Meet the team

Jeffrey Browne is the Chairman of MA Financial Group.

Jeffrey has over 25 years of experience as a commercial lawyer including as principal of Browne & Co Solicitors and Consultants, a practice he founded early in his career.

Jeffrey is Chairman of Premoso Pty Ltd (owner of business of “Holden Special Vehicles”) and has been involved with Holden Special Vehicles since 2001 as a Non-Executive Director. He is the former Chairman at carsales.com Ltd, stepping down in 2018.

Between 2010 and 2013 Jeffrey also held the position of Managing Director of Nine Network Australia, where he served as Executive Director from 2006.

Jeffrey holds a degree in Arts from La Trobe University, Melbourne and a degree in Law from Monash University, Melbourne.

Andrew Pridham AO is the Group Vice Chairman of MA Financial Group. 

Andrew has over 30 years’ experience in investment banking and is the former Executive Chairman of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan Australia where he completed many major M&A, equity raising and other advisory transactions and played a leading role in the significant growth of J.P. Morgan’s Australian business.

Andrew also spent 12 years at UBS where he held senior roles including Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and Head of Investment Banking for Australasia working in London and Singapore and was a member of the UBS Global Investment Banking Management Committee. 

In 2009 he co-founded MA Financial Group.  MA Financial Group was initially a 50:50 joint venture between NYSE listed global investment bank Moelis & Company and its Australian executives.  

Andrew has been a director of AFL club the Sydney Swans since 2002 and the Chairman since 2013. He was raised in Adelaide and is an Alumnus of the University of South Australia.

Alexandra Goodfellow is an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee of MA Financial Group.

Alexandra has over 30 years’ experience in human capital consulting across Board, CEO, Financial Services and Property within Australia, Asia and the UK.

Alexandra is currently Vice Chairman Australasia at Korn Ferry.

Alexandra is a member of the Funding Committee for the Westmead Children’s Hospital Grace Ward, a Non-Executive Director of the Sydney Swans, and a Mentor with the Minerva Network. Alexandra was a Founding Member of the Tiffany Red Cross Committee, and previously Advisory Committee Member for Women in Payments.

Simon Kelly is an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of MA Financial Group.

Simon has over 30 years’ experience in strategic, financial and general management across a range of Australian listed and unlisted consumer facing businesses.

He is currently Chief Executive Officer of technology start-up, NoahFace. He has previously served in C-Suite level roles at ASX listed Ardent Leisure, Virgin Australia, Nine Entertainment Co., Aristocrat Leisure and Goodman Fielder. He has extensive experience operating in complex regulatory environments, driving business transformation, M&A and capital markets.

Simon spent 10 years with PWC, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Nikki Warburton is an Independent Non-Executive Director of MA Financial Group.

Nikki is a highly experienced Senior Executive and Board Director with a strong track record of delivering tangible business results – from business strategy to change management – across a range of industries including automotive, sport, marketing and media. She has more than 30 years’ providing consumer, brand, and marketing advice to growing businesses.

She is currently on the Board of Directors for GWS Giants, Car Expert, and is a Mentor for The Marketing Academy. Most recently Nikki was Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Audi, where she developed the Customer and Digital strategy roadmap to accelerate digital, data and customer maturity, seeing a 10% uplift in repurchase year on year. Nikki was also a Group Director at AUSTAR Entertainment and was part of the executive team who sold AUSTAR to Foxtel for more than $2 billion.  

Ken Moelis is the Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Moelis & Company. Ken has over 40 years of experience both as an investment banker and an executive, having served in various significant leadership roles where he has been responsible for the innovation and growth of franchises across the industry.

Prior to founding Moelis & Company, Ken was President of UBS Investment Bank and previously Joint Global Head of Investment Banking. Before joining UBS, Ken was Head of Corporate Finance at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He began his investment banking career at Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Ken holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is a member of the Business Council, Business Roundtable and the WSJ CEO Council and currently serves on the Wharton Board of Advisors and the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Board of Advisors. He was formerly Board Chair and Director on the Tourette Association of America and served on the Board of Trustees at the University of Pennsylvania for 10 years.

Kate Pilcher Ciafone is Chief Operating Officer of Investment Banking and a founding member of Moelis & Company.

Kate has been in the investment banking industry for almost 20 years as both a banker and operations executive.  As a founding member of Moelis & Company, Kate has played a vital role in establishing, shaping and enhancing nearly every aspect of Moelis & Company’s management and operations.

Prior to Moelis & Company, Kate worked in the UBS Investment Bank Office of the CEO and President, where she helped to analyze growth opportunities and develop strategy for the firm. She began her investment banking career in the Financial Institutions Group at UBS Investment Bank.

Kate holds a B.S. in Commerce with distinction from The McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

Julian is Joint Chief Executive Officer of MA Financial Group and was one of the founders of the company in 2009. 

Julian has nearly 20 years of experience providing M&A and capital markets advice to real estate and funds management companies. 

Julian was previously a senior member of JP Morgan’s Asia Pacific real estate investment banking team, and prior to that was a member of UBS’ Australian real estate research team

Julian has a Bachelor of Business (Property) and a Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance) from the University of South Australia.

Chris Wyke is Joint Chief Executive Officer of MA Financial Group and was one of the founders of the company in 2009.  

Chris has over 20 years’ industry experience, including extensive private equity, turnaround, restructuring, M&A, equity and debt capital markets transactions.

Chris has been involved with a broad range of clients and transactions, most recently the sale of TEN Network Holdings to CBS, the restructure and recapitalisation of both BIS Industries (A$1.1bn) and Slater and Gordon (A$730m), the purchase of the GE Consumer finance business (A$8.2bn), the reorganisations and control transactions of both Boart Longyear (US$352m), and Billabong (US$495m), the distressed acquisitions of both I-Med (A$1bn) and Channel 9 (A$3.4bn) on behalf of a syndicate of Special Situation / Private Equity investors.

Chris previously worked in investment banking for J.P. Morgan and UBS in London, Singapore and Sydney.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Economics with Honours from University College London.