1. Verran Fehlberg
Name: Verran Fehlberg Mobile: 0412 171 910
Address: 9 Bellevue Avenue, Dalkeith Email: verranfehlberg@gmail.com
Professional Overview
§ Executive with 20 years’ experience in management roles in governance, risk and law; including two stretches as
General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Risk Officer of a national ASX-listed company with revenues of $1.4b.
§ Practised in first tier law firms in Australia and Asia.
§ Experienced board advisor and executive committee participant.
§ Supervised and coordinated various sized teams, directly of around 20 people (own team), and indirectly of circa 80.
§ Experienced in regulatory liaison, including with APRA and other prudential regulators, at holding company level and
in ADI, life, health and insurance businesses – as well as in aged care, retirement, and financial services sectors.
§ Oversaw team involved in successful tender for, and deal execution of, the privatisation of all of the NSW
government’s home care business; a $100m plus acquisition that settled in February 2016, and saw the acquisition
of 50,000 NSW home care clients, and 4,000 staff across 140 branches.
§ Instrumental in, and helped steer, the issue of Australia’s first ‘simple corporate bond’; a $250m ASX-listed bond,
that was joint winner (together with Apple’s $2.2bn ‘Kangaroo bond’) of Finance Asia’s ‘Best Local Deal of 2015’.
Industry networks, board appointments & community positions
§ Prior Company Secretary for Australian Centre For Health Research.
§ Involvement in school networks for 3 young children: Orange Nassau School; The Hague (Netherlands), Australian
International School (Singapore), and Dalkeith Primary School (Perth).
§ Fundraising & charity involvement with FairShare, Guide Dogs Australia, and other community/school programs.
Qualifications & Certifications
§ Bachelor of Law – Adelaide University (1991-1994) – admitted to practice in relevant Australian jurisdictions
§ Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) – Flinders University (1990-1994)
§ Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (certificate level in MBA course) – RMIT (2007-2008)
Career Overview
§ 02/2014 – 02/2016 General Counsel, Company Secretary, and CRO Australian Unity
§ 06/2012 – 09/2013 Senior Legal Counsel AdventBalance Lawyers (Singapore)
§ 02/2006 – 02/2009 General Counsel and Company Secretary Australian Unity
§ 08/2000 – 02/2006 Head of Legal, and other legal/co sec roles Australian Unity
§ 01/2000 – 07/2000 Corporate Counsel Colonial First State (secondment)
§ 03/1996 – 01/2000 Legal roles in various Australian law firms Minters, Freehills, Ashurst
2. Employment History
02/2014 – 02/2016 Australian Unity
General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Risk Officer
Australian Unity is a mutual company with 300,000 members, and with ASX-listed bonds on issue ($250m), with
operations throughout Australia, and Hong Kong. The company has annual revenues of $1.4bn, 6,500 staff, and reaches
around 1 million customers, through its businesses aimed at solving the social infrastructure challenges associated with
health, ageing and chronic disease. These include business operating in the aged care and retirement living sectors
(developer/operator of aged care facilities with 2,500+ beds, with a $500m development pipeline - as well as retirement
communities, and a large home care business), in financial services (life, ADI, unit trusts, financial planning and adjunct
businesses – over $7bn funds under management, and $6bn funds under advice), private health insurance (retail and
corporate funds, with over 200,000 members), and an emerging trustee business to service ‘middle Australia’. The
company is APRA regulated at 4 levels; in the holding company, and in the life, ADI and PHI businesses.
Position Summary
Oversaw all governance, risk, legal and company secretarial functions and teams in the company, reporting to the CEO,
with joint accountability to the Chairman and board. Directly oversaw 20 employees in my own team, and around 80 in
the broader governance community for which I was responsible. During the two stints I had with the company (totalling
10 years), revenues increased from less than $250m, to around $1.4bn, and the business was substantially re-balanced
away from over-reliance on PHI, towards aged care, retirement living and a suite of financial and high-trust services.
Key Responsibilities:
§ Responsible for all risk management functions and staff in the company.
§ Led the company secretarial team, participated in all board and senior management meetings; member of ExCo.
§ Trusted advisor to the CEO, and to the Chairman and board.
§ Over 15 years, recruited, retained and developed many of the senior legal, risk and governance staff in the company.
§ Responsible for development, implementation and operation of the risk management framework, and keeping
framework current for standards required by prudential regulators. Co-ordinated all senior APRA engagement.
§ Heavily involved in numerous M&As over 15 years. Mergers included with Grand United, Lifeplan Australia, and Big
Sky Building Society (formerly BHP and BP credit union). Acquisitions include the NSW Home Care business ($114m
price, 4,000 staff, 50,000 customers), a trustee-services business (Flinders Australia) and a large number of financial
services, health and allied-health entities. Sales included a general insurance business, and a pharmacies division.
§ Key role in ensuring the board “ran on rails”, and governance processes always support informed decision-making.
§ Manage, and successfully resolved, a number of major litigations and disputes – both as defendant and claimant.
§ Assisted the Chairman in structured board renewal, including inducting/introducing new directors to the company.
§ Participated in all elements of strategy-setting for the company over time, at both executive and board level; the
broad sweep of which has been aimed at rebalancing the company’s revenues away from traditional health
insurance (with high exposure to sovereign risk), towards businesses geared towards ageing and retirement.
§ Responsible for direct team budget of $4m per annum, together with external provider spend (legal, risk,
compliance) of around $10m for the most recent year.
§ Relocated to Perth in July 2015, and at the request of the company, continued to work (remotely and traveling)
through to Feb 2016, in order to allow time for recruitment of qualified successor, and handover – now completed.
Key Achievements:
§ Long-term role in development of enterprise from $250m revenue p.a, to $1.4bn; with healthy portfolio rebalancing.
§ Developed and maintained positive relationship at all levels: team, peers, CEO, chair, board and regulators.
3. 11/2012 – 09/2013 AdventBalance, Singapore
Senior Legal Counsel
AdventBalance is a legal services firm operating in Australia, Asia, and now Europe. Principally the firm operates on a
secondment basis, providing legal personnel/teams for short, medium and long-term placements with corporates for
specialist roles/projects, for backfill, peak demand (eg M&A projects) or other needs.
Position Summary
One long-term secondment at AdventBalance, to Chandler Corporation (a global private investment firm with investable
assets of several billion dollars), to assist with managing an arbitration over a failed retail and residential development in
Saigon, Vietnam (‘The Vista’); Chandler Corporation was the investor, in dispute with the builder.
Key Responsibilities:
§ Managed lengthy and involved internal discovery process, dealing with senior stakeholders, including all relevant
executives. Managed interface with the external legals, Norton Rose.
§ Kept senior management advised of key findings during discovery process, and worked through implications for
running of the matter.
Key Achievements:
§ Developed a trusted advisor relationship with senior management.
§ Ran matter effectively and efficiently.
§ Helped strengthen bonds between my firm (AdventBalance) and its client.
Note:
§ In mid 2013, our family decided to move back to Melbourne, to support my wife’s career with a global miner. On
our return to Melbourne, I was asked to return to my previous role at Australian Unity, which I did.
§ Between early 2009 and mid 2012 (most of which time our family lived in Holland) I was largely “home dad” for our
3 young children; to support our family, and my wife’s executive career.
08/2000 – 02/2009 Australian Unity
General Counsel and Company Secretary (from 2007)
Prior to 2007, various more junior legal and company secretarial roles
Company description as above. At the time of joining, the company had revenues of circa $250m, primarily in private
health insurance, and with other sub-scale operations in pharmacies, general insurance and traditional life insurance
bonds. At the time of leaving, the company was substantially larger in scale, with a healthy re-balanced portfolio.
Position Summary
Commenced in 2000 as Corporate Solicitor. Promoted to Head of Legal Services in 2005. Promoted to General Counsel
and Company Secretary in 2007.
Key Responsibilities and Achievements
§ Largely as above. Developing relationships of trust and confidence with multiple CEOs, Chairmen, directors, peers,
team members, and throughout the company, is my main point of pride.
4. 01/2000 – 07/2000 Colonial First State, Sydney
Corporate Counsel (Secondment)
Colonial First State was at that time a listed fund manager, of significant scale, and I was seconded to CFS from Minter
Ellison lawyers. CFS was acquired by CBA during the period of the secondment.
Position Summary
Tasked to migrate various property funds (with several billion dollars of property assets) onto the new managed
investment scheme legislation; the principal change in which was the new role of the custodian, and the redefined the
role of the responsible entity.
Key Responsibilities and Achievements
§ Tendered the legal services, chose an external, and ran the transition process effectively - in the face of a significant
degree of noise, including dealing with many transactions “in progress” over the course of the transition, which
added significantly to complexity.
§ Developed relationship of trust and confidence with senior management, including General Counsel of CFS, who
asked if I would stay on as Deputy GC. I needed to decline; as the role was in Sydney, and I then lived in Melbourne.
§ Helped strengthen bonds between my firm (Minter Ellison) and its client.
06/1998 – 07/2000 Minter Ellison, Melbourne
Legal Counsel
Minter Ellison is a full-service law firm operating primarily in Australia, and within Asia.
Position Summary
Property lawyer – acting on all forms of property transactions: due diligence, sales, acquisitions, leases, and licences
among others. Moved to Minters as part of a large team, from Freehills.
Key Responsibilities and Achievements
§ Major transactions included various lease arrangements for initial set-up of Docklands stadium, acting on a number
of sale-and leasebacks for Woolworths, with the expansion of its Marketplace concept at the time. Acted on the
sale of some major office buildings on St Kilda Road and Collins Street.
§ Developed relationship of trust and confidence with partners and peers at Minter Ellison, and established numerous
career-long relationships.
§ I was ‘stale’ in my career as a property lawyer, and looking for new challenges towards the end of this period.
Minters was good enough to assist me with a secondment (to CFS), which allowed me to broaden my skills, and later
approach the market for much broader corporate and commercial legal roles.
5. 06/1997 – 06/1998 Herbert Smith Freehills, Melbourne
Legal Counsel
Herbert Smith Freehills is a full-service law firm, previously known as ‘Freehill, Hollingdale and Page’, and then operating
principally in Australia.
Position Summary
Property lawyer – acting on all forms of property transactions: due diligence, sales, acquisitions, leases, and licences
among others.
Key Responsibilities and Achievements
§ Major transactions included due diligence and transaction work as part of the gas privatisation process then
underway in Victoria. Other work included acting on the sale of office buildings on St Kilda Road and Collins Street,
and in Melbourne’s inner East.
§ Developed relationship of trust and confidence with clients, and with partners and peers at Freehills; which led to
me leaving with a large team to Minters, as part of a bulking up of the Minters property and planning team.
02/1996 – 06/1997 Ashurst, Canberra
Legal Counsel
Ashurst is a full-service law firm, previously known as ‘Blake Dawson Waldron’, and then operating primarily in Australia.
Position Summary
Property lawyer – acting on all forms of property transactions: due diligence, sales, acquisitions, leases, and licences
among others. Most work was in support a push by the firm into the commonwealth government legal market, which at
that time was being opened up to competition from private practice (previously being a government monopoly).
Key Responsibilities and Achievements
§ Major transactions included due diligence and transaction work as part of the privatisation process for the Federal
Government’s extensive property portfolio, held at the time in the Department of Administrative Services; this
process involved substantial innovation in establishing a legal mechanism for the Commonwealth to sell this land.
§ Other work included a residential conveyancing practice, and substantial sales/purchases of commercial property.
§ Developed relationship of trust and confidence with partners and peers at Blakes.
§ Left due to an offer to work with an iconic partner at Freehills, and to pursue a life and career in Melbourne.
Personal Attributes
§ People-focused, with a friendly demeanour – a relationship builder. A rigorous and fair broker, with an
understanding that terrain is often contested legitimately.
§ Decisive, accountable, able to lead large and diverse teams and drive change, able to handle large amounts of
complexity and ambiguity.
§ Our family has enjoyed travelled extensively, living at times in Holland, Singapore, Melbourne and now Perth –
where we have permanently relocated for my wife’s work with a newly listed major Australian miner.
Referees
§ Referee details are available upon request.