CANON OCEANIA has appointed Luke Clark to lead Converga as CEO, from May1, with a mandate to innovate.

Mr Clark was previously chief information officer (CIO) at Canon Australia.

As part of the Canon Oceania Group, the role at Converga will allow Mr Clark to showcase his expertise in transformation projects while leading the business as part of Canon’s broader service portfolio. Mr Clark’s role as part of the Canon Oceania senior leadership team will see him continue to bridge the two service offerings and taking his learnings from CIO of Canon Australia to CEO of Converga. 

“I’m excited to work with this talented group of employees and our valued customers,” Mr Clark said. “I’ll be focused on delivering the end-to-end business services that customers expect from us.”

Mr Clark will be stepping into the role of the current CEO Paul Bellette, who is departing Converga after 10 years with the company, four years as CEO, to commence a new chapter in his career journey. During his time with Converga, Mr Bellette led the company’s change of ownership from NZ Post to Canon Oceania with a strong focus on customers and innovation.

Before the change of leadership comes into effect, Clark and Bellette will work alongside each other to ensure a smooth transition.

www.canon.com.au/business

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ACAST Australia has appointed Guy Scott-Wilson to the vital role of content director.

Mr Scott-Wilson will lead Acast’s content strategy to help set the foundations for future growth of the company that lays claim to being the world’s leading technology infrastructure for audio on demand and podcasts.

Founded in 2014 by Karl Rosander and Mans Ulvestam, Acast is a free-to-use technology platform connecting listeners, podcast creators and advertisers that currently has more than 56 million monthly listens to more than 2,000 shows around the world. Acast is headquartered in Stockholm, and has offices in London, New York City, Los Angeles, and Sydney. 

Mr Scott-Wilson is a trained journalist with more than 10 years in the commercial side of the industry, firstly at London’s iconic Dennis Publishing and more recently as partnership director at Allure Media in Sydney, where he worked closely with the publishing teams as they established Allure as a pioneer of branded content.

Acast launched in Australia in February 2017 and by year-end has more than 2 million listens. Mr Scott-Wilson said Acast’s  mission was to “connect Australian podcast creators to the rest of the world and bring great global content to Australia”. The company recently signed a partnership with Nova establishing the biggest podcast player in the Australian market, due to the combined inventory.

Mr Scott-Wilson said he aimed to ensure local content creators could tap into rich data to help them grow and monetise their audiences.

Acast Australia country manager, Henrik Isaksson said, “After a robust search and selection process, I’m delighted to announce Guy is joining our team at Acast in Australia. Guy brings a high level of global and local expertise in the content development and publishing field and will be an asset as we head into this exciting era.”

“Guy will play an important role in our business because, above all, we’re focused on helping local Aussie podcast providers monetise content and give listeners an enjoyable place to discover it.”

Mr Scott-Wilson said, “I’m thrilled to be joining Acast, such an exciting platform in this rapidly growing content channel. I'm fortunate enough to have spent my entire career in businesses that care deeply about the quality of their content. And in joining Acast, I'm joining a platform that is going to lead the industry for many years to come.

“In a world where so much content competes for our attention and finds us via social media, podcasts offer an opt-in experience that still emphasises great storytelling, and for me that is extremely exciting.

“Australia has some unique voices and amazing stories to tell, which will resonate with both local and global audiences. I can’t wait to start working with Australia’s many excellent podcasters and help them to find new audiences and monetise their content more effectively.”

www.acast.com

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ANNA HARPER – who was named CFO of the Year at the inaugural Women in Banking and Finance Awards recently – has been appointed as chief financial officer and head of markets at peer-to-peer SaaS lending platform, Clearmatch.

The Clearmatch SaaS lending platform, which was spun out of SocietyOne’s technology platform by founder Greg Symons in October last year, will also utilise Ms Harper in an executive director role. Ms Harper holds a shareholding in Clearmatch and said she planned to ramp the platform up into full commercialisation in Australia, and internationally. 

“My tenure as chief financial officer of SocietyOne over the past 22 months has being a fantastic opportunity to enter and understand the fintech industry from what has been largely a private equity lead career,” Ms Harper said. “I also remain interested in leveraging my experience from my previous role in the strategic involvement of the listing of Virtus Health but love the hands-on world of what Clearmatch has to offer.”

Last year Ms Harper was a finalist in five fintech and banking related awards. Her decision to join Clearmatch, which until recently has been a fully owned subsidiary of Australia’s largest marketplace lender SocietyOne, has been driven by her interest and belief in the ever-growing – and inevitable – disruption occurring in the banking sector.

“Her passion in our business, and marketplace lending overall, is clearly evidenced in the industry recognition Anna has attained in such a short period of time,” Clearmatch founder and CEO Greg Symons said. “We are privileged to have her join us at a time where Clearmatch is rapidly expanding its client base in complementary asset classes to SocietyOne.”

SocietyOne’s CEO and managing director, Jason Yetton said, “Anna has played an absolutely critical role in transforming the financial operations of SocietyOne, helping us to grow our business strongly since she joined us in January 2016.

“Her contribution and the initiatives she has put in place have put us on a par with our ASX-listed counterparts, all of which has been a tremendous achievement. Anna has been a great advocate for our company and her efforts on this front saw her recognised in September as CFO of the Year at the prestigious 2017 Women in Finance Awards.

“We are very proud of what Anna has achieved and we wish her all the best for the future with Greg and the team at Clearmatch.”

www.clearmatch.com

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PHILANTHROPIST and business ‘turnaround king’ Basil Sellers has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Bond University.

The doctorate recognizes Mr Sellers’ “significant charitable work, sports development and corporate acumen”.

It is the second honour the university has bestowed on Mr Sellers, with its largest and most state-of-the-art theatre – Basil Sellers Theatre – also named in recognition of his contributions to the community. 

Born in Bulsar, India, before migrating with his family to Adelaide, in 1948, Mr Sellers earned a reputation for his ability to turnaround ailing companies and his philanthropic work. He was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2003 Australia Day Honours.

Bond University vice chancellor and president, Tim Brailsford, said Mr Sellers' significant impact on charitable and community organisations made him the ideal recipient of an honorary doctorate.

“On anyone’s measure, he has enjoyed a stellar business career, demonstrating a well developed sense of business acumen and hard work,” Professor Brailsford said.

“However, Mr Sellers is not one to rest on his laurels and it is a credit to his character that for the past 25 years he has been concentrating on giving back to the community through philanthropic activities.

“One of the criteria for the award of a Doctor of the University degree is that the candidate must have made an outstanding contribution to society generally and there can be no doubt that Basil Sellers fulfils that requirement.”

Among Mr Sellers' many achievements is the purchase of a site in Chennai, India, for the Association for Non-traditional Employment for Women (ANEW) two decades ago.  The charity now sees the graduation and full-time employment of nearly 1,000 disadvantaged girls, including many from the slums, each year. 

A keen sportsman, Mr Sellers supports a plethora of sporting charities, including a respite centre for elite athletes from the Australian Institute of Sport, along with the McGrath Foundation and the Steve Waugh Foundation, among others.

His philanthropic activities extend to art, having commissioned numerous sculptures that take pride of place at sporting venues such as the SCG and the new Adelaide Oval, along with founding or contributing to art prizes and fellowships.

In business, he made a name for himself as the ‘turnaround king’ after transforming National Textiles from a company facing financial closure to the largest of its kind in Australia.

He took his skills overseas to London, where he was chairman and chief executive of Gestenter PLC, an imaging and electronics company, now owned by Ricoh, Japan.

“Mr Sellers’ achievements are many and Bond University is delighted to recognise his significant accomplishments with the honorary doctorate,” Prof. Brailsford said.

www.bond.edu.au

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