Board of Directors

Commencing his career as a chartered accountant, Chris Cuffe entered the funds management industry in 1985. In 1988 he joined Colonial First State where he was CEO from 1990 until 2003. In 2003 he became CEO of the listed Challenger Group.

Chris is now involved in a portfolio of activities in the investment and non-profit sectors which include:

• member of the Investment Committee of UniSuper, which provides superannuation services to employees of Australia's higher education and research sector;
• member of the investment Committee of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest charitable foundation;
• chairman of Australian Philanthropic Services and portfolio manager of the APS Foundation;
• director of listed companies Global Value Fund and Argo Investments;
• director of unlisted private debt companies Keyview and Ventra Capital; and
• founder, director and portfolio manager of Third Link Growth Fund.

Chris was previously a non-executive director of UniSuper from 2007 to 2017, of which the last six years was as Chairman.

In October 2007 Chris was inducted into the Australian Fund Manager’s RBS Hall of Fame for services to the investment industry. In 2017 he was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and a Diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand, a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors and an Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Ms Berends has worked in the financial services industry for over 35 years and possesses extensive experience in both investment management and superannuation. Before moving to a non-executive career in 2014 she worked for 15 years with US based investment manager Marvin & Palmer Associates. Ms Berends contributed extensively to industry associations throughout her executive career, serving on the boards of the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA australia) for 13 years (7 as Chair) and the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) for 12 years (3 as Chair). Ms Berends has been awarded Life Membership of both IMCA Australia and ASFA. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Monash University, is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute and a Fellow of ASFA.  

Ms Berends is an independent non-executive director of ASX listed Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited and of listed investment companies Antipodes Global Investment Company Limited, Plato Income Maximiser Limited and Spheria Emerging Companies Limited. She is also an independent non-executive director of BT Funds Management Limited, BT Funds Management No. 2 Limited and Westpac Securities Administration Limited (collectively the BTFG Superannuation Board). She is a director of MDC Foundation Limited (a not for profit company) and a member of the QSuper Investment Committee.

Guy is a co-founder of the Hearts and Minds Investment Conference.

He is currently Co-Executive Chairman of Barrenjoey Partners and has been involved in financial markets for over 30 years.  He spent 27 years at UBS Australia in various roles including Head of Corporate Finance and Head of Equity Capital Markets. In these roles he has advised on many of the largest and most complex equity capital markets and corporate transactions completed in Australia.

Guy is a Panel Member of Adara Partners where he donates his time to advise on corporate transactions. He has a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Matthew is a co-founder of the Hearts and Minds Investment Conference.

He is currently the Co-Executive Chairman of Barrenjoey Capital.

Prior to Barrenjoey, Matthew held a number of local and global senior leadership roles at UBS over a 25 year period, including Joint Global Head of the Investment Banking business, Head of Capital Markets, Head of the Corporate Advisory business and, most recently, Chief Executive Officer and Country Head of UBS Australasia from 2008 to 2019 when he retired.

In these roles Matthew has advised on many of the largest and most complex equity capital markets and corporate transactions completed in Australia.

Matthew is also Chairman of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, a member of the University of New South Wales Council, an Advisory Board Member of JDRF, a Director of the Financial Markets for Children Foundation, a Panel Member of Adara Partners and Chairman of NSW Govt. Cardiovascular Research Advisory Group.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance major) from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.

Michael founded Social Ventures Australia in 2002, after 15 years as a co-founder and Executive Director of Macquarie Group’s private equity arm, Macquarie Direct Investment. Having stepped down as CEO of Social Ventures in 2014, Michael currently has a range of primarily social purpose Chair and board roles including Chair of Goodstart Early Learning; Executive Director of For Purpose Investments, a Director of M H Carnegie & Co, Sunsuper and a member of the Council of the National Museum of Australia.

Michael is the author of ‘Jumping Ship – From the world of corporate Australia to the heart of social investment’ which won the prestigious Ashurst Business Literature Prize. The book reflects on his personal and professional journey and has been a widely acclaimed manifesto for change and action in the social purpose sector. In 2010 Michael was made a member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his services to non-profit organisations.

Michael holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from Harvard University.

Dr Weiss has extensive global experience across a range of industries, both at executive and board levels.

Dr Weiss is Executive Director of Ariadne Australia Ltd, a diversified investment company with investments in a variety of sectors. He is the Chairman of Ardent Leisure Limited, Cromwell Property Group and Estia Health Limited. He is a Non-Executive Director of Hearts & Minds Investments Limited, Thorney Opportunities Limited, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and The Centre for Independent Studies.

Dr Weiss was Chairman of Ridley Corporation Limited from June 2010 until August 2020, Clearview Wealth Limited from July 2013 until May 2016 and of Coats plc from 2003 until April 2012 and executive director of Guinness Peat Group plc from 1990 to April 2011.  He has also held directorships of numerous companies, including The Straits Trading Co Ltd in Singapore, Premier Investments Limited, Tag Pacific Limited, Westfield Group, Tower Australia Ltd, Australian Wealth Management Limited, Tyndall Australia Ltd (Deputy Chairman), Joe White Maltings Ltd (Chairman), CIC Ltd, Whitlam Turnbull & Co Ltd and Industrial Equity Ltd. Dr Weiss was also a director of Brisbane Broncos Ltd (formerly Pacific Sports Entertainment Ltd), an ASX-listed company which owns the Brisbane Broncos.

Dr Weiss is also a Commissioner of the Australian Rugby League Commission

In 2019, Dr Weiss was awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to business, and to the community.

Dr Weiss holds an LLB (Hons) and LLM from Victoria University of Wellington and a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) from Cornell University. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Geoff Wilson has over 44 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 and has grown the fund manager to be one of the leading boutique Australian fund managers.  In 2014 Geoff created Australia’s first listed philanthropic wealth creation vehicles, Future Generation Investment Company Limited and subsequently Future Generation Global Investment Company Limited.

Wilson Asset Management is an investment manager based in Sydney, Australia and owned by Geoff.  Today, Wilson Asset Management is comprised of 17 investment professionals who offer a combined investment experience of more than 200 years.

Wilson Asset Management manages $5 billion between eight Listed Investment Companies on the Australian Stock Exchange on behalf of more than 130,000 investors.

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 Global Value Fund (since 2014), Hearts and Minds Investments Limited (since 2018), Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation (since 1997) and the Australia Rugby Foundation (2024).

David Wright is a Managing Partner and joint founder of Zenith Investment Partners (Zenith).

David established Zenith in October 2002 and has extensive investment industry experience. David’s role includes overall responsibility of the business and remains closely involved in servicing the Firm’s investment consulting clients with portfolio construction, management and monitoring advice.

Prior to establishing Zenith, David held senior positions within the financial services industry including IWL Ltd (Head of Research), an ASX listed company in which he was also a significant equity holder. David was instrumental in building and further developing IWL's managed investment research methodology and process and expanding the group's distribution of research to financial advisers. Other roles included Associate Director and Head of Managed Funds research at Lonsdale Limited and an analyst with the Advisor Group, a national financial planning group.

David has extensive experience researching, assessing and rating many forms of managed investments including, unlisted managed funds, listed managed investments including LIC’s, ETF’s, ETMF’s and property syndicates.

David is also a former practitioner lecturer of the Securities Institute of Australia (now FINSIA).