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With an eye towards bolstering its growth plans, La Trobe Financial has announced the appointment of three key executives to its leadership team.
Industry veteran David Bleakley has joined La Trobe Financial as vice president of treasury and settlement services. Another banking veteran, Rick Drury, has been appointed senior executive chief lending officer – commercial. And completing the trio of appointments is Annie Sestito, who has been appointed senior executive head of people, PR, and marketing.
Bleakley was most recently chief risk officer for North America with ANZ. He also held leadership positions at Standard & Poor’s and the National Australia Bank, where he was head of asset-backed securities and structured credit operations in Melbourne.
“We are delighted to have David join us,” said Greg O’Neill, chief executive officer at La Trobe Financial. “His solid credit and capital markets experience will play an important role as we grow, and we very much look forward to supporting him in his leadership as we expand our operations.”
Meanwhile, Drury joins La Trobe Financial after serving as managing director of the National Bank’s UK commercial real estate run-off business. At National Bank, Drury established a team of more than 200 banking professionals and achieved a more than 80% reduction in financial risk exposure to the bank.
“We are delighted to welcome someone of this calibre to our team,” said Cory Bannister, chief lending officer at La Trobe Financial. “His strong experience in leadership makes him a valuable addition. Rick will play a major role in executing our strategic plan.”
Lastly, Sestito has over two decades of experience in financial services, superannuation, and banking. Prior to joining La Trobe Financial, she worked at Westpac most recently as the executive manager – head of strategic partnerships and alliances.
“At the heart of every great organisation are great people, and we are building on a company that has the right core values to succeed,” said Sestito. “This is such a wonderful place to work and I’m delighted to join such a solid group of professionals at this point of my career.”
There will be more on this story in issue 16.20 of Australian Broker, out at the end of next month.
