Scott Charaneka, Head of Superannuation & Wealth Management, Thomson Geer

Scott Charaneka is the Head of Superannuation & Wealth Management at Thomson Geer and is an industry leading financial services lawyer. He has comprehensive experience in licensing, governance, administration, distribution, restructuring and investment matters associated with superannuation, funds management and life insurance products. He presently acts for many of Australia's largest private and public sector financial institutions. Scott has previously worked as an in-house counsel at Legal & General and ING. He is a regular speaker at conferences and has designed key training programs for boards and RMs. He was the lead editor of Wickens The Law of Life Insurance in Australia from 1998 to 2008, a co editor of CCH Australian Superannuation Law & Practice from 2001 to 2010, a co editor of the Lexis Nexis Financial Services Newsletter from 2001 to 2008 and is a current co editor of the Lexis Nexis Australian Superannuation Law Bulletin. Scott is a fellow of ASFA, the former deputy chair of its Queensland State Executive Committee, an emeritus member of the Law Council of Australia Superannuation Lawyers Committee and was appointed to APRA's Superannuation Lawyers Liaison Forum.

Publications by Scott include:

• The CCH Guide to Estate Planning (first and second edition);
• The CCH Guide to Super Choice;
• Establishing a Funds Management Business in Australia (first and second edition); and
• The CCH Guide to MySuper, SuperChoice and SuperStream.

Scott has been listed annually in Australia's Best Lawyers in the categories of Regulatory Practice and Superannuation Law since 2012 and was awarded Superannuation Lawyer of the Year 2022 by Best Lawyers. Scott has also been listed annually in Who's Who Legal: Pensions & Benefits since 2015 and rated in Chambers Asia-Pacific since 2018 in the Superannuation category. He was a finalist for the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year in Financial Services in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

Holly Marchant, Lawyer, Thomson Geer

Holly is a lawyer in the Superannuation and Wealth Management team at Thomson Geer.

Holly has been involved in advisory and litigated claims work for the trustees of large APRA-regulated funds. The advisory work has focused on trustee obligations and breach reporting.

In her short time at Thomson Geer, Holly has also worked on several successor fund transfers. As part of this, she has been involved in conducting equivalency reviews, drafting papers for boards and preparing core transfer documents, including transition plans and successor fund transfer deeds.

Mel Birks, General Manager, Advocacy, AIST

Mel started her career in superannuation in the ATO, moving to work with industry super funds in 2004.  Her roles have included senior roles in stakeholder relations, strategy, marketing and communications in Link Group/ Superpartners, HESTA, Hostplus, AUSfund, Industry Fund Services and ME Bank.  Her most recent role at ASIC was as a Senior Specialist in the Superannuation team where she provided technical analysis and strategic advice on consumer issues in relation to superannuation.

Mel is passionate about delivering benefits to members, with a particular focus on improving women’s retirement outcomes.

Mel is also the current deputy chair of the Victorian Committee of Women in Super and has been a member of the Mother’s Day Classic organising committee in Melbourne for a number of years.

She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma in Educational Psychology from Monash University and a MBA from Deakin University and has successfully completed the Advanced Leadership Program run by Women & Leadership Australia.