Simon Swanson has resigned as Chair of the Centrepoint Alliance Board, effective immediately, and as a Director, effective 31 January 2024. Georg Chmiel has been appointed as the new Chair.
Swanson was named as the Board Chair in late August 2023. He had retired from his role as Managing Director at ClearView Wealth in May 2023 (see: Key Appointment at Centrepoint Alliance).
A statement from the company says that prior to this new appointment Chmiel was Chair of the Group Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee at CAF.
The company notes that Chmiel has three decades of experience in fast growing businesses and has led over 40 acquisitions.
He is the Co-Founder & Chair of Juwai-IQI Holdings, the largest proptech group in South East Asia with more than 35,000 sales agents powered by a proptech platform. He is also Non-executive Chair of Spacetalk, Non-executive Director of Xamble Group and Kinatico.
Chmiel was previously Executive Chair of iCarAsia and Managing Director & CEO of the iProperty Group until its sale. He was also Managing Director & CEO of LJ Hooker Group and held the position of Group CFO at REA Group.
As new Chair, Chmiel thanked Swanson for his significant contribution over the years, including the substantial growth and step change for CAF during his time as Director and Chair.
“The successful acquisition and integration of the ClearView Advice business as well as Financial Advice Matters sets a solid foundation for the future growth of CAF.”
…during Swanson’s term CAF has grown its adviser network by over 60%…
Chmiel says that during Swanson’s term “…CAF has grown its adviser network by over 60%, delivering financial advice and solutions to more Australians. We express our gratitude to Simon’s dedication to CAF, his strategic and growth mindset, leadership in culture and performance.”
John Shuttleworth, CEO of CAF, adds that Swanson has been “…a terrific director and advocate for Centrepoint and the financial advice industry generally.”
He says Swanson “…saw the benefits of consolidation and scale, initiating the sale of ClearView’s advice business to CAF in November 2021, which resulted in him joining the Board.”
Shuttleworth notes that Swanson has always been actively engaged with the team “…and regularly spent time visiting advice practices to understand firsthand the help and support our advisers need. [He] will be missed for many reasons, his breadth and experience in financial services, his decisive practical approach, and for his humour, warmth and the positive impact he had with the Centrepoint team”.
