Saffron Partners is a Brisbane based boutique firm providing tailored corporate and transactional advice.

Rockhampton Group, is a fundamentally-driven equity hedge fund with offices in Hong Kong and Japan founded in 2003It employs an investment strategy based on sector-focused research with a focus on Japan equity strategies. Investments are made across all sectors and capitalization predominantly in the listed equity markets.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is the Japanese financial conglomerate that is ranked 80th largest public company in the world with over 100,000 employees. SMBC Nikko is its investment banking subsidiary, employing over 9580 people. The Equity Division operates globally and provides capital solutions, advisory, research, and trading services. Nick’s role was Deputy Global Head of Equities.Responsible for management of globally integrated equity business with oversight of transaction flow, business strategy, client relationships, local and remote workforces, and IT projects. Reported to the Divisional Head.Oversaw a workforce of 450 professionals. 6 local management direct reports. 4 remote management direct reports in regional offices.Recruited by the CEO as a new group of management to turnaround the business from a transactional, client advice, culture and profitability perspective.Business priorities were focused on organizational growth throughout Asia, and optimizing the established North American and European operations.

UBS Group is a Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services company. It maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swiss banking institution in the world, employing more than 73,000 people. UBS Investment Bank provides corporate and institutional clients with advice, solutions, execution and access to international equity, debt and foreign exchange markets. In Japan it occupies a strong position as a leading international player in the market.Responsible for management of an >A$90m revenue business with oversight of strategy and execution, 80+ client-facing and operational staff, and Asia-Pac IT strategy. Reported to the Divisional Head and was a Managing Director. Business priority was to establish a sustainable scale, reshaping the revenue and cost base following the GFCRelocated from Sydney to Tokyo, adapting quickly to a new client base, new teams, new cultures and languages, and living environmentKey achievements:- Crisis Management and Leadership – led the business through the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster, with significant focus on client advice and solutions, staff morale and business continuity- Profitability – managed the business through the 2012 industry-wide contraction. Managed costs to protect margin, built new revenue channels and implemented IT solutions to maximise scale.- Technology – responsible for budgeting, prioritisation and oversight of Asia-Pac IT investment- Management – key member of local Japan and Asia-Pac executive management committees, driving strategy and execution

UBS is one of the top corporate advisory businesses in Australia and its equities and equity research businesses are consistently highly ranked. UBS Australia has more than 680 employees across its Investment Bank and Asset Management businesses.Proposed a new business plan to approach a new client segment for the group, opening up new avenues for revenue and transactional volume.Was mandated to build this new business unit and integrated efforts from all business divisions to develop a core service offering and client strategy.Recruited new specialists to the company with relationships and product knowledge that matched the target client segment.Initiated a marketing campaign aimed at the new client segment, communicating the service offering of our organisation to address their unique needs.Successfully grew the business to a substantial and sustainable revenue base over the three years.

Established a group of low-touch trading desks, most notably portfolio and electronic trading as Executive Director, Head of Equities Execution Services.These trading desks took advantage of the shift in the markets from manual processing of trades to systematic and high-volume trading. Previous IT experience was key to this success.Revenue streams were established that continue to this day with the majority of client trading traffic continuing to be traded through these trading desks now.Built a local and international client base through regular transactional communication and periodic marketing roadshows.

Managed equities trading technology projects, reporting to global IT management and local business management.