Two financial services industry stalwarts have been recognised in the Australia Day 2023 Honours List.
David Gandolfo (pictured above left), the founding president, honorary life member and patron of the Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers Association of Australia (CAFBA) was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the financial sector. He has been chair of CAFBA’s advocacy committee since 2020.
Sally Herman (pictured above right), who worked for Westpac in senior roles for 16 years, and is currently a non-executive director and chair of the board risk committee at Suncorp Group, was also awarded an OAM for her service to the financial sector and to the community.
Gandolfo was recognised in the Australia Day 2023 Honours List for his tireless work advocating for the nation’s commercial finance industry for more than 25 years. This includes his current roles as Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) director and deputy chair since 2014. He was the founding president and board member of CAFBA from 2007-2020 and prior to this he was president and board member of the Australian Asset Finance Association from 1995-2007. Other roles included executive director of Melbourne Finance Broking (1998-2009), co-chair of the Reserve Bank Small Business Finance Summit (2018-2019) and advisor, Small Business Ministerial Advisory Council from 2014-2015.
He was also the co-author of submissions from COSBA and CAFBA to the Banking Royal Commission, 2018 as well as co-author of CAFBA’s submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry into Financial Services 2018-2019.
Gandolfo is the co-founder and joint CEO of Quantum Business Finance in Melbourne.
“I'm absolutely humbled and honoured to be awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours List,” Gandolfo said in a social media post. “The citation of Services to the Financial Sector lists a number of positions I have held, as well as submissions I have co-authored and parliamentary enquiries I have attended.
“In receiving this award, I particularly want to acknowledge and thank present and past board members of CAFBA, my colleagues at Quantum Business Finance and fellow board members at the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) and of course my family.
“This award is the result of the assistance, support and collaboration of many hard-working and committed friends and colleagues, without whose efforts none of the cited outcomes would have been achieved.”
Herman’s experience in the industry spans commercial and community roles. She has been a Suncorp Group non-executive director and chair of the board risk committee since 2015 and non-executive director at Premier Investments Ltd since 2011.
Herman worked at Westpac in various leadership roles from 1994 to 2010, including general manager, people and transformation, general manager of corporate affairs and sustainability, and general manager, strategy, product and payments, business and consumer bank.
She also established Westpac's Diversity and Flexibility Strategy and was general manager, advice for the BT Financial Group from 2005 to 2008.
Herman’s current non-executive director roles include Breville Group Ltd since 2013, while she also held non-executive director roles at ME Bank Ltd between 2011 and 2015, as well as Irongate Funds Management and E and P Financial Group .
Herman was also recognised for her community roles including trustee, Art Gallery of New South Wales since 2019 and director of the Sydney Film Festival since 2018. She’s a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of Chief Executive Women.
The Australia Day honours list also featured Victor Hoog Antink, who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the property industry and corporate governance. Hoog Antick is an honorary life member and former national president of the Property Council of Australia and former chairman of the Property Industry Foundation.
Robbie Sefton was appointed an AM for significant service to agribusiness and the community, recognised for roles including member of Reserve Bank of Australia Small Business Finance Panel (2012 to 2015) and member of the ATO Small Business Advisory Group (1998 to 2000). Sefton is a co-owner of Nangandie Pastoral Company.
Member of Chief Executive Women and former non-executive director Nicola Wakefield Evans was appointed an AM for significant service to business, law and diversity. She is board member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Women in Finance Asia.
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