Executives

Rob joined Perpetual as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director in September 2018.

Rob is a proven financial services business leader with over 30 years’ experience locally and globally across funds management, financial advice and fiduciary services.

Before Perpetual, Rob was Head of Pan-Asia and a member of the Global Executive Committee of Janus Henderson where he had been for six years.

Throughout his career, he has established, grown and led businesses at Janus Henderson, Challenger and Colonial First State.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Business degree (Accounting). He is married with four children and lives in Sydney.

Chris was appointed Chief Financial Officer in October 2018. He joined Perpetual in 2006 and has held the roles of General Manager Trust & Fund Services and from 2008-2018, Group Executive Corporate Trust.

Before Perpetual, Chris was with JPMorgan where he spent 9 years in London as Vice President, Account Management & Analytics of Institutional Trust Services and a year as head of that business for the Australasia region.

Chris is Chairman of the Australian Securitisation Forum and a member of the Advice Board of the Financial Services Council. He is currently completing a BA in Philosophy at the University of London.

Sam joined Perpetual as Chief Risk Officer in February 2019.

Sam is an accomplished risk professional with more than 23 years of local and global experience within the financial services sector. She has a proven track record in risk management and delivering strategic business outcomes.

Throughout her career Sam has led risk and compliance, operations and internal audit teams. Most recently, Sam was interim Global Head of Enterprise Risk and Head of Risk and Compliance, Pan Asia at Janus Henderson Investors where she spent more than five years.

Sam also held senior roles at Macquarie Group across 17 years including Head of Deal Management and Head of Compliance and Operational Risk within Macquarie Funds Group.

Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Accounting) from University of NSW and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from FINSIA.

Amanda Gazal was appointed Chief Operating Officer in April 2020.

Amanda has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, having spent most of her career in investment banking and asset management. Prior to her current role, she was Singapore Chief Operating Officer for DWS Group (asset manager majority-owned by Deutsche Bank) and COO of their Asia Pacific Distribution.  Before this, she held senior roles at Deutsche Bank in Asia and was with Credit Suisse in London. Her career spans across a range of functions including Operations, IT Consulting, Audit, Finance and Change Management.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Commerce (InfoSystems and Accounting) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia.

David was appointed Group Executive, International Asset Management in February 2020.  He is responsible for Perpetual’s international asset management boutiques including Trillium Asset Management in Boston and Barrow Hanley in Dallas, when it closes later this year.  In addition, he is responsible for sourcing and executing domestic and international asset management transactions.

Before commencing his current role, David was appointed to the newly created role of Group Executive, Mergers & Acquisitions in August 2019.  David joined Perpetual in April 2017 as Group Executive, Perpetual Investments.  In this role, David was responsible for leading the end-to-end business of Perpetual Investments, Perpetual’s specialised asset management division. This includes the investment management team, product, operations and distribution. 

David is a member of Perpetual Limited’s Executive Committee; a Director of Perpetual Investments Management Limited and Perpetual Equity Investment Company Limited.

David has more than 20 years’ experience in asset management, wealth management and investment banking and a deep understanding of the local and global financial services landscape. Before Perpetual, David spent six years as CEO of Count Financial after initially joining the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the role of General Manager for Wealth Management and Strategic Development.

Prior to this he held COO positions at both Neuberger Berman and Liberty View Capital where he was responsible for managing a number of multi-billion dollar hedge funds. He has also held roles at Aetos Capital, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

David attended The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, completing a Bachelor of Economics degree, with honours, in 1989.

Mark joined Perpetual as Group Executive, Perpetual Private in November 2012. At Perpetual, he leads the Group’s wealth business, which includes the philanthropic, trustee and high net worth advisory businesses, as well as Fordham, a business specialising in accounting and advisory services to business owners.

Mark has over 20 years’ financial services experience, gained predominantly at BT Financial Group, Westpac’s wealth management arm. Most recently at BT Financial Group, he held the role of General Manager of bank distribution and insurance, with responsibility for approximately 1.5 million customers and over $2 billion in gross written premium. Before this, he also held the role of CEO of BT Funds Management New Zealand and headed BT's market platform business.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Macquarie University, and is a recipient of the David William Fellowship Award. He is also an Associate of the AICD and an Associate of Finsia.

Richard joined Perpetual in 2007 as Director Sales and Relationship Management, and has been General Manager Sales & Relationship Management, Product & Strategy and Marketing since 2011.

Richard has more than 23 years’ experience in banking and financial services, with deep sector knowledge in debt capital markets and managed funds.

Prior to joining Perpetual, Richard was the Vice President, Head of Relationship Management at BNY Mellon’s Corporate Trust Division in Sydney and previously spent eight years at JP Morgan in London.

Richard is a Director of the Australian Digital Commerce Association.