).
View Strategy division organisational chart
Nicolette Rubinsztein (currently on maternity leave)
General Manager Strategy
Nicolette Rubinsztein joined Colonial First State in 2001. Nicolette is responsible for developing the company's strategic direction in conjunction with the management team, producing the business plan, advocacy and general CEO support.
Prior to joining Colonial First State, Nicolette spent three years with BT Funds Management as Product Development Manager and then later Vice President, Head of Product Management, Marketing.
Prior to that, Nicolette was a Product Development Manager for master trusts at Advance Funds Management (now part of St George Bank). She also spent four years as a Consultant with Towers Perrin where she provided superannuation advice to trustees and companies.
Nicolette is a qualified Actuary and holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Business Science (Hons) from the University of Cape Town.
Nicolette is on the ASFA Board and was a recipient of the inaugural IFSA Excellence Awards. She has chaired numerous IFSA and FPA committees.
Marianne Perkovic
General Manager Distribution
Marianne is the General Manager Distribution. As General Manager of Distribution, Marianne is responsible for the delivery of Colonial First State’s range of platforms and investment solutions into the Australian market.
Marianne has fifteen years experience in financial services. She started in the industry in 1994 as a Technical Consultant, which gave her strong experience in superannuation. She was with Count Financial Limited for eleven and a half years; over her time at Count Marianne’s focus was improving the efficiency of the advice process for Advisers and enhance client communications to assist in the delivery and understanding of quality advice. She held various roles at Count, which included General Manager, National Business Development Manager and Technical & Adviser Services Manager. She was appointed as an Executive Director in 2004, then Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director in August 2006. Her CEO appointment made her the youngest female CEO of an ASX listed Company.
Her industry experience includes memberships with IFSA’s Financial Advice Network Board Committee and the FPA’s Medium and Large Licensees Committee. Marianne was part of the working groups for both IFSA and FPA which coordinated industry submissions to the government.
Marianne has a Bachelor of Economics with a Business Law major from Macquarie University and she completed an MBA with the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in 2005.
View Distribution division organisational chart
Alan Kenny
General Manager Product & Investment Services
Alan joined Colonial First State in 2001. Alan is the General Manager, Product & Investment Services for Colonial First State Investments and is responsible for managing and driving the development of Colonial First State’s products, investment functions including the FirstChoice multi-manager investment team and performance and analytics team.
Alan previously held the roles of Head of Platforms and Senior Product Development Manager at Colonial First State. In these roles he had responsibility for the product management and development of Colonial First State’s successful FirstChoice platform.
Prior to that Alan was Assistant Vice President, Product Development at State Street’s Investment Services business. Over 7 years Alan held roles in product development, strategy, business consulting, client servicing and operations management in Australia and the United States.
Alan holds a BA in Business Studies (Hons) with Dublin Business School in Ireland.
View Product and Investment Services division organisational chart
Tommy Cheung
General Manager IT
Tommy has been with Colonial First State since 1998 and is now the General Manager, Enterprise Information Technology. He is responsible for providing end to end technology solutions to the Colonial First State business.
Tommy previously held the position of Head of Application Services for Colonial First State. He was responsible for all application development and support within Colonial First State and led the successful solution delivery of the FirstChoice platform.
Prior to joining Colonial First State, Tommy worked for State Bank of NSW and Colonial State Bank, responsible for numerous banking industry-wide project implementations. He had also worked in the airline industry on aircraft engineering and passenger catering system development for 6 years.
Tommy holds a BSc of Computer Science (Hons) with Chinese University in Hong Kong.
View IT division organisational chart
Linda Elkins
General Manager Marketing
Linda joined Colonial First State (CFS) in March 2010 and is responsible for managing the CFS brand and all marketing activity across the CFS business which currently manages in excess of $90 billion on behalf of individual investors, advisers, employers and superannuation funds. CFS is also a leader in the provision of platform services to both the retail and wholesale market.
Before joining CFS Linda was Managing Director of Superannuation at Russell Investments. In this role she was responsible for providing a range of services including investments, consulting, administration, trustee services, member services and communications to some of Australia’s largest corporate superannuation funds.
Prior to that Linda was Managing Director of ComminK Australia, a specialist provider of financial communication and education services. Her clients were from all sectors of the industry including industry funds, Government funds and large financial services organisations.
Linda has also worked for the Australian Government in the Insurance and superannuation Commission and for ASIC as a special adviser.
Linda is an advocate for investors and her passion is financial literacy, she is a member of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Advisory Board.
Linda was also a Director of ASFA and is currently Chair of ASFA Member Engagement and Advice committee. She is also a member of IFSA’s Marketing and Distribution Board sub-committee.
Linda has worked in the superannuation industry for more than 15 years.
View Marketing division organisational chart
Brad Massey
General Manager Fund Services & Compliance
Brad is the General Manager, Fund Services & Compliance for Colonial First State Investments Limited (CFSIL). In this role, his key responsibilities include: investment transaction management; unit pricing and fund accounting; financial reporting; tax and compliance & risk management for CFS products and mandates.
Brad is currently a Director of Colonial First State Investments Limited having held the position since Feb 2008.
Brad previously held the position of Head of Implementation Management within Colonial First State. In this role Brad was responsible for executing the delivery of key strategic product initiatives throughout Colonial First State. To do this Brad needed an excellent working knowledge of unit pricing, investment operations, tax and product. He was also involved in managing key relationships for Colonial First State.
Brad has participated in many strategic initiatives during his time at Colonial First State. These have included both successful product and system implementations.
Prior to the Head of Implementation Management role, Brad worked as a senior manager within the managed funds area. He has also worked in various roles including project management.
Brad holds a BA (Accounting) from the University of Western Sydney Nepean, CPA from Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants and Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments (ASIA).
View Fund Services and Compliance division organisational chart
Nigel McCammon
General Manager
Client Services
Nigel has been in the financial services industry for over 16 years, the last 9 with Colonial First State. He is currently in the position of General Manager, Client Services and is responsible for all registry and call centre functions for the Colonial First State product range. This includes administration operational teams, Business Analysts, technical and regulatory experts and contact centre activities. Colonial First State Client Services represents over 470 employees.
Prior to joining CFS, he led an administration team for Zurich, worked for a Financial Planning Office and prior to that was with MLC.
The majority of his time within the financial services industry has been in customer facing roles, in the capacity of service and advice.
View Client Services division organisational chart
Paul Barrett
General Manager Advice Business
Paul is the General Manager Colonial First State Advice Business. In this role he is responsible for the Commonwealth Financial Planning (CFP), BW Financial Advice, Financial Wisdom, Whittaker Macnaught and Advice Essentials dealer groups, and the related dealer support areas. Prior to this role, Paul was the General Manager Colonial First State Distribution services which included responsibility for distribution, corporate superannuation, CFS products and services to the IFA market, the Financial Wisdom and Whittaker Macnaught dealer groups and dealerships services.
Before this, Paul was General Manager for Financial Wisdom since March 2004, and was responsible for the ongoing operations of FWL and the development and execution of FWL's strategic plan. Prior to joining the CBA group, Paul was Head of Wealth Management for Fiducian Portfolio Services where he was responsible for the franchise adviser network, the salaried adviser channel, the 'dealer to dealer' business and platform sales. Paul has had 14 years of financial services experience including time on the funds management, client service, and administration front. He has also worked for Rothschild and ANZ during this time.
View Advice Business division organisational chart
Chris Stevens
General Manager Custom Solutions
Chris joined Custom Solutions (formerly Avanteos) in 2002 and has been General Manager/CEO since 2005. Chris is responsible for developing and supporting wrap platform solutions for aligned and independent distribution channels and their clients.
Prior to joining Colonial First State, Chris spent 11 years with Aviva leading Finance and Operations teams across the platform, insurance and treasury businesses. With nearly 20 years experience in the Financial Services industry, Chris has extensive experience in driving leading product and service solutions for many key stakeholders, including advisers, accountants, investors and shareholders.
Chris holds a bachelor of business degree with RMIT and is a Certified Practising Accountant.
View Custom Solutions division organisational chart
Jack McCartney
General Manager Business Wealth Management
Jack McCartney first joined Colonial First State in 2001 to build and distribute the FirstChoice Employer Superannuation product. He previously worked for 13 years at Bankers Trust in both wholesale and retail funds management business development roles, as well as heading up BT’s corporate superannuation division.
Whilst at BT, he also headed up their HR department where he was responsible for their staff’s defined benefits superannuation and senior executives’ remuneration.
In 2006 Jack was appointed as the General Manager for Commonwealth Financial Planning’s Business Wealth Management division which is responsible for in excess of $2 billion funds under management. Jack is responsible for a team of Senior Financial Planners, Business Insurance Specialist and Corporate Superannuation advisers who provide specialist advice services to CBA’s business clients.
Jack has qualifications in accounting, company secretarial, management and financial planning.
View Business Wealth Management division organisational chart