Effective immediately, Ian Knight has been appointed general manager of operations, Synchron said in a statement.
Mr Knight has more than 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry, most recently as acting head of distribution for CommInsure. He has also managed CommInsure’s Victorian/Tasmanian retail sales team.
He has also worked for financial services companies such as Financial Wisdom, AXA and the Bank of Melbourne, where he was head of financial planning.
Meanwhile, head of compliance Michael Jones has been promoted to general manager of legal and compliance, while practice development manager Alison Massey has been promoted to head of compliance – advice assurance.
Mr Jones was formerly director of compliance for UBS Wealth Management. He also previously worked as compliance manager for Industry Funds Management and as senior compliance manager and fraud prevention officer with National Australia Bank.
Ms Massey has been a practice development manager at Synchron since March 2018. Previously, she was a case manager for investments and advice for the now-defunct Financial Ombudsman Service as well as a national adviser solutions manager for Australian Unity.
Synchron’s other newly-established senior position, a head of compliance – policy and regulatory, remains vacant.
Both the head of compliance – policy and regulatory and the head of compliance – advice assurance will report to the general manager of legal and compliance.
Mr Trapnell said the appointments represent the next phase of its future management plans.
“In 2016, we recruited Michael Jones as head of compliance to allow Synchron director, John Prossor, to slowly step back from day-to-day involvement in the business and focus on his responsibilities as a Synchron executive director,” he said.
“After more than 20 years at the helm, I have great pleasure in handing over the daily operation of Synchron to Ian, which will allow me to do the same. I am confident that, supported by our senior management team, Ian and Michael have what it takes to successfully lead Synchron into the next decade.”
Including the vacant position, the creation of the new roles will see Synchron’s overall staff numbers rise to 49.
Synchron are a basket case lol
how so?
I have competed in the space against Don for 15 years. He has won more often than I. That said, my view is he is a good bloke and deserves the success he has achieved.
An overdue and courageous step for MrT however if the rumours of ASIC file reviews are true the cost of remediation and legacy issues as well as building anew framework and new business standards in line with regulatory requirements will require sourcing the best of the best talent and unfortunately there are not many of those people available
Great to see this story has so many readers / comments. I guess some of them have plenty of time on their hands. The rest of us are looking after clients.
But are’t you on here commenting as well…
Haters gonna hate. Leadership is as much about knowing when to step back as it is about stepping up. (Take note: Jeff Kennett). Best wishes to the new Synchron Leadership Team. The advisers are relying on you heavily to help them through this next phase of industry reform.
Terry McMaster could have learnt a lot about leadership from don.
Congratulations to Don and the team at Synchron – just goes to show that your not just surviving but thriving!
It is great to see this longstanding advice group staying the course, and continuing to grow and evolve.
A pleasant change from a lot of other groups running away in the face of challenges.
Wel done to Don, he has been a stalwart and true professional, working for the entire industry and one of the few who talked straight and wasn’t afraid to call BS on the regulator, the FPA/AFA, the Gov and also the media through all the nonsensical changes and hype we’ve endured over the years. Thank you even if I was never part of your AFSL, I appreciated your fortitude of character and commentary over the years.
Smells like they think they may have some compliance issues ….. Gearing themselves up maybe?
Smells like you have an axe to grind…can’t people retire gracefully these days?
Anyone who knows anything, knows this comment is correct.
Yes an axe to grind definitely. Maybe you should focus on your own compliance.
About time. Trappnell has been yesterdays man for a number of years.
Idiot. Let’s see what you amount to at his age, judging by your comment I am betting very little in comparison.
Your type can’t recognise class and integrity if it came up and kicked you in the genitals, which you so richly deserve.
I would not worry about Andrew too much. He is probably one of these people that goes around telling people how good he is. They only generally last a few years in business as they start to realise they were not as good as they first thought! Many need to also realise that without these older advisers and people like Don Trapnell, (that certain people love to defame), the reality is that there would not be a financial advice industry today at all without them!
This industry has moved past commission based sales.
. . . and that comment is relevant to this story how? Off with the pixies? Sounds like this story has moved right past YOU!
That is the most ridiculous comment I think I have seen in some time.
Risk Insurance commission remuneration is a legislatively approved model which delivers a cost effective basis for consumers to seek advice and implement protection strategy.
Your comment is baseless and most likely stems from an ideological stance that has no defined foundation other than to make you feel good about where you see yourself in the world.
If you wish to charge a fee for service model only then that is totally fine and good luck to you.
However , the problem with the Fee For Service Evangelists is that it is their way only and every one else is either unethical, immoral or unprofessional.
Every consumer in Australia should be provided with a choice of how they pay for financial advice and elect the model that best suits their needs and their budget.
The Church of the FFSE would like to indoctrinate all with their beliefs and ignore the provision of choice to the consumer.
The righteous nature of your comment defines much.
No choice at Synchron. Know a couple of advisers who went there and he knocked them back for rebating the comms and charging an upfront fee. All for choice, also keeping in mind he was a supporter of the ARC which failed because, you guessed it, most people in the industry think commissions on investments are dead.
This is nonsense… Synchron has embraced fee for service and promotes that advisers use fee for service. They probably got knocked back for some other reason… ie bad compliance history?? tell the truth, was it a couple of advisers you knew or was it you??
I love how your name is anonymous. As if an adviser would be knocked back for that. Maybe “your friend” was knocked back for a D in an audit or by the basis of your comment, “your friends” advice was just wrong and un researched.
Judging by the amount of likes Andrew got, most people agree HAHAHA
Hey Anon,
Keyboard warrior at its finest. Grow up. Don has always stood up for advisers and fights hard for the industry. More than I see other people doing.
We could only wish don was on the stand at royal commission to fight for advisers like terry did.
I could not agree more Andrew. It’s about time I stepped back and allowed a younger and more energetic executive to step in. As it happens, I will still be hanging around the halls of Synchron as an Executive Director and hopefully my 52 years in the Financial Services industry amount to something (even if it is as you put it “Yesterday’s Man”).
Pure class Mr T!
Thanks Anonymous.
Class shown by a man who has been there and actually done it.. and achieved far more for this industry than any of the hero’s here who want to denigrate him could ever dream of.