7th Annual Australia Investors Forum

Brendan Malone is the Managing Director and CEO of Raiz Invest Limited. Brendan has over 25 years’ experience in financial services including The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and ABN AMRO (AMRO). Brendan graduated from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in accounting and finance. Brendan is a member of both The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Yile Chen was appointed to the role of Chief Investment Officer for Zurich Australia & New Zealand in March 2025. He joined the business in 2019 and has held senior roles including Head of Securities and Deputy CIO, driving the firm’s expansion into private debt and securitisation while strengthening portfolio risk frameworks. In this role, he leads the Investment team responsible for managing more than A$7 billion in balance sheet assets across fixed income, credit, equities, and property. Yile holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, a Master’s degree in Management and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Ross Etherington is a senior investment executive with extensive expertise in investment strategy, portfolio construction, and asset allocation across both listed and unlisted assets. Currently the Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Coal LSL, Ross has held leadership roles such as Chief Investment Officer at Energy Industry Super Fund and Executive Manager, Investments at Suncorp. He has a proven track record in governance, risk management, responsible investing, and stakeholder management, with a focus on delivering transformational change across large diversified funds.

Scott leads the firm’s Investment Consulting capability working with our Multi-Family Office and High Net Worth Clients. He has over 25 years experience in investment management and consulting, having joined from US-based global asset manager Russell Investments where he was Director, Client Investment Strategies (Asia-Pacific). Key experience includes investment strategy, portfolio construction, multi-asset solutions, international equities, currency risk management, tactical asset allocation and derivatives trading.

Chloé is Head of Unlisted Assets and Private Equity at Colonial First State, where she oversees CFS’s unlisted assets program. Chloé has 17 years of combined experience in investing, mergers and acquisitions and asset governance, including at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and AustralianSuper. Prior to this, Chloé spent six years in Paris, France, where she worked at a global infrastructure contractor focussing on PPP bids, execution and delivery across Northern Europe.  

Alex has over 20 years financial markets experience including managing family office and institutional portfolios, asset allocation, equity analysis and trading. From an investment perspective Alex’s role covers investment strategy, asset allocation and discretionary direct equity management. Alex also manages ultra-high net worth, family office and not for profit client relationships.

Gillian Gordon is Executive Director and Head of Alternative Investments & Responsible Investing at JBWere. She leads strategy, selection, and execution for alternatives including Private Equity, Private Debt, Real Assets (Infrastructure, Property), Renewables, Natural Resources, and Hedge Funds. Gillian also spearheads JBWere's Responsible Investing expansion, covering ESG, ethical/impact investing, and stewardship. With over 20 years' global experience at firms like Standard Chartered and BMO Capital Markets, she brings extensive multi-asset investment and sustainability expertise to her role.