AZ NGA-backed national advisory firm Nestworth Financial Strategists has appointed former Insignia Financial senior executive Helen Blackford as CEO to drive the group’s growth and expansion plans.
The company says Blackford was most recently the CEO of Insignia Financial’s licensing and professional services businesses, Millennium 3, Lonsdale and IOOF Alliances. Prior to that she held a number of senior roles at ANZ Wealth Management.
She will replace Paul Fog, who is stepping back from full-time work but will remain on the Nestworth Board as a Non-executive Director. He will also continue his association with the broader AZ NGA Group.
Paul Barrett, Nestworth Chairman and AZ NGA CEO, says Blackford is an experienced wealth management executive with a track record of leading large teams of people, driving transformational change and delivering results.
He says the firm is fortunate to have her on board to take over from Fog “…who has been central to Nestworth’s success to date and hands over a business in extremely good shape.”
Over the past five years, Nestworth has grown under Fog’s leadership, more than doubling revenue and employees. It now has 82 employees, around 4,000 clients and seven locations.
The company says that in 2021 Fog was behind the group’s strategic partnership with AZ NGA “…and has been spearheading Nestworth’s integrated Super firm strategy. M&A is a key plank in the group’s strategy, which last year saw Nestworth acquire Australian Unity’s financial advice and corporate superannuation services business,” (see: Australian Unity Sells Advice Business).
Blackford notes that as a “…key business inside the AZ NGA community, Nestworth is in the best environment to continue growing and ultimately achieve its Super firm ambitions.”
