John has proven capabilities as a high achieving, strategic executive demonstrated across a wide range of successful M&A negotiations. John has excellent conceptual & problem solving skills combined with a pragmatic approach to high level decision making in demanding multi-stakeholder environments and challenges the status quo in order to explore wider possibilities & realignment towards the strongest commercial outcome.John is proud to lead a team of professionals who have experience, market knowledge and industry connections to ensure the greatest outcome for you, avoiding costly mistakes.With a background in banking and accountancy, John Birt has been involved in the financial industry for over 30 years. Since completing Deakin University's Diploma of Financial Planning in 1994, John has been associated with accountants and financial planners in many roles.John has extensive experience coordinating and presenting seminars. He regularly writes for research groups and magazines and was the financial columnist for The Newcastle Star Newspaper during the late 1980s.From 1990-1993 John was head of former Deloitte financial planning business based in Newcastle. During this period his team was the Count Financial Group’s largest national planning practice. John moved to another large accountancy practice in 1994, where in 1995 he won SECURITOR Financial Group's "National Advisor of the Year" Award. This award recognised his professionalism, quality of service and business development expertise.After eight years with SECURITOR John moved to Business Coaching, which involved helping financial planners sell their businesses.SkillsMergers & Acquisitions, Negotiation, Financial Services, Business Strategy, Management Consulting, Process Improvement, Strategy Development, Innovation, Business Intelligence, Financial Planning, Executive Management, Strategic Planning, Leadership, Restructuring and Business Planning.