TMA People
The TMA Australia Board consist of highly regarded professionals who are deeply connected to the turnaround industry and dedicate a significant amount of their own time to the TMA and the overall betterment of the turnaround and corporate renewal in Australia.
Director (Chair)
Cameron Belyea
Clayton Utz
Cameron Belyea leads contested debt and capital market engagements, focusing on restructuring, corporate takeover, tax controversy engagements and complex insolvencies. He acts for sponsors, boards, financial institutions, funds, financial and investment banking advisors and turnaround advisers leading corporate restructures.
Director (President)
Carl Gunther (CTP)
Carl is an accomplished senior executive with turnaround and financial restructuring expertise with corporate strategy, finance, M&A integration and separation credentials across the UK, Asia and Australia. He has over 25 years financial and operational restructuring experience having led teams in complex restructuring projects across multiple industries. Carl was the national Turnaround Lead for KPMG Australia and retired from the KPMG partnership on December 2019. Carl regularly presents on turnaround and restructuring topics, he holds a number of Company Director positions and continues to advise on turnaround matters.
Vice President
Maria O’Brien
Baker & McKenzie
Maria is the head of the Restructuring & Insolvency (R&I) practice in Baker McKenzie’s Australian offices, led the firm’s Asia Pacific R&I Working Group for 3 years, and is on the global R&I Steering Committee. She has considerable insolvency experience both litigious and advisory acting for insolvent companies and their directors (including in safe harbour assignments), as well as for administrators, receivers and liquidators, and for creditors. Maria is a Band One ranked lawyer in Restructuring/Insolvency by Chambers and has been ranked in the peer-assessed Best Lawyers for Insolvency and Reorganisations every year since 2009. She is a member of the Federal Court’s Commercial & Corporations (Insolvency) User’s Group, and co-author of the Australian chapter for the Asian Business Law Institute’s Principles of Business Restructuring Project.
Director
Paul Apathy
Herbert Smith Freehills
Paul is a highly experienced practitioner specialising in restructuring, insolvency and special situations. He is also the global co-chair of the firm’s Restructuring, Turnaround and Insolvency practice.
He has extensive regional, international and cross-border experience advising creditors, companies, private equity and hedge funds in respect of restructurings and distressed situations. His clients include corporates such as Speedcast, Arq Group, Retail Food Group, Imdex and Arrium; banks such as National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Bank, Nomura and Standard Chartered Bank; and funds such as Carlyle, KKR, Värde, HPS, Blackstone and OCP, along with other leading corporations, banks, funds and insolvency firms.
Director
Jennifer Ball
Clayton Utz
Jennifer is a Partner in the Restructuring & Insolvency practice who is consistently recognised by clients and peers in major legal directories as a recognised leader and expert in restructuring and insolvency, banking and finance related matters, debt recovery and general commercial dispute resolution.
Director
Marcus Derwin
R Cubed Group
Marcus is a highly experienced corporate executive with an extensive background in corporate restructuring, turnaround consulting and crisis management.
He has operated in executive and Board roles across a vast cross section of industry sectors as CEO, COO, Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and in senior Finance roles across a number of international markets (including the USA, UK and Australia).
Director
Gayle Dickerson
KPMG
Gayle is a partner in Deals Advisory at KPMG, focused on turnaround, restructuring and insolvency, with over 15 years of experience, in both the UK and Australia. She is a registered insolvency practitioner and NSW Committee member of the Turnaround Management Association. She has acted in a range of corporate insolvency, restructuring and advisory matters and acts for a range of stakeholders including corporates, Government, lenders, employees and shareholders.
Director
Lachlan Edwards (CTP)
Faraday Associates
Lachlan has advised governments, boards, management teams and creditors on some of the world’s largest corporate situations. Lachlan founded Faraday Associates in July 2018 having been at Lazard Australia for five years where he was the Co-Head of the Corporate Advisory business. Lachlan also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Hotel Property Investments (ASX: HPI), a position he has held since November 2013; is a Non-Executive Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company; past Chairman of the Turnaround Management Association in Australia (2019) having been its President from January 2016 to June 2018.
Director
Premjit Kaur
Fortress Investment Group
Premjit Kaur is a Managing Director in the Sydney office of Fortress Investment Group which she joined in early 2007. Premjit has been involved in all aspects of the business including originating, evaluating, executing, managing and realising exit of investments. This is across both primary investments and investments on the secondary market.
Director
Jeffrey Largier
Allegro Funds
Jeffrey has over ten years of experience in investment banking and private equity. Jeffrey commenced his career at UBS Investment Bank in Sydney in 2007, where he worked in the General Industrials and Financial Institutions Groups. While at UBS, Jeffrey was involved in advising a range of clients across private equity and corporates on buy-side, sell-side and capital raising engagements.
Jeffrey joined Allegro in 2013. Jeffrey is responsible for deal sourcing, appraisal and execution as well as management of portfolio companies including various operational turnaround initiatives. During his time at Allegro, Jeffrey has been involved in the acquisition, turnaround and/or transformation of TSC Group, Carpet Court, Eagle Boys, JSW Australia, Terrex Seismic and Questas Group.
Director
Sam Marsden
Deloitte Financial Advisory Pty Ltd
Sam has over 20 yers experience in both Australia and the UK specializing in the field of corporate advisory, restructuring and turnaround. Sam’s experience involves advising stakeholders with respect to underperforming businesses, either in an advisory capacity or managing businesses during a formal insolvency appointment. Sam has relevant experience across multiple sectors, with recent focus on mining and oil and gas services, property, large capital projects, retail, hospitality and leisure.
Director
Stewart McCallum
Ernst & Young
Stewart’s experience spans corporate restructuring and turnaround, insolvency and forensic accounting. Stewart is a Chartered Accountant, Certified Turnaround Analyst, Registered Liquidator and Certified Fraud Examiner. Stewart has extensive experience in Agribusiness, Retail, Hospitality and Financial Services, and has undertaken engagements in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, South America and Asia.
Director
John Nestel (CTP)
Faraday Associates
John co-founded Faraday in 2018 having retired from the partnership at Herbert Smith Freehills. John had been a partner of Freehills for 20 years. During that time he was Global Head of Finance, he formed the Restructuring, Turnaround and Insolvency Group inside HSF, he was a champion for the firm’s renewable energy and clean technology practices and led the firm’s relationships with the world’s largest credit funds. Prior to joining Freehills, John was associate to Justice Morling of the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. John has played a major role in significant financing transactions, including a large number of high-profile privatisations and infrastructure projects, most recently in the renewable energy, transportation, telecommunications, and media and gaming industries.
Director
Michael Sloan
Ashurst
Michael Sloan is a partner in Ashurst’s restructuring, insolvency and special situations practice. He is a leader in the restructuring and insolvency market and has been involved in many of the largest and most complex matters in Australian history, including recently playing a lead role in the Financial Services Royal Commission.
Michael is on the global board of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) (and is a past Chairman and President of TMA Australia). He is an Australian government representative on the Enhancing Cross-Border Insolvency Cooperation expert working group. He is also a Senior University Lecturer on Corporate Insolvency (post-graduate) at Monash University. Michael has also been an international consultant with the Asian Development Bank in relation to insolvency law reform.
Director
Jane Starkins
Scottish Pacific
An innovative financial services leader with hands on experience in relationship and credit management, having led team and clients across a broad spectrum of industries including food and beverage, FMCG, transport & logistics and manufacturing sectors.
Strengths include building and leading high-performance teams with strong, positive culture. Proven capabilities in managing stakeholder relationships, risk (credit / operational) and delivering outcomes in difficult circumstances. Appreciates challenges and enjoys tackling problems that require novel approaches to resolution. Focused on organisation and business unit strategy; passionate in translating and executing strategy through all roles across the team. Sound written and oral communication, an eye for detail, and an unyielding focus on driving excellence in client service.
Director
Vaughan Strawbridge
Deloitte Financial Advisory Pty Ltd
Vaughan has more than 25 years of experience in Reorganisation Services – 23 of these with Deloitte encompassing Australia, Thailand and the UK.
Significant experience in advising stakeholders of underperforming businesses, through independent commercial, strategic and financial reviews and performing operational restructuring of under-performing businesses.