Katrina Shanks

CEO
Financial Advice NZ

Katrina has spent much of her career in financial services. A Chartered Accountant by trade, Katrina started her career in auditing, spending time at Newton Fund Management in London before joined Westpac Trust. She has owned her own small accountancy business for seven years, after which she was the Financial Controller for the National Party.

Katrina has a deep understanding of the legislative process and how to influence policy development, drawn from her experience as a two-term Member of Parliament. During that time, she chaired Select Committees and was a member of the Commerce Select Committee during the significant legislative changes in the financial services sector. 

Katrina has considerable experience leading membership bodies, working with regulatory change, creating public awareness and has developed a learning academy. In addition to this she has managed the significant Funeral Trust.

Katrina has been the CEO of Financial Advice NZ for two and a half years and is extremely excited about the opportunities for the sector and influencing more New Zealanders seeking quality financial advice to increase their financial health, wealth and wellbeing.

Jonathan Cron

Director
New Zealand Family Trust Services

Jonathan Cron has over 25 years’ experience in the Trustee industry and is widely recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading Trust experts and educators.

Since establishing NZTS in 1999, Jonathan has spearheaded a one-team approach for Trust compliance and administration best-practice for both New Zealand and offshore Trusts across 16 jurisdictions. This approach allows effective governance in a multi-stakeholder environment. And it enables people to fluidly manage relationships that foster effective communication and clarity between all stakeholders.

What drives Jonathan is his passion for ensuring all New Zealanders on their passing have their exact wishes adhered to, by establishing and managing compliant, robust, Trust structures.

In 2010, Jonathan was commissioned to write a book, ‘Family Trusts in New Zealand’. As a result, he was asked to provide anecdotal evidence of current Trust practice to contribute to public accountability and the Government and Crowns’ understanding. Following the review submitted to parliament, the new Trusts Act 2019 was established and on 30 January 2021 it comes to fruition.

James McDonnell

Managing Director
FNZ New Zealand

James is the Managing Director of FNZ New Zealand responsible for customers and sales in New Zealand. He is currently based in the company’s Wellington office.

James started with FNZ in 2011 and has extensive experience across many areas of the business including managing projects within the Technology function, as well as in Institutional Sales in New Zealand.

Prior to FNZ, James held positions within global Investment Banks whilst in the United Kingdom, focussed on change management and software implementations.  

James is a Director of the Financial Services Council.

Prof. Jędrzej Białkowski

Professor of Finance
University of Canterbury

Dr. Jędrzej Białkowski (FRM, PRM) is an Professor at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Dr. Jędrzej Białkowski is engaged in research projects with well-established academic institutions in Australia (University of Melbourne), Germany (University of Münster) and United States (University of Texas at Austin). His international cooperation resulted in nearly 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has published in top ranked journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Derivatives and Journal of Futures Markets. Jedrzej has also had his work accepted by the top finance conferences: American Finance Association (AFA) and European Finance Association (EFA). His papers are frequently cited in top finance journals.

Jędrzej’s research focuses on the derivatives products, financial risk management, algorithm trading and socially responsible investing. Two of his papers in area of Investments were awarded with Best Paper Award in Investments Category by Institute of Finance Professionals New Zealand (INFINZ). In 2019, he won prestigious award- BLR cup for best overall paper at the 2019 New Zealand Finance Colloquium.

Prof. Ben Marshall

Independent Academic Consultant
Consilium

Professor Ben Marshall works with the Consilium Investment Committee as an Independent Academic Consultant, with a particular focus on governance, analytical support and policy review.

He serves on the editorial board of a number of journals and has consulted to public and private companies in a range of different areas. He holds the MSA Charitable Trust Chair in Finance at Massey University.

Professor Marshall has undertaken research in areas such as the impact of climate on financial markets, factors that influence stock returns, quantitative approaches to portfolio management, transaction cost and illiquidity measurement, and exchange traded funds.

His research has been published in leading international journals and he is a regular speaker at international finance conferences. Professor Marshall is currently ranked in the top 1% of authors based on downloads of his working papers.

Kevin Biggar

Adventurer, Author, Guest Speaker

Kevin Biggar is a modern day adventurer, author and an award winning public speaker. Using hilarious stories and photos from his adventures Kevin talks passionately about goal setting, teamwork, and increasing performance.

After setting a new world record in the gruelling 5000km trans-Atlantic rowing race, Kevin teamed up again with his rowing partner for another expedition — this time to Antarctica. Kevin battled temperatures as cold as minus forty degrees, frostbite, crevasses, whiteouts and gear failure. Finally, after fifty two days of hauling their sleds, they became the first kiwis to reach the South Pole unsupported.

The story of Kevin’s transformation from couch potato to world record holder is told in ‘The Oarsome Adventures of a Fat Boy Rower’ and his Antarctic exploits in ‘Escape to the Pole’. He has worked as the CEO of a software startup and most recently as the host of the TVNZ series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ’ recreating historic adventures in NZ.