2024 MGI Australasia Conference

David Bell

Chief Operating Officer, MGI+MORE

David is motivated by the +MORE purpose of creating successful business owners. David is a strategic transformation and commercial Executive with over 25 years of experience in the finance and technology sectors. His role is to leverage his multinational expertise to ensure the +MORE network delivers daily for our clients and team. To him, nothing is better than seeing clients succeed in their market due to insight and collaboration with our people.

Starting life in the dealing rooms of London as a derivatives trader, David’s career has seen him work with major banks across the globe.

Following a six-month program at Stanford Business School, David diversified into strategic leadership roles, building new or amplifying existing divisions of the bank. One of the most challenging but exhilarating periods was launching a start-up data platform as CEO, gaining first-hand insight into business ownership.

Most recently, David was privileged to lead the Xero global sales team, working with teams in many countries focusing on a high-growth commercial mindset.

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Dave Birch

Founder and Group Managing Director, Smart AR

Dave is a lawyer by training, but has spent his entire career working in the financial service sector. He has founded and run businesses in the insurance, investment, and advisory markets. Dave is based in Auckland, NZ but has both business interests and family in Australia. Interests outside work include: beer, rugby, fishing, pizza and family – though not necessarily in that order.

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Chris Borneman

CEO, MGI Worldwide

As CEO my role, with the MGI Central team, is to serve you; adding value to your business in the real sense of increasing your sustainable profitability.  My vision, the outcome I am seeking for MGI Worldwide, is to be a top 20 highly regarded network with a vibrant and engaged membership of good quality firms that derive significant value and benefit from being part of the network.

My belief is that our values of working globally, connecting personally, and collaborating in order to grow, compete, and win will deliver that, and I look forward to your support in delivering that together.

: www.mgiworld.com
: chris-borneman

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Brad Geelan

Chief Revenue Officer, Business Fitness

Brad is passionate about automating processes and data analysis. Starting at Business Fitness in 2003 he has helped large and small accounting firms into a proFITable future through streamlining systems using the latest technology. He understands high performing firms through studying thousands of datasets as part of the now retired Good Bad Ugly Australian Accounting benchmarking study. Brad is responsible for both the sales and client service teams at Business Fitness.

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Dan Henderson

Managing Director, MGI+MORE

Dan Henderson is committed to MGI+MORE’s vision, purpose, and values. Dan is an advisory & accountancy expert with more than 15 years of experience supporting business owners across multiple industries in business growth and sustainability.

After completing his studies in Commerce and Sciences at the University of Otago, Dan went on to spend 10 years at one of the Big Four before jumping into business ownership in 2013.

Dan’s expertise sits comfortably in business strategy, leadership, governance, merger and acquisition, sale and valuation work, international company compliance and regulatory analysis, alongside a deep commercial and technical understanding of the SME, Residential and Commercial Property Market, and Construction Sectors. Dan has worked with every business size, from start-up to scale-up to the multi-national level.

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Liam Hindle

Product Marketing Lead - Practice, MYOB

Liam Hindle brings over 15 years of experience in business leadership, having led teams across marketing, change management, strategy, and transformation. He is currently Segment Lead for the Accounting Practices line of business at MYOB. Previously, Liam has held key positions at at AGL Australia and Medibank, where he was involved in procuring and implementing software, and driving digital transformation projects across a range of technologies. Armed with an MBA from RMIT University and certifications in areas such as Product Marketing, Human Centred Design, and Project Management, Liam combines theoretical knowledge with practical expertise.

An early adopter of Generative AI, Liam blends real-world experience and strategic insight, and is aiming to make this session a valuable opportunity for accountants looking to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

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Natalie Isborn

Macquarie Bank

Natalie has over 20 years’ experience in advising companies on public and private mergers and acquisitions, capital and debt raisings, corporate governance, joint ventures and corporate and commercial issues. Natalie advises on equity investment models, business structuring, succession and exit structuring, and designing and implementing these initiatives. She has advised companies across a range of industries,

including a focus on the financial sector, throughout Australia and internationally. Natalie was head of investments (portfolio management and M&A) at a leading financial institution and prior to that held senior positions in leading global law firms, such as Linklaters and Minter Ellison. Natalie’s combines technical expertise across a range of disciplines with her extensive experience to drive positive outcomes. She has been a non-executive director of a number of financial planning practices.

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Lorin Joyce

Facilitator / Managing Partner, MGI Joyce|Dickson

Lorin specialises in business valuations and provides expert advice to anyone looking to buy or sell a business. Over the years Lorin has been involved with many successful purchases and sales of businesses for his clients.

Lorin also has considerable experience in all aspects of taxation, business management, structuring and succession planning. He works closely with clients to create strategic plans aimed at improving the financial health of their businesses. As the managing Partner, Lorin also spends considerable time in managing the strategic direction of the firm.

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Daniel Kerkvliet

State Leader – Professional Services Victoria, Macquarie Bank

With 17 years’ experience in the banking sector, Daniel is the State Leader of Professional Services VIC for Macquarie Business Banking. He leads a specialist team of business bankers supporting the Accounting, Financial Planning, Legal, Insolvency and Insurance Broking industries.

Daniel and his team combine cashflow lending experience, tailored banking solutions and industry insights to support the business and personal growth ambitions of approximately 450 firms via M&A and succession funding. Their clients range from small businesses to emerging corporates, and high net-worth individuals.

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Samuel Larkins

Key Account Manager, Ignition

Sam is a Key Account Manager at Ignition with over 5 years of expertise supporting firms with cloud software implementation and adoption. Sam is passionate about creating efficiency within accounting & professional service firms by automating processes to free up valuable time to focus on higher value work. He's also passionate about the people side of software, ensuring individuals within firms are equipped to effectively manage change.

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Tim Martin

Educator & Guest Speaker, net101

Tim is an experienced digital marketing professional based in Melbourne, Australia. In 2007, he founded digital marketing agency 2Sticks, and in 2009 he established net101, which became one of the country's first corporate educators specialising exclusively in digital and social media marketing. In 2022, he expanded his training offerings to include artificial intelligence (machine learning) applications for business.

As the founder and principal trainer for net101, Tim provides tailored in-house training programs and offers a schedule of public courses throughout Australia. In addition to being an experienced AI and digital marketing professional, Tim is also a professional speaker for The Executive Connection (TEC), a sought-after conference presenter, and a respected industry commentator. Tim has worked with a diverse range of clients, including NRMA, Nestle, YMCA, Lifeline, Xero, and the Australian Defence Force.

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Jamie Melville

Division Director - Head of New Business, Wealth Solutions, Macquarie Bank

Jamie is passionate about working with growing advice businesses across the country by partnering with these firms to leverage his knowledge around great M&A strategies in professional services.

Jamie has broad experience across business banking, advice, and the Virtual Adviser Network. Being involved in over 1,000 transactions in his time, he brings a professional and structured approach gained from his experience learned from all parts of the M&A process. Jamie holds a Bachelor of Business in Accounting and an advanced diploma of financial services and is a CPA Member.

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Carina Muntean

National Account Manager, BGL

Holding a Bachelor of Business in Professional Accountancy, Carina combines a strong educational background with extensive industry experience. Having dedicated over five years to the accounting industry, including significant experience in the SaaS sector, Carina brings a unique perspective to her role.

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Hugh O’Connell

Service Manager, FuseWorks

Hugh O'Connell is the Service Manager at FuseWorks, working with clients to optimise their Fuse software and improve processes. Coming from a background of IT and tech support, he has experience troubleshooting software across a variety of systems and is comfortable dealing with complex technical problems and translating issues into straightforward explanations and actions for end users. His years of experience with FuseWorks have been motivated by helping clients cut down on frustration and wasted time when using software.

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Gustavo Prohaska-Corte

Senior Business Analyst, MGI Dobbyn Carafa

Gustavo has 10 Years of experience in Business Analytics in Finance, Supply Chain and Procurement.

Since starting at MGI Dobbyn Carafa in 2019, Gustavo has been a key member of our Corporate Advisory division and now is head of our Business Analytics division. Gustavo is a highly skilled and dedicated member of the MGIDC team, with a passion for extracting actionable insights from data to drive strategic decisions. With a solid background in statistics, data analytics and business strategy, Gustavo plays a key role in helping businesses make data-driven choices. Gustavo has had experience in implementing descriptive and predictive statistical models to manage human resources, client retention, marketing efficiency, demand planning, costing and pricing. Gus also has solid experience in preparing operational and strategic insights for businesses using statistical tools and BIs such as Power BI, Fathom and R-script. By undertaking process mapping review and design, Gus is able to understand operational and financial risks and inefficiencies.

 

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Cameron Schwab

Leadership, speaker and storyteller,

Cameron Schwab is a CEO, leadership coach and strategist. He works with CEOs and emerging leaders to achieve high levels of trust – personally, culturally, strategically and organisationally – as the basis of high performance.

After cutting his teeth as a recruiter at the Melbourne Football Club when the Demons made the finals for the first time in 23 years, Cameron was appointed CEO of the famous Richmond Football Club at age 24, the youngest in the history of the game.

For most of the next 25 years, he was CEO of Richmond, Melbourne and Fremantle, when those clubs were at their lowest ebb, both on and off the field. He is the second longest serving CEO in the modern game.

Having taken on some of the sport’s most difficult and daunting challenges, Cameron established a track record of building teams and organisations, unifying groups while navigating periods of genuine adversity and complexity.

He is a legacy-focused leader who has bounced back from setbacks, taking on the sport’s most challenging leadership roles.

Cameron holds an MBA and Master of Marketing from the Melbourne Business School. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School and is a Vincent Fairfax Fellow of the Centre of Ethical Leadership at University of Melbourne. He received his Coaching Certification from the Columbia Business School in New York.

His articles on sport and leadership have been published in The Age newspaper.

Cameron is also an artist and illustrator, studying Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).

 

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Mathew Skelley

Facilitator / Director & Partner, MGI Dobbyn Carafa

With over 15 years’ experience as a business advisor, Matt’s diverse professional background has included working in various mid-tier chartered accounting firms and a publicly listed company in the UK. Matt has held several advisory board positions, and is currently a board member for a not for profit.

Focusing on medium and larger businesses, business owners and high net-worth individuals, Matt has developed specialist tax knowledge and a broad range of commercial experience in manufacturing, marketing, professional services, wholesale and retail markets, with a particular passion for the property development, building and construction, and wine industries. Matt is now a Director and Partner at Dobbyn& Carafa, a boutique firm aiming to partner with your business by being your ‘one-stop-shop’ for taxation, accounting and corporate advisory services.

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