Advisory Board

The IGF is supported by an Advisory Board. 

Professor Fariborz Moshirian
Director

Professor Fariborz Moshirian is the Director of the Institute of Global Finance (IGF) at the UNSW Business School, Sydney. The IGF does collaborative research on Systemic risk, financial innovation and global financial stability with NYU, UCLA and has done joint work with the Asian Development Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and a number of world-class research centres. Fariborz was the Bertil Danielsson Professor of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics. He is a consultant to the Asian Development Bank. He served as the Head of the School of Banking and Finance at UNSW for over four years. 

Fariborz has published a number of influential research works in leading international journals including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and the Journal of Banking and Finance. These research works cover subjects such as global governance, global financial stability and prosperity, interconnectedness, world order, systemic risk and the financial and social challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. 

He has been the editor of several publications on global financial, economic and social issues published by Elsevier. He has also been a co-editor of a number of  policy works with senior researchers from the World Bank, the IMF, the Bank for International Settlements, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia including the following publications:  “Globalization and Financial Services in Emerging Countries”;  “Global Financial Crisis, Risk Analysis and Risk Management”; “Systemic Risk, Basel III, Governance and Financial Stability”  and “Systemic Risk: Liquidity Risk, Governance and Global Financial Stability”
 

Ms Varya Davidson
PwC, Partner, Energy Transition Business and Strategy

Varya is a Strategy& Partner at PwC Australia, with more than 25 years of consulting experience working with public and private sector organisations, primarily in the Energy and Resources sector across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. She is an expert in transformational change and ESG strategy.  Based in Sydney, Varya leads PwC Australia’s Energy Transition business comprising of 130+ ESG and Energy experts who are committed to accelerating Australia’s transition to a decarbonised economy.

Varya brings a depth of hands-on experience from her leadership of whole-of-organisation transformation programs, including advising Boards and Executive Teams on translating ambition to action and how to align interests across wide ranging stakeholder groups. Her passion is making sustainable change happen by solving the culture, leadership and capability challenges. Varya is also an advocate for maximising the social and economic opportunities associated with climate action.

Mr Yasser El-Ansary
CEO, Finsia

Yasser El-Ansary
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director
Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA)

Yasser was appointed FINSIA Chief Executive & Managing Director in April 2022.

Previously, he was Chief Executive of Australian Investment Council from November 2013 to April 2022 where he was responsible for leading the strategic direction of the organisation’s work in representing the private capital investment industry in Australia.

Prior to joining Australian Investment Council, Yasser was the General Manager of Policy and Advocacy for Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.

He has more than 20 years’ experience as a business adviser and public policy expert, through his previous roles with PwC, Rio Tinto, Frasers Property Australia, as well as the Department of Treasury in Canberra.

Yasser is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Australian National University and a Master of Taxation Law from University of New South Wales.

In April 2016, Yasser was appointed by the Federal Government to the Medical Research Future Fund Advisory Board where he advises on the strategy and priorities for medical health research funding from the $20B fund.

Dr Jonathan Kearns
Chief Economist, Challenger

Jonathan will start his new position as the Chief Economist of Challenger from early March 2023. Prior to this position, he served at the Reserve Bank of Australia for over 25 years. He held a number of senior position including Head of Financial Stability Department,  Head of Economic Analysis Department, Head of Economic Research Department and Deputy Head of Domestic Financial Markets Department. He also worked at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. His published research has mainly been in the fields of international finance and macroeconomics. Jonathan has a PhD from MIT and a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the Australian National University.

Mr Anatoly Kirievsky
General Manager, Enterprise Compliance at Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)

Anatoly is a General Manager of Enterprise Compliance at ASX, working to support ASX’s goal to be world most trusted market place by engaging with regulators and leading the enterprise compliance function in identifying and mitigating regulatory risks.

Anatoly started his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia, working across financial markets research, liquidity forecasting and dealing support and compliance areas. He then proceeded to specialise in the compliance field developing and implementing compliance frameworks at HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Optiver Asia Pacific.

Anatoly has an ongoing passion for teaching, and has lectured at UNSW in financial markets, financial risk management and RegTech for over 20 years.

Outside of work, Anatoly is active in athletics (as a participant and an official) and basketball (as a scoretable official). He is involved with the JCA Investment Committee, NSW Masters Athletics, and Lifeblood.

Anatoly holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance)/ Bachelor of Laws, Honours (Finance) and a Master of Law and Management from the University of New South Wales. Anatoly was born in Kyiv, Ukraine prior to migrating to Australia in 1993.

Brad Jones
Assistant Governor (Financial System) at RBA

Dr Brad Jones is Assistant Governor (Financial System) at the Reserve Bank of Australia. In this role, he is responsible for the Bank's work on financial stability, including production of the twice-yearly Financial Stability Review, as well as the Bank's oversight of the payments system.

Dr Jones joined the RBA in 2018, first serving as the Head of International Department before taking over as the Head of Economic Analysis Department in 2020.

Before joining the Bank, Brad served for five years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. There he was a senior advisor in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, working on a variety of issues related to central banking and the international financial system. Prior to that, he held senior macroeconomic research and global macro trading responsibilities for just under a decade at Deutsche Bank in London and Hong Kong.

Brad graduated with a PhD in finance, first class honours in economics and served for five years as a Fellow at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. He has published extensively on a range of topics related to financial stability, monetary policy and international financial markets. He is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a signatory to The Banking and Finance Oath.

Kim Lawry
Partner, and one of the KPMG Australia's Board Members

Kim is a partner in KPMG Australia’s Financial Services practice. For more than 25 years, she has provided audit and assurance services to some of Australia’s most significant financial institutions. As an experienced partner, Kim combines her broad industry experience in banking and funds management with strong technical capabilities to deliver innovative outcomes for her clients. Kim has deep commercial, retail and central bank expertise. She is UNSW Alumni, a Chartered Accountant, an APRA-accredited bank auditor and an ASIC registered company auditor. Kim also serves on KPMG Australia’s Board.

Throughout her career, Kim has benefited from diverse experiences. She considers her 5 year secondment to Switzerland as a formative part of her career. “I was supporting one of the world’s largest banks through significant market disruption during the GFC. I learned so much in a concentrated period about financial markets, risk management, capital and liquidity – but more importantly, I learned how critical it is to be connected with our clients, working side-by-side as one team as they navigate change.”

Kim’s passion for connectivity and teamwork is evident in how she leads her own teams and people. She champions diversity by mentoring and sponsoring females and culturally diverse future leaders.

Dr Michael McCorry
Managing Director and CIO, BlackRock, Australia