NSW State Summit: Private Wealth Insights

Peter Evans (US)

Trusted Adviser to Legacy Families, Laird Norton Family

Peter Evans is someone who has lived the multigenerational journey from the inside out. His years of leadership within Laird Norton Company—an 8th-generation family enterprise—give him a uniquely authentic understanding of continuity, governance, and the human dynamics that shape legacy families. As a personne de confiance to families across six continents, Peter has dedicated his life to strengthening the human, intellectual, social, natural, spiritual, and financial capital that enable families to flourish across generations. 

 

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Melissa Evans (US)

Laird Norton Family

Melissa Evans is a 5th Generation descendant of the Laird Norton family and has served on the Governing Board, the Foundation Board and the Family summit committee. Her unconventional life has followed passions in the arts, psychology and architecture. Melissa grew up with the promises and pitfalls of generational affluence and was free to pursue many interests. While raising two children, she worked in commercial real estate development utilizing her master’s degree in urban design and planning. With her subsequent master’s degree in Jungian and Archetypal Psychology, she follows her keen interest in depth psychology, by navigating the conventional and esoteric in attending to the alchemy of inner work. As an abstract process painter, she says: “In sharing my works, I share my deepest self; to myself and others.” 

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Geoff Wilson AO

Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Wilson Asset Management

Geoff Wilson has more than 46 years’ direct experience in investment markets having held a variety of senior investment roles in Australia, the UK and the US. Geoff founded Wilson Asset Management in 1997, which today, comprises of 20 investment professionals who offer a combined investment experience of more than 250 years. Wilson Asset Management manages $6 billion on behalf of more than 130,000 investors as the investment manager for nine listed investment companies (LICs) and two unlisted funds: Wilson Asset Management Leaders Fund and Wilson Asset Management Founders Fund. Geoff is currently Chairman of WAM Capital Limited, WAM Leaders Limited, WAM Global Limited, WAM Microcap Limited, WAM Research Limited, WAM Active Limited, WAM Strategic Value Limited and WAM Income Maximiser Limited. He is the founder and Director of Future Generation Australia Limited and Future Generation Global Limited, and Director of WAM Alternative Assets Limited. In 2014 Geoff created Australia’s first listed philanthropic wealth creation vehicles, Future Generation Australia, and subsequently Future Generation Global in 2015. In 2024 Geoff launched Future Generation Women as the first all-female managed fund in Australia, delivering investment returns and advancing economic equality and opportunities for women and their children in Australia. To date, the Future Generation companies have donated $100 million to Australian not-for-profits. Geoff holds a Bachelor of Science, a Graduate Management Qualification and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

In addition to Geoff’s Directorships with the Wilson Asset Management Group and the Future Generation companies, he also holds Directorships with Staude Capital Global Value Fund Limited (since 2014), Hearts and Minds Investments Limited (since 2018), Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation (since 1997) and the Australian Rugby Foundation (2024).
 

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Arun Abey AM

Executive Chairman, Walsh Bay Partners

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Joanna Sun

Co-Founder, Emerald Family Enterprise Group

Drawing from her own background as a member of a family office navigating succession challenges and family conflict amongst the Generation 1 to 3, Joanna understands firsthand the intersection of family dynamics, governance needs, and wealth continuity. This personal experience, combined with her expertise in building family office advisory boards, enables her to create governance frameworks that honor both family relationships and business imperatives.

Joanna specialises in designing tailored governance structures for family offices and navigating the complex emotional dynamics of multigenerational wealth transitions. With extensive experience working with global families of significant wealth, she bringsa trauma-informed approach to succession planning, recognising how rapid wealth creation and family complexity impact decision-making across generations.

Born in China and raised in Australia, Joanna brings deep cultural intelligence to her work with Asian family enterprises and transnational wealth structures. She focuses on family enterprise planning, succession strategy, next-generation development, and establishing governance systems that support healthy family dynamics while protecting wealth across borders and generations.

Joanna holds a double Bachelor's degree in Business Management and Arts and a Master's degree in Financial Planning. Her specialised credentials include Certified Family Advisor and Advanced Certificate Family Advisor (Family Firm Institute), Certified Executive Chair (Advisory Board Centre), and the Company Director course (AICD).

Paul Burgon

Chief Executive & CIO, Lipman Burgon

Paul is the Managing Partner and CIO of Lipman Burgon & Partners, focussing on sophisticated investment solutions for private clients and family offices. 

As a founding member of Lipman Burgon & Partners, Paul has embedded a culture that puts clients’ interests ahead of the firm’s growth. He leads the investment and advisory teams and acts as Lead Adviser to family offices, tailoring investment programs, building governance frameworks, and managing succession programs. 

With over two decades of experience across market cycles and having previously worked with Goldman Sachs, JBWere and Investec Private Bank, Paul is highly experienced in multi-asset portfolio construction strategies and allocation across public and private market assets. He has deep expertise in allocation modelling and manager due diligence with a network that unlocks unique investment opportunities for clients. 

Paul is a key member of Lipman Burgon & Partners’ Investment Committee and has several academic and professional qualifications. These include a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning, a Master of Applied Finance, and is recognised as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA). 

For three consecutive years, he has been ranked among Australia’s Top 25 Financial Advisers by US financial investment publication Barron’s. 

Vidhur Rangaswamy

Principal , Majority Capital Partners

No bio provided

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Stephen Arnold

Managing Director & CIO, Aoris

Stephen has more than 30 years of experience investing in global equity markets, making him one of Australia’s most experienced international investors.
 
He is the Founder, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Aoris Investment Management, an independent, Sydney based investment firm focused exclusively on a single strategy: a highly selective portfolio of global equities. From its inception in March 2018 to 31 July 2026, the Aoris strategy delivered an annualised return of more than 13%. The firm now manages close to A$2 billion on behalf of its clients.
 
Before founding Aoris in 2017, Stephen was Head of International Equities at Evans & Partners. During his six and a half years in the role, the international equities strategy generated investment returns that ranked in the top decile of a broad peer group of international funds.
 
Earlier in his career, Stephen spent many years in London, primarily with Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He was a senior member of a small investment team responsible for managing a concentrated global equity portfolio of approximately $5 billion.
 
Stephen began his career at Bankers Trust Australia as a member of the domestic equities investment team. He later joined Platinum Asset Management, where he covered US equities from early 1994 until late 1997.
 
Stephen holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney and is a CFA charterholder.
 
Away from investing, Stephen is a keen Arsenal Football Club supporter and loves both running and cycling. He can often be found cycling early in the morning or running along Sydney’s harbour foreshore at lunchtime.
 
He is also an avid reader of nonfiction, although he readily admits that he buys books faster than he reads them. Stephen has a particular interest in history and travel, with Italy remaining a favourite destination and has developed a growing collection of fossils and antiquities.
 
Most importantly, Stephen enjoys spending time with his wife, Kirsty, and their two sons, Samuel and William.

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Dr Mark Cheung

Science Director and Deputy Director, Space & Astronomy, CSIRO

Dr Mark Cheung leads teams of scientists, engineers and technicians at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. At CSIRO’s Space & Astronomy research unit, he and his colleagues push the boundaries of our understanding of the universe and the environment on Earth through new instrumentation and scalable scientific computing. The unit is custodian of major research infrastructure, including the Australia Telescope National Facility, the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (NASA) and the New Norcia Deep Space Ground Station (ESA).

Mark’s own research sits at the nexus of astrophysics, remote sensing, high-performance computing and AI/machine learning. His domain-transferable expertise spans GPU algorithm development, cloud computing, deep learning, computer vision, computational (magneto)hydrodynamics, computational radiative transfer, massively parallel computing and sparse signal recovery.

After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Adelaide, Mark moved to the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany to study magnetic activity on the Sun. He then moved to the United States, where he worked at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center on a number of NASA missions, most notably the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

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Professor Victoria Cogger

Executive Director, Sydney Biomedical Accelerator (SBA)

Victoria is the inaugural Exective Director of the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, a visionary partnership between the University of Sydney, Sydney Local Health District and the NSW Government that brings together clinicians, researchers, academics and industry to solve some of the world’s most complex health challenges.

Victoria completed a BSc (Hons) in 1999 followed by a PhD on the Ultrastructure of the Ageing Liver, graduating from the University of Sydney in 2003. She was awarded a Healthy Ageing Postdoctoral Fellowship and travelled to the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD USA to complete postdoctoral studies. Victoria now leads a multidisciplinary research team that is focussed on understanding the biology of the liver relating to ageing and disease and translating this knowledge to develop targetted nanomedicines for the treatment and prevention of these diseases.

Victoria was the Foundational Associate Dean for Research Education (2018-2023) in the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health.

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Ralf Haase

Partner, Head of New South Wales, Mutual Trust

Ralf leads Mutual Trust’s multi-disciplinary Sydney team, leveraging the Firm’s established reputation to grow the Sydney business and provide families based in New South Wales with the benefits of integrated Family Office services.

What matters most to Ralf at Mutual Trust is facilitating this growth, as well as creating opportunities for young and established professionals to be part of the journey.

Ralf has over 28 years of global experience working with ultra-high net worth and private wealth. Prior to joining Mutual Trust in 2020, Ralf was General Manager, Head of Commonwealth Private Office at CBA. Over 10 years he created the Ultra and High-Net-Worth Family Office business within CBA. Prior to CBA, Ralf worked with Goldman Sachs in London and Frankfurt for before moving to Australia and joining Macquarie Private, where he spent four years.

Ralf holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the European Business School, Germany. He is FASEA qualified and speaks German and French.

Outside of Mutual Trust, Ralf enjoys playing tennis, where he regularly participates in the Sydney Eastern suburbs competitions, as well as skiing. A father of four children, he enjoys being with his family and seeing the kids flourish and grow.

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James Halse

Founder, Managing Director & CIO, Senjin Capital

Jamie is Co-Founder, Senjin Capital, Australia's only fund manager focused on using shareholder activism to unlock the deep value in Japanese publicly-listed small cap companies.

Prior to founding Senjinin 2024, Jamie spent 13 years with Kerr Neilson's Platinum Asset Management, where he became a senior portfolio manager, managing ~$1bn across a global equities and a Japan equities fund, and leading the global consumer and Japan research teams. He has been featured in the AFR for running Australia's top-performing global equities fund, and has been a regular guest on CNBC Asia, and Op Ed contributorin the Nikkei Asia, discussing Japanese stocks, Japan's corporate governance reform, and the opportunity in shareholder activism in Japan.

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Emily Hammon

Family Business & Wealth Adviser, For Generations

Emily is a certified Family Business & Wealth Advisor with the Family Business Association (AU) and the Family Firm Institute (USA).

Emily’s lived experience as a third generation family business member has inspired her to work with other enterprising families to help them plan, protect and prosper for generations through governance, legacy building and family learning programs.

Emily has 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing, events, sponsorship and international trade in both the public and private sectors.

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Adrian Kerley

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Black Kite Partners

Before founding Black Kite, Adrian spent seven years at IFM Investors as Executive Director. Prior to this, he served as Head of Private Capital at Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC). He also spent significant time at CHAMP Ventures.

Adrian is equipped with over 17 years of experience in private equity, as both a general and limited partner and brings extensive top-tier experience across finance and private equity, having also held various operational and strategic leadership roles at Woolworths

Adrian is the Chair of PRP Diagnostic Imaging and is a Non-Executive Director of 13Sick, Splend, Tally Group and Render Networks. He previously led the successful investments in Payapps, SG Fleet, TSmarine, Macpac, APB, and Lorna Jane.

Adrian has a Bachelor of Applied Finance and Bachelor of Commerce (Macquarie University) and is a Chartered Accountant.

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Richard Milroy

Co-Founder & CEO, PWN

Richard is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Private Wealth Network, and also founded several other specialist events and publishing companies in the areas of wealth management and sustainability. Starting his career at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, he then moved into specialist trade publishing and investment conferences based in London and now Sydney.Richard’s vision is to form knowledge networks where people connect face-to-face at events, then continue their relationships through online platforms. His focus is to assist members to share and gain new knowledge and understanding, and hopefully to inspire them too.

Richard holds a BA (Hons) in European Political Science with Modern Languages, from Newcastle upon Tyne University, UK.

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Patrycja Slawuta

Behavioural Scientist and Founder, UnLab

Australia-based, NYC-educated and Poland-born behavioural scientist, serial entrepreneur and mindhacker.

I work with the complexity, nonlinearity and messiness of the human nature across the spectrum from high performing individuals to muti-generational family dynasties.

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Jeff Steiner

Partner, Head of Family Office Advisory, Mutual Trust

Jeff Steiner is Head of Family Office Advisory at Mutual Trust, where he works with UHNW families and family offices to define purpose, build intergenerational alignment, and design structures that sustain wealth over time.

His work draws on established family wealth frameworks and proven, practice-led advisory methodologies, guiding families from purpose and alignment through to strategy, structure, and execution. He partners with principals, family boards, and family office executive teams to strengthen governance, navigate complexity, and support effective decision-making across generations.

Jeff advises on the design and execution of tailored family office models, including Single Family Offices, Multi-Family Offices, Hybrid Family Offices and Family Business in-house structures. His focus is on creating efficient, cohesive functions that reinforce purpose and enable long-term wealth stewardship.

With more than 25 years’ experience, Jeff has advised many of Australia’s most prominent families, leading the delivery of integrated advice across family strategy, governance, succession, education, tax, investment, business interests, estate planning, and philanthropy.

Jeff is an active contributor to the global family office community through the Family Office Exchange (FOX) and the Ultra High Net Worth Institute. He also serves as an independent chair and board member across family and not-for-profit organisations. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Certified Practicing Accountant, a registered tax agent and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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