Leadership Team

Richard is the COO, Head of Legal and Compliance, UK and Europe. Previously he was Senior Legal Counsel at the Challenger Limited Sydney office. Richard is responsible for the operation of the UK and European offices as well as legal and compliance matters relating to the UK and European regulated offices. He also sits on a number of boards of our partners and the board of Fidante Partners Liquid Strategies ICAV. In addition, Richard sits on UK and European management team.

Prior to joining Challenger and Fidante, Richard was a lawyer with experience across top tier Australian and English law firms and has experience as in-house legal and compliance counsel. Richard specialises in regulated and unregulated funds management and financial services regulatory fields across multiple jurisdictions.

Kieran is a Senior Portfolio Manager based in London, responsible for Investment Grade Corporate Credit portfolios.

Kieran joined Challenger Investment Management in 2017. Prior to joining, Kieran was a Corporate Bond Portfolio Manager for 12 years at Ninety-One Asset Management, investing in both Investment Grade and High Yield Bond markets. Kieran also previously worked for the FCA across a  variety of roles including monitoring  and assessing assetmanagers and analysing global financial markets.

Kieran holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Finance from The University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and is a CFA Charterholder.

John is Head of Strategy and Development and is responsible for originating new affiliate relationships as well as strategic initiatives.  Prior to Challenger, John worked in the Debt & Alternatives team at the Future Fund, Australia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, that was responsible for third party manager selection and implementing the Future Fund’s fixed income, credit and hedge fund programs. 

John has a Masters of Applied Finance and is Chartered Accountant and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. 

Naomi is General Manager, Investment Product at Challenger Limited. Naomi leads multiple teams across Challenger including Fidante that supports the growth and success of our business. Naomi oversees the product development and product life-cycle management for Challenger’s investment products, the delivery of multiple projects across the Customer division and Fidante business,  business management support to Fidante’s affiliate fund managers and the client service and registry function for all investment products.

Naomi joined the product team at Challenger in 2007 and has built her career at Challenger.  Prior to joining Challenger, Naomi worked at BT Financial Group in client service and product roles.

Naomi has a Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of International Studies from University of Technology Sydney and postgraduate studies from FINSIA with a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment.  

Dean is the General Manager, Wholesale Customer Servicing at Challenger Limited in Australia. He leads a team which is responsible for servicing institutional clients and supporting the distribution efforts of both Fidante’s affiliate managers and Challenger’s retirement and investments business.  Dean joined Challenger in October 2006 and has also held business management roles in Challenger’s investment operations and boutique partnerships divisions.

Prior to joining Challenger, Dean was a Client Executive at JPMorgan Chase Bank.  Dean has also held roles in custodian banks, investment managers and brokerage houses in the United Kingdom and Canada. 

Dean has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of NSW with honours in English Literature and Political Science. 

Katy is the General Manager & Co-Head of Global Distribution responsible for raising institutional capital for Fidante’s specialist investment management partners covering fixed income, domestic and global equities and alternatives. Katy has 20 years of client service, relationship management and business development experience in the US, Asia and Australia.

Prior to joining Challenger, Katy was an Associate Director responsible for institutional business development for Macquarie Funds Group based in Sydney, Philadelphia and New York. Before moving to the US, Katy was head of Client Relations for the Equity Markets Group at Macquarie and prior to this worked in both retail and institutional sales for the same group. She began her career at BIS Shrapnel in research.

Katy has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons) from the University of Sydney, a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).