Alex Dunnin, Director of Research, Rainmaker Information; Publisher, Financial Standard, Money magazine and SelectingSuper

Alex Dunnin is the Executive Director of Research & Compliance at the Rainmaker group, one of Australia’s leading financial services research and digital media companies. Alex is the Rainmaker’s primary researcher, lead analyst and opinion maker. Alex is a contributing writer across Rainmaker’s mastheads that span trade titles such as the RainmakerLive information platform and Financial Standard, and consumer titles that include SelectingSuper and Money magazine.

Elisabeth Sinnewe, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology

I am a Senior Lecturer at the QUT School of Accountancy in the Financial Planning and Wealth Management discipline and a co-investigator of the Accounting for Social Change research group.

Some of the research projects I am currently involved in:

• Behavioral finance: i. analyzing the motivation of financial behavior in young professionals and designing a financial education intervention to promote healthy financial habits (funded by the Financial Planning Education Council); ii. understanding the social behavioral biases on boards to support board chairs in managing social dynamics; and iii. examining the drivers of the early release of super during the Covid-19 outbreak
• Performance benchmarking: Understanding the drivers and effects of relative performance evaluation in executive compensation plans
• Sustainability performance: comparing deterrence vs. accommodative regulatory approaches in enhancing transparency in environmental performance reporting

Qualifications:

GradCertAcadPrac, Queensland University of Technology

PhD, Financial Reporting, Southern Cross University

Diplom-Betriebswirtin, Fachhochschule Wiesbaden, Germany

Whitlam Zhang, Manager, Research and Strategy, Parametric

Whitlam Zhang is responsible for setting the research agenda in Australia. Prior to joining Parametric in 2015, Whitlam worked as a portfolio manager at an Australian boutique fund manager, as well as at Russell Investments as a senior analyst in the advisory business. He earned a double BA in Actuarial Studies and Applied Finance from Macquarie University. Whitlam is a CFA charterholder and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries Australia.

David Haynes, Senior Manager, Policy, AIST

As AIST’s Senior Policy Manager, David has spent the last 10 years working closely with Parliament, Government, Treasury, all regulators and other key stakeholders in developing and implementing all aspects of superannuation policy, including all regulatory changes and major projects such as the Financial Services Royal Commission, default fund selection, and the Insurance in Super Code

David has 30 years’ experience in the industry including time as the CEO of Industry Fund Services and AUSfund, an executive at Members Equity, as an account manager for a major adminstrator, and as a trustee of superannuation funds.

David holds a parallel role as Executive Superannuation Policy Advisor at IQ Group.  He has also been a director of numerous private and public sector board.