AGENDA DAY 1
Wealth Symposium
2026 | NSW
TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER | 18:15
PRE-EVENT COCKTAIL HOUR
Join us in Harveys Bar at The Gibraltar
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER | 08:30
REGISTRATION
09:00
WELCOME
CHRIS FORREST, Chairperson
Chris is a highly experienced financial and investment adviser.
Chris has a Bachelor of Economics and Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and he is a Certified Financial Planner. He has specialist accreditations in the areas of self-managed super funds and derivatives. He has been involved in financial planning and wealth management since 1997.
Chris began his career in banking whilst studying full time gaining experience in lending followed by foreign exchange with one of the world’s leading banks. A career in financial planning ensued with roles in a leading boutique and some of Australia’s leading financial services and investment banks. Chris was one of the founding partners of Sovereign Wealth Partners prior to merging to form Esencia Wealth.
A deep understanding of capital markets enables Chris to provide insights and structure portfolios to meet client objectives. Skills encompass investment management, financial planning, trusts, estates and philanthropy.
With strong industry background, Chris’ role is primarily to look after a select group of clients as well as support and advise Team members.
09:20
WHAT ARE THEY PAYING YOU FOR? GROWTH, VALUE AND THE CLIENT WHO DID THE WORK
A session about growth, value proposition and how the adviser conversation changes when the client walks in having already done the work.
SPEAKERS:
Mark Zaglas, Principal, Encore
Cameron Spittle, Managing Partner, Trellia Wealth Partners
Matt Englund, Chief Operating Officer & Partner, Kearney Group
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
Mark Zaglas
Principal
Encore
With over 25 years of experience in financial services, Mark Zaglas is Principal of Evidentia Group’s business consulting arm – Encore Advisory. He leads with a simple belief: that owners of advice businesses deserve better returns on their business and life – and that there is no better cause than helping them to deliver more and better life-changing advice to the Australian community.
Mark and the Encore team work alongside financial planning, mortgage broking, and accounting firms to help them scale sustainably, build strong leadership and sales teams, and create exceptional client experiences.
Mark’s signature strengths have been honed over two decades of developing 100s of profitable Sales and Financial Services businesses and understanding what lies at the heart of their success. A trusted adviser to advice business owners across Australia, Mark brings clarity, confidence, and practical strategies that drive commercial and cultural results.
Mark’s strength lies in uncovering what’s truly important (your why) and building new capability (i.e. implementing) to help businesses get to where they want to go. As an experienced business leader and performance coach, he draws on his real-world view of sales and leadership to help clients improve performance and realise their business and human potential.
Cameron Spittle
Managing Partner
Trellia Wealth Partners
Cameron is Managing Partner at Trellia Wealth Partners. With a background spanning advice, platforms, managed accounts and consulting, he helps advice businesses grow more profitable, scale efficiently and adapt to change, without losing sight of client value.
Matt Englund
Chief Operating Officer & Partner
Kearney Group
Matt joined the senior leadership team in 2019, and helps to drive the ongoing development of our truly integrated advice model and the firm’s strategic growth plans.
With a knack for operational efficiency, Matt runs our internal Clarity and Accountability Programs – putting us all through our paces, challenging and inspiring us to push for excellence.
He’s also our resident strategy guru, spearheading our Ko-Lab Program which gives business owners the tools and advice they need to grow – sustainably and while keeping things in harmony at home. With decades of experience in big institutions, he knows a thing (or three) about the topic. And, after making a green change with his family, he also has lived experience effectively aligning personal and professional goals.
Matt comes to the table with one helluva CV – including key positions like Head of Workplace Super, Head of Practice Management and Managing Director of Securitor at BT Financial.
He holds a Bachelor of Business from University of Technology Sydney, a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
10:20
MORNING TEA
10:50
THE VALUATION RESET | CAPITALISING ON PROPERTY DISLOCATION
Who benefits when a higher cost of capital fractures the property market?
Rising interest rates have ruthlessly repriced Australian commercial real estate, punishing overleveraged portfolios while creating generational opportunities for those with liquidity.
This session unpacks the realities of the current market as we explore how stabilising cap rates and distressed sellers provide exceptional entry points into premium assets. A session on how to leverage this dislocation, capturing robust, inflation protected yield by acquiring high quality property at fundamentally reset valuations.
SPEAKER:
Jonathan Williams, Fund Manager, Charter Hall Direct
GUEST MODERATOR:
Chris Ogilvie, Chief Investment Officer, Ironbark Financial Group
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
Jonathan Williams
Fund Manager
Charter Hall Direct
Jonathan is the Fund Manager, responsible for strategy execution, portfolio construction, capital management, and overall investment performance, including the assessment of corporate transactions. He also oversees Charter Hall Direct, managing over $8bn of assets across more than 120 properties and 15 multi-sector strategies.
He has over 15 years’ experience in commercial real estate across Australia and North America. Prior to his current role, he was an Investment Manager within Charter Hall’s diversified listed and institutional platform, managing a diversified portfolio. He holds CAIA accreditation, is a registered property valuer, and previously worked in real estate investment banking at Goldman Sachs.
11:50
BEYOND THE BARBELL | THE NEW CREDIT FRONTIER
With aggregate spreads heavily compressed, how do allocators source risk-adjusted yield beyond traditional portfolio structures?
This session explores the efficient credit frontier, highlighting active sector rotation as the primary engine for uncovering mispriced anomalies and navigating geopolitical volatility. Our speaker covers the tactical shift away from expensive developed market high yield, rotating capital into opportunistic leveraged loans and emerging market corporates. We examine how this dynamic liquidity captures elevated income without the illiquidity traps of private credit, while repositioning duration as a portfolio stabiliser.
SPEAKER:
Rob Burn, Partner | Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, Wellington Management
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
Rob Burn
Partner | Fixed Income Portfolio Manager
Wellington Management
Rob is a co-portfolio manager on the Broad Markets Team and lead portfolio manager on the Multi Sector Credit and Impact Bond portfolios, at Wellington Management. As a fixed income portfolio manager, Rob develops strategic and tactical investment strategies using both fundamental and quantitative analysis and implements those strategies in portfolios. He also focuses on portfolio construction and risk management, and is a member of the Sector Strategy and High Yield Strategy groups.
Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2007, Rob worked as a senior mechanical engineer modeling high power lasers at Lockheed Martin Corporation (2003 – 2005). Before that, he held engineering positions in the telecom and manufacturing industries (1998 – 2003).
Rob earned his MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago (2007) and his MS and BS in mechanical engineering from MIT (1998, 1997). Additionally, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the Boston Security Analysts Society.
12:45
LUNCH
13:45
ESCAPING THE INDEX | TWO PATHS TO GLOBAL ALPHA
How do you capture broad economic growth without blindly buying a top heavy benchmark?
This session contrasts two approaches to global equities. One with a patient, contrarian lens to exploit mispriced market anomalies while the other deploys a highly dynamic, forward looking strategy to capture durable earnings compounding.
We examine how both managers navigate supply chain reconfigurations, persistent inflation, and extreme valuation dispersion to ultimately see how these divergent philosophies both build critical portfolio resilience.
SPEAKERS:
David Jenkins, Client Portfolio Manager, GQG Partners
Andrew Russell, Portfolio Manager, PM Capital
GUEST MODERATOR:
Lydia Kav, Non-executive Director, BilaEmpower
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
David Jenkins
Client Portfolio Manager
GQG Partners
David brings 20 years of industry experience to his role as a Client Portfolio Manager at GQG Partners, where he has been for the past three years. David began his career in banking and financial advice, in roles encompassing mortgage lending and advice research.
More recently David has held senior roles in superannuation and investment product development, key account management and business analytics. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics from the University of Queensland and a Diploma of Financial Planning from Griffith University.
Andrew Russell
Portfolio Manager
PM Capital
Andrew is a portfolio manager within the PM Capital global equities team, with a particular focus on the materials and industrials sectors. Prior to joining PM Capital in November 2020, Andrew spent a decade at Macquarie Bank as a research analyst in North America and Australia where he covered a range of sectors, before moving to a prominent family office to manage a global equity portfolio.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics (Finance) from the University of Sydney.
Lydia Kav
Non-executive Director
BilaEmpower
Lydia Kav (nee Serafim) is an experienced investment leader and capital steward with 30 years in financial markets, including two decades supporting Boards and Investment Committees. Lydia is currently a Non-Executive Director for BilaEmpower, member of the St Joseph’s College Foundation Board, and on the Economic Council of the De La Salle Brothers ANZPPNG District.
Her career spans senior leadership roles at AMP Capital Investors and Perpetual Ltd, as a Head of teams focusing on portfolio management and manager research across diversified and single-sector portfolios. She has deep expertise in multi-asset, multi-manager investing across public and private markets, including traditional and responsible (ESG) strategies, serving clients in superannuation, philanthropy, insurance, and wealth management. Lydia is recognised for her empowering leadership, and rigorous approach to asset allocation, risk oversight, and valuation governance.
She has been a standing and voting member of multiple Investment Committees and fund manager LPACs — Multi-Asset, Equities, Fixed Income, Unlisted Assets Valuations, and chairing Alternatives committees — and regularly reports to Boards on strategy, asset allocation, performance, and risk. Lydia also has been instrumental in improving the quality of governance reporting and excels at stakeholder management.
Lydia is a First-Class Honours Economics graduate and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Overall, Lydia combines strong contemporary and practical commercial acumen, independent ethical judgement, rigorous curiosity, broad strategic insight, and a commitment to long-term value creation in governance or advisory roles.
14:50
AFTERNOON TEA
15:20
BOND VOYAGE | NAVIGATING GLOBAL CREDIT
This session covers the risks and opportunities in income portfolios today with our speakers looking at liquidity, duration, concentration and AI related issuance. If rates keep rising and spreads widen, which income portfolios hold up?
SPEAKERS:
Haran Karunakaran, Fixed Income Investment Director, Capital Group
Jason Petras, Director, Resonant Asset Management
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
Haran Karunakaran
Fixed Income Investment Director
Capital Group
Haran is a fixed income investment director at Capital Group. He has 21 years of industry experience and has been with Capital Group for five years. Prior to joining Capital, Haran worked as a senior vice president and fixed income strategist at PIMCO. He holds an MBA from London Business School and a bachelor’s degree in commerce, majoring in finance and economics, from University of Sydney. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. Haran is based in Sydney.
Jason Petras
Director
Resonant Asset Management
Jason holds over 20 years of experience in the financial industry working at some of Australia’s largest Institutional Fund Managers, Global Investment Banks and Hedge Funds as a Portfolio Manager, Consultant, Quantitative Developer and Risk Manager.
Jason has worked closely with investors, advisors, and investment committees to design and implement strategies for Private Wealth Groups, Family Offices, Financial Advisory Firms and Superannuation Funds. He managed $900 million in assets for BT Investment Management (now Pendal) in Australian Equities and Derivatives, Global Macro strategies, and built hedging overlays for Industry Super Funds. In Asia, Jason worked at multibillion-dollar Hedge Funds managing long short equity portfolios and hedging solutions. Prior to this he worked at Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch in London.
Jason holds a Masters in Quantitative Finance from Bond University and a Bachelor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Flinders University.
16:20
GODS, GUNS & GOLD | THE NEW MACRO TRINITY
How do you allocate when the sovereign bid for gold, energy-driven geopolitics, and artificial intelligence collide?
Stepping beyond standard asset classes to dissect these macro forces as discretionary opportunities. We unpack these structural shifts to understand how to allocate in a rapidly changing global landscape.
SPEAKER:
Chris Watling, CEO, Chief Market Strategist & Founder, Longview Economics
SPEAKERS
WEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2026 | NSW DAY 1
Chris Watling
CEO, Chief Market Strategist & Founder
Longview Economics
Chris founded Longview Economics in 2003. It is an independent advisory business specialising in Global Asset Allocation, Investment Advice, Cyclical and Thematic Global Macro & Fundamental Commodity research. The company also generates regular trading advice on equity index, and other, futures.
Prior to founding Longview Economics, Chris worked in the City of London for 12 years with Cazenove and CAI Cheuvreux as a global economist and strategist. He also held roles as an Equity Analyst and Corporate Financier at Cazenove in the mid 1990s. Chris qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and holds Master’s & Bachelor’s degrees in Economics. He regularly chairs & speaks at global investment conferences, is often quoted in the financial press and appears frequently on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN & other media outlets. He is also an Ambassador for WeSeeHope – a charity which is about the generation of hope and which supports children and young people in sub-Saharan Africa affected by HIV/AIDS.
