Gina Cass-Gottlieb commenced her 5-year appointment as Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on 21 March 2022. 

Prior to her appointment Gina had over 30 years' experience advising on a large number of merger, competition and regulatory matters in Australia and New Zealand. 

Since 2013 Gina has been a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board. The Payments System Board is the Australian regulator of access to payment systems and the stability regulator for financial market intermediaries. Gina was a member of the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority from September 2021 to March 2022. For 10 years Gina was a director on the board of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation. 

Gina chairs Commission meetings, the Enforcement Committee and the Scams & Digital Markets Committee and is a member of the Mergers Review Committee, Digital ID & CDR Committee, Infrastructure and Communications Committee, Energy Markets Board. 

Gina is the first female Chair of the ACCC and its predecessor the TPC, since its establishment in 1974. Gina is also a member of the Bureau of the OECD Competition Committee and the Bureau of the International Competition Network

Simon Warner joined Aware Super in September 2022 as Head of Portfolio Management, overseeing the Infrastructure, Property, Private Equity, and Public Equities portfolios. He brings over 26 years of global experience in banking and investment management, having held senior roles in London, Singapore, and Sydney.

Simon’s career includes leadership positions at JP Morgan, AMP Capital, and Macquarie. Notably, he served as Global Head of Public Markets at AMP Capital, where he was responsible for Fixed Income, Equities, and Multi-Asset businesses—spanning investment teams, operations, distribution, support functions, and governance.

He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an Executive MBA from NYU, HSE Paris, and the LSE, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In June 2025, Simon was appointed to the Board of Women in Business Finance, reflecting his commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the financial sector.

Alex has over 30 years' experience in mergers and acquisitions and strategic / capital markets advice.  

Alex has advised a long list of major Australian and international corporations including BHP Limited, Santos Limited, Ausnet Limited, Unibail Rodamco Westfield SE and Viva Energy Limited.  He is currently advising Santos Limited in connection with the $36bn acquisition proposal received from a consortium led by XRG.

He joined Rothschild & Co in 2025, previously he was Managing Director, Head of Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory, Citigroup Australia, Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking Coverage, Deutsche Bank AG Australia and a Solicitor at Allens Arthur Robinson in its M&A Group.

Alex is currently President of the Takeovers Panel of Australia, and has been a member of the Panel since 2016.

He is also member of the Board of the State Library of Victoria and Chair’s the Library’s Foundation Council.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne where he was awarded the Supreme Court Prize in Law.

Ani is the Co-Head of Infrastructure for Asia Pacific at Macquarie Asset Management (MAM). The MAM Asia Pacific Infrastructure and Agriculture teams manage assets across more than 80 investments in the infrastructure and agriculture sectors. The teams comprise more than 100 people across nine markets and in more than a dozen locations. In her role, Ani is responsible for overseeing the asset management activities of these teams and is a member of the Investment Committees of numerous funds. 

Ani has led major acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand across various infrastructure sectors, including digital, utilities and transport. She sits on the board of several portfolio companies, including VicRoads, Vocus Group. 

Prior to joining MAM, Ani worked for several other infrastructure fund managers in London and Sydney, with a focus on regulated utilities and transportation assets across Europe. She has also worked as a Portfolio Manager in the listed infrastructure space. 

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (first class honours) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Business Administration (high distinction) from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.

Beau Dixon joined Advent in 2024 and is a Partner / Managing Director and Head of Australia / New Zealand, leading our Sydney office. He advises on investments in the business & financial services (BFS) and healthcare sectors. Beau has advised on 14 investments during his career across the BFS, consumer, healthcare, industrial, and technology sectors. 

Prior to joining Advent, Beau was a Managing Partner and member of the investment committee at Anchorage Capital Partners.

Beau received a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney. He also completed the General Management Program, Executive Development Program, and Global Strategic Leadership Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Chris is a Managing Director in Investment Banking and the Co-Head of Telecoms, Media and Technology (TMT), Asia Pacific for BofA Securities. 

He joined BofA Securities in 2018 and previously held the joint roles of Head of TMT, Australia and Head of M&A, Australia. 

Chris is a public markets M&A expert and TMT sector specialist having advised on some Australia’s most recent, complex and high-profile transactions. 

Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne.

David is a Managing Director and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for Deutsche Bank, Australia and New Zealand. 

David has advised on some of Australia’s landmark M&A transactions across a range of sectors. Recent transactions include CC Capital’s acquisition of Insignia Financial, Renesas’ acquisition of Altium and Blackstone’s acquisition of Airtrunk.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, David was head of M&A for Credit Suisse, Australia.

Deborah is a partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Corporate Advisory Group, advising on corporate and commercial transactions, with a special focus on funds establishment and complex joint ventures. She also handles a broad range of business acquisitions and disposals, corporate governance and general corporate and commercial matters. Deborah joined Gilbert + Tobin in June 2002 and became a partner in 2007.

Deborah is a venture capital specialist, focusing on the establishment of venture capital funds and funding rounds acting for both investors and start-ups. Deborah also routinely advises on mergers and acquisitions and complex joint venture arrangements across a range of sectors – including funds management, infrastructure, and technology.

She has over 17 years of M&A experience around the world, acting for both buyers and sellers in a wide range of transactions. She has also advised a range of government and private clients on long-term, complicated joint venture arrangements in Australia and internationally.

Deborah is an expert in matters relating to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) and has led the firm’s participation in the consultation processes in relation to Australia’s foreign investment rules. Prior to joining the firm, Deborah worked in the Hong Kong office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a large New York-based firm, representing clients in venture capital transactions, direct foreign investment, strategic partnerships, and project finance throughout Asia and in particular in the PRC, Taiwan and India. This included a series of venture capital financings by StarTV, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, to name a few. She has also worked in the Chicago and Shanghai offices of former Chicago-based firm Altheimer & Gray.

Deborah also edits the firm’s Doing Business in Australia guide.

Gabriel is Founder and CIO of Sandon Capital Pty Limited, a firm specialising in activist investing. Gabriel serves as a non-executive director of Future Generation Australia Ltd.

Dr Weiss has extensive global experience across a range of industries, both at executive and board levels. 

Dr Weiss is Executive Director of Ariadne Australia Ltd, a diversified investment company with investments in a variety of sectors. He is the Chairman of Coast Entertainment Holdings Limited, Cromwell Property Group and Deputy Chair of Myer Holdings Limited. He is a Non-Executive Director of Hearts & Minds Investments Limited, Thorney Opportunities Limited, Invest Gold Coast, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and The Centre for Independent Studies.

Dr Weiss was Chairman of Estia Health Limited from 2016 to 2023, Ridley Corporation Limited from June 2010 until August 2020, Clearview Wealth Limited from July 2013 until May 2016 and of Coats plc from 2003 until April 2012 and executive director of Guinness Peat Group plc from 1990 to April 2011.  He has also held directorships of numerous companies, including The Straits Trading Co Ltd in Singapore, Premier Investments Limited, Tag Pacific Limited, Westfield Group, Tower Australia Ltd, Australian Wealth Management Limited, Tyndall Australia Ltd (Deputy Chairman), Joe White Maltings Ltd (Chairman), CIC Ltd, Whitlam Turnbull & Co Ltd and Industrial Equity Ltd. Dr Weiss was also a director of Brisbane Broncos Ltd (formerly Pacific Sports Entertainment Ltd), an ASX-listed company which owns the Brisbane Broncos.

Dr Weiss is also a Commissioner of the Australian Rugby League Commission

In 2019, Dr Weiss was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to business, and to the community.

Dr Weiss holds an LLB (Hons) and LLM from Victoria University of Wellington and a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) from Cornell University. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Gautam Rao is Managing Director, Private Equity Financing for Institutional Banking and Markets, a division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 

Commonwealth Bank’s Private Equity Financing business is a leading player in the Australian and New Zealand markets providing debt financing to financial sponsors/private equity backed companies across all industries. 

Gautam is responsible for originating and structuring debt financing solutions, typically in an episodic context. The financing solutions typically support clients involved in leveraged and/or management buyouts, acquisitions, recapitalisations, refinancings and IPO facilities. These financing solutions can be arranged or fully underwritten. 

Gautam has over 20 years of banking experience across debt financing and M&A. Gautam joined the Commonwealth Bank in 2021 to lead Commonwealth Bank’s Private Equity business. Prior to his current role, Gautam was the Head of Leveraged Debt Capital Markets and Acquisition financing at Deutsche Bank Australia. Prior to that Gautam has held various financing advisory and execution roles at HSBC London and Barclays Sydney.

 Gautam holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with Merit) from the University of New South Wales. He is also a Chartered Accountant and holds a Diploma of Applied Finance from FINSIA. 

Giovanni sits on the executive committee of ION Analytics and is responsible for engaging with Influencers in the capital market globally and across asset classes. He organizes fireside chats and exclusive closed-door events to facilitate connectivity and knowledge among the influencers. Giovanni joined the company in 2001 where it held various roles in Italy, Germany, London including managing a global team of journalists and data analysts.

James is a Director at Principle Advisory Services, a leading Australian investment management advisory and distribution firm.

James covers the Australasian institutional and wholesale investor market and specialises in private markets investments including private equity/venture capital, unlisted infrastructure, real estate, and alternative credit strategies. James has over 17 years’ fundraising and product design experience in the Australasian market.

James was named one of PEI’s 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity in 2020.

James holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney as well as a Master of Commerce from the same university, majoring in Finance and Commercial Law. James is a CFA Charterholder and is a former Director and Treasurer of the CFA Society of Sydney.

Jamie Cameron has over a decade of experience in advising clients and managing campaigns across a diverse range of corporate activities. His expertise spans mergers and acquisitions (M&A), proxy fights, annual general meetings, and capital raisings. Jamie is a trusted advisor to ASX300 companies, having played a pivotal role in helping them achieve their strategic objectives, including navigating some of the largest and most complex M&A transactions in recent years. Jamie began his career at Sodali & Co, where he developed a strong foundation in corporate advisory. Before rejoining the firm in 2024, he served as the General Manager of Georgeson Australia.

Jessica is an Executive Director in the Mergers and Acquisition team at UBS where she specialises in public market and cross-border transactions. She has advised clients on prominent and complex M&A situations across the Australian and US markets.

Jessica has also held roles at J.P. Morgan New York and Macquarie Capital Australia.

Jimmy Rich is a Partner at Greenstone Partners, a leading independent corporate advisory firm focused on mid-market mergers, acquisitions and divestments.

 Jimmy joined Greenstone Partners in 2006 and has a broad range of experience in M&A, debt and equity transactions for public, private and private equity clients. Most recently, Jimmy has advised Blackmores on the sale of PAW to RedDog (a FountainVest portfolio company); Anacacia Capital on the sale of Force Fire to ASX-listed SCEE; Airport Retail Enterprises on the sale to LSE-listed SSP Group; Pinnacle Rehab on the sale to Crescent Capital Partners; and Aidacare on an investment by Quadrant Private Equity. 

 Jimmy also sits on the Advisory Committee of Greenbanks Tasmanian Whisky Co.

Justin Negrin is Head of M&A at Origin Energy. Mr Negrin has over 20 years of mergers & acquisitions experience. Prior to joining Origin in 2020, he was Managing Director and Head of M&A at Deutsche Bank Australia & NZ, where he worked in M&A for approximately 13 years. Earlier in his career he worked as a valuation specialist at PwC and in the Corporate Strategy / M&A team at Mattel, Inc. Mr Negrin holds a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Laws from UTS, Sydney, an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Karen Evans-Cullen is a partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Corporate Advisory group. 

She has over 20 years’ experience as a strategic mergers and acquisitions and corporate advisory lawyer. Karen has acted in a number of Australia’s significant strategic corporate transactions, including a range of takeovers, schemes of arrangement, mergers, demergers, acquisitions and divestments, and equity capital raisings.

She advises clients on transactions across a broad range of industry sectors and is highly regarded for her ability to deliver innovative solutions to achieve her client’s objectives.

Karen has established a strong reputation for advising boards and management on corporate governance issues including governance practices and processes, risk management, board effectiveness, continuous disclosure, regulatory investigations, related party transactions, directors’ duties and executive remuneration.

Karen was a part-time member of the Australian Takeovers Panel, a government appointed peer review body that regulates corporate control transactions in widely held Australian entities, from 2014 to 2023. 

Kelly is the Founder of Skye Capital Advisory, she is one of the most progressive and respected senior debt advisory professionals in the Australasian market, having raised ~$100bn of debt capital in Australian and international markets.

Kelly is considered a market leader in developing funding solutions and providing financial advice to corporates and private equity firms, including specialist advice on business transformation strategies to effect change, drive profit and stimulate growth. Recent market leading transactions include Allegro funds acquisition of Toll, acquisition financing of Gull NZ, first social loan in Australia for APM employment services and the recent acquisition of retail zoo (boost/Betty’s burgers).

Kevin Xu is a Principal at The Riverside Company. Since joining Riverside in 2014, Kevin has responsibility to source, diligence, and manage mid-market investments in the software / tech, B2B services and healthcare space. Kevin previously worked in J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking team.  He holds a Bcomm and LLB with Honours from the University of Melbourne.

Maggie is Mergermarket’s APAC Associate Editor and Australia/New Zealand Bureau Chief. She joined Mergermarket Australia in 2017 and has since been covering corporate strategy, M&A, and private equity activities as a journalist and an editor. She manages the Australian bureau, supports Mergermarket’s APAC editorial team, and facilitates cross-platform collaboration under ION Analytics between Mergermarket and sister publications including Debtwire and Infralogic. She previously worked at The Australian and Reuters, starting her Australian journalism career at the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canberra. Maggie has been based in Sydney since 2013.

Mark Chudek is a Partner of Affinity Equity Partners and Head of its Australian and New Zealand investment team.

Mark is a member of Affinity’s investment committee and first joined Affinity in 2013. Prior to rejoining Affinity in 2023, Mark spent 2 years at Quadrant Private Equity within Quadrant’s flagship buyout fund between 2021 and 2023.

Before Mark’s private equity career commenced in 2013, he spent 3 years at Credit Suisse within their investment banking team in Sydney.

Mark’s private equity career spans 7 completed platform investments, serving on 14 investee company boards, completing 20 financings across his portfolio of investee companies and exiting 4 platform investments.

Michael Blickstead is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group based in Sydney and Head of Australia / New Zealand Private Equity.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Blickstead was a Division Director / Managing Director and Head of Principal Finance Asia Pacific for Macquarie Group where he invested across the capital structure. Prior to that, he was an Investment Director at Archer Capital, one of Australia’s leading domestic private equity firms. Mr. Blickstead started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs in New York and London.

Mr. Blickstead received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in Economics, from Harvard University as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nicholas is a partner working with clients in Europe and Australia, supporting our global client support work. He has 15 years of consulting and advisory experience across a range of industries, among them infrastructure, energy, financial services and educational services.

His focus covers strategic and transactional work to support clients in these sectors, in a leadership role within our Private Capital Practice. He is also a regular author and presenter in his areas of expertise in his focus sectors.

Nicholas studied at the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne, he is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Mensa member. Before joining Oliver Wyman, he held roles in strategy consulting, mergers and acquisitions, and investment banking.

Nick is a Managing Director and co-head of Mergers and Acquisitions for UBS in APAC. In over 20 years at UBS, Nick has acted on some of Australia’s largest and most complicated M&A and funding transactions for a wide range of clients.

Mr. Graf is a Partner at Ares Management, where he is responsible for leading sponsor finance in Asia for Ares' Direct Lending business. Prior to joining Ares in 2021, Mr. Graf was Head of Leveraged Finance at Credit Suisse in Australia, where he focused on the origination, structuring and underwriting of leveraged finance transactions, as well as managing a large, diversified debt portfolio. Previously, Mr. Graf worked for Lazard, Deloitte and Bank of America in corporate finance roles. Mr. Graf holds a B.S. from Cornell University in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and an M.Eng. from Cornell University SC Johnson College of Business in Finance and Strategic Operations.

Richard is a Managing Director and Head of M&A for Morgan Stanley in Australia. Since joining the firm in 2010, Richard has advised clients on numerous high profile and complex M&A transactions. Recent landmark transactions include advising Square on its $39bn acquisition of Afterpay, Blackstone on its $9bn bid for Crown, MIRA and Aware on their completed $4.6bn acquisition of Vocus Group and Virgin Australia on its $3.5bn sale to Bain Capital.

Sam Prentice is a senior Managing Director in our Corporate Finance team, based in Melbourne. With over 30 years in investment banking, he is one of Australia's leading advisors, having advised on several landmark transactions through his commitment to long-term trusted advisor client relationships.

Sam joined Jarden after a career at Rothschild & Co, where he was instrumental in building their Australian franchise and led coverage across Industrials & Business Services, Consumer, Retail & Healthcare sectors. Prior to this, he worked in investment banking at ABN AMRO and Macquarie.  

Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and is a Member of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Scott is a Director at Pacific Equity Partners, a leading Australian private markets fund manager with approximately $16 billion in assets under management. Scott is a member of the private equity team and joined the firm in 2015.

Prior to joining PEP, Scott began his career in investment banking with Goldman Sachs in New Zealand. Scott received a Master of Business with distinction and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Otago and is a CFA charterholder.

Stephanie joined KKR in 2018 and is a member of the KKR Capital Markets team. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Dash was a member of the Credit Suisse leveraged finance origination & restructuring group in New York. Before that, she was part of Deutsche Bank’s leveraged debt capital markets group in Sydney. She received a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of New South Wales.

Mr Allan joined Blackrock in December 2023 as Head of Australasian Private Credit where he is responsible for sourcing and managing credit opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. 

Prior to Blackrock he worked for Nomura where he was a Managing Director and Head of Australia and New Zealand Loans & Principal Investments which invests in corporate and real estate lending across the capital structure, loan portfolio acquisitions and distressed debt. 

Stephen has an undergraduate degree from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Chartered Accountant.

Todd De Rosa is a hands-on leader who thrives on developing new markets and driving strategic initiatives. With more than 15 years of experience across technology and innovation sectors, he has consistently delivered measurable results and built lasting relationships. As General Manager of Deals & Procure at Ansarada, Todd leads multi-product go-to-market strategies, combining commercial insight with technical expertise to expand markets and unlock new opportunities.

Tom Humphrey is a Partner with Blackbird Ventures, a venture capital firm supercharging Australia and New Zealand's most wild and ambitious founders right from the beginning. 

Since 2012, Blackbird has raised $2.5B in funds and invested in over 120 companies including Canva, Zoox, SafetyCulture, and Culture Amp.

Prior to investing, Tom spent 8 years in operations. He was the COO of OurDeal, a D2C ecommerce company which grew to 80 people and exited to News Corp in 2011 returning over 4x to investors. He then moved San Francisco with his sister to launch Kanopy, a B2B video streaming platform which exited to KKR in 2020 returning 13x to investors. Immediately prior to Blackbird, Tom was a Partner at US-based Access Ventures.

Vincent Wong is a Partner with TPG and Co-Head of Healthcare for TPG Capital Asia, based in Melbourne. In addition to healthcare, Vincent also focuses on consumer investments for TPG Capital Asia in Australia. Vincent currently has responsibilities for TPG’s investments in Invocare, iNova, Funlab, Greencross, and Novotech, and previously for exited investments including Inghams and Healthscope.

Prior to joining TPG in 2011, Vincent served in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs & Co. Vincent graduated from The University of Melbourne with BCommerce and BLaws (Honors).