Highly-respected business strategist and former Synchron Independent Chair, Michael Harrison, passed away in Melbourne on Sunday, 21 May 2023, after a long illness. He was 78.
Harrison worked closely with Synchron from 2007, when he was appointed Synchron’s business strategy and marketing consultant. He then served as Chair from April 2011 until the sale of the group to WT Financial last year (see: Michael Harrison Departs Synchron).
Long-time colleague and friend, Don Trapnell, says Harrison was not just committed to Synchron’s success “…but to the ongoing success of financial advisers, particularly risk-focussed advisers. He deeply understood the financial services landscape and the drivers of change.”
A tribute from Trapnell, who is former Synchron Chair and now Director of Llenpart Financial, says that in the early 1980s, Harrison established Australia’s first private bank.
He also served three terms as Deputy Lord Mayor of Adelaide and, over the course of his long career, sat on government and private company boards, including the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.
He consulted to numerous clients including Citibank, the STAR Alliance Network, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Zurich Financial Services, where, in 1997, he was charged with the responsibility of reinventing Zurichʼs Australian life insurance business.
He was also the author of three books, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, and a Life Member of the Million Dollar Round Table.
…Harrison made an enormous contribution to Synchron, and in many ways helped reinvent the business…
Trapnell says Harrison made an enormous contribution to Synchron, and in many ways helped reinvent the business.
With Harrison’s help, Synchron transformed into one of the largest non-institutionally owned licensees in the country.
Harrison was one of the main instigators of the firm’s NextGen bootcamp for young advisers and industry participants, and he and Trapnell went to the UK in 2015 “…to uncover the real story in relation to life insurance commissions in that part of the world.”
Trapnell believes the findings he and Harrison brought back from the UK “…informed debate on the issue of risk remuneration in Australia and helped shape the future.”
Harrison was also instrumental in Synchron’s legal battle against the State Revenue Office of Victoria over the imposition of payroll tax on the earnings of financial advice practices that did not employ two or more people.
“It was Michael who successfully led that fight, saving not only Synchron, but potentially all licensees across the industry, from a hefty payroll tax bill that could have had a profound negative impact on their businesses.”
Trapnell adds the he greatly respected Harrison’s business acumen and “…will profoundly miss his friendship.”
Michael Harrison will be farewelled at a private family funeral, as per his final wishes.
