Executive team
Brian Hartzer
BA, CFA
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Brian was appointed Managing Director & CEO in February 2015. Brian joined Westpac as Chief Executive, Australian Financial Services in June 2012 encompassing Westpac Retail & Business Banking, St.George Banking Group and BT Financial Group.
Brian was appointed Chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association in February 2015. Prior to joining Westpac, Brian spent three years in the UK as CEO for Retail, Wealth and Ulster Bank at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Prior to that, he spent ten years with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) in Australia in a variety of roles, including his final role as CEO, Australia and Global Segment Lead for Retail and Wealth. Before joining ANZ, Brian spent ten years as a financial services consultant in New York, San Francisco, and Melbourne.
Brian graduated from Princeton University with a degree in European History and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Philip Coffey
BEc (Hons).
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Philip was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer in April 2014 with responsibility for relationships with key stakeholders including industry groups, regulators, customers and government. He is also responsible for the Group’s strategy, mergers and acquisitions function.
Prior to his appointment, Philip held the role as Chief Financial Officer from December 2005. Previous to this he was Group Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank, having been appointed to that position in 2002. He first joined Westpac in 1996 as Head of Foreign Exchange.
In April 2014, he was appointed the inaugural Chairman of the Westpac Bicentennial Foundation, a $100 million scholarship fund with an exclusive focus on Australian education and leadership.
Philip has extensive experience in financial markets, funds management and finance. He began his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia before moving to Citicorp and AIDC Limited. He has also held roles in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Philip has an honours degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and has completed the Stanford University Executive Program.
John Arthur
LLB (Hons).
Chief Operating Officer
John was appointed Chief Operating Officer in November 2011. He has responsibility for enterprise investments, contact centres, procurement, analytics, banking operations, property, compliance, legal and secretariat services. He joined Westpac as Group Executive, Counsel & Secretariat in December 2008. Before that appointment, John was Managing Director & CEO of Investa Property Group.
Previously, John had been a partner at Freehills and Group General Counsel of Lend Lease Corporation Limited. He also served as Chairman of legal firm Gilbert + Tobin and has had a distinguished career as a legal partner, corporate executive and non-executive director.
Lyn Cobley
BEc, SF FIN, GAICD
Chief Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank
Lyn was appointed Chief Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank in September 2015. She has responsibility for Westpac's global relationships with corporate, institutional and government clients as well as all products across financial and capital markets, transactional banking, structured finance and working capital payments. In addition, Lyn oversees Hastings Funds Management, global treasury as well as Westpac's International and Pacific Island businesses.
Lyn has over 20 years' experience in financial services. Prior to joining Westpac, Lyn held a variety of senior positions at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) including serving as Group Treasurer from 2007 to 2013 and most recently as Executive General Manager, Retail Products & Third Party Banking. She was also Head of Financial Institutions at Barclays Capital in Australia, held senior roles at Citibank in Australia and Asia Pacific including Head of Securitisation and was CEO of Trading Room (a joint venture between Macquarie Bank and Fairfax).
Lyn has a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, is a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Brad Cooper
DipBM, MBA.
Chief Executive Officer, BT Financial Group
Brad was appointed Chief Executive Officer, BT Financial Group in February 2010. Brad initially joined Westpac in April 2007 as Chief Executive, Westpac New Zealand Limited and after successfully leading a change program in that market, moved to the role of Group Chief Transformation Officer leading the Westpac Group's St.George merger implementation.
Prior to joining Westpac, Brad was Chairman of GE Capital Bank and CEO of GE Consumer Finance UK & Ireland. He drove GE's UK Six Sigma program and was certified as a Quality Leader (Black Belt) in December 2002. He was promoted to CEO of GE Consumer Finance UK in January 2003 and appointed Chairman of GE Capital Bank in April 2004.
Dave Curran
BCom
Chief Information Officer
Dave was appointed Group Chief Information Officer in September 2014. Dave has almost 30 years of experience with proven expertise in IT and financial services and the implementation of large, complex projects.
Dave has been on the Board of the Westpac Bicentennial Foundation, a $100 million scholarship fund with exclusive focus on Australian education and leadership since 2015.
Before joining Westpac, Dave spent 10 years in senior roles at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). Before joining CBA, he spent 16 years at Accenture, where he was a Partner, primarily consulting on financial services.
George Frazis
B Eng (Hons), MBA (AGSM / Wharton).
Chief Executive, Consumer Bank
George was appointed Chief Executive, Consumer Bank in June 2015, responsible for managing the end to end relationship with consumer customers. This includes all consumer distribution, digital, marketing, transformation and banking products and services under the Westpac, St.George, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne and RAMS brands.
Prior to this appointment, he was CEO, St.George Banking Group. George joined the Westpac Group in March 2009 as Chief Executive, Westpac New Zealand Limited. George is highly experienced in the financial services industry. He was formerly Group Executive General Manager at National Australia Bank. Prior to that, George was a senior executive in Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Institutional Banking Division and has also been a partner with the Boston Consulting Group and an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Alexandra Holcomb
BA, MBA, MA.
Chief Risk Officer
Alexandra was appointed Chief Risk Officer in August 2014. As Westpac Group's Chief Risk Officer, Alexandra is responsible for risk management activities across the enterprise across all risk classes and Westpac's strategic risk objectives.
Since joining Westpac in 1996, Alexandra has held a number of senior positions including Group General Manager, Group Strategy, M&A and Major Projects, Group Executive of Group Strategy, Head of Westpac Institutional Bank Strategy, and most recently, Group General Manager of Global Transactional Services.
Prior to joining Westpac, Alexandra was a senior executive from 1992 to 1996 with Booz Allen & Hamilton International where she specialised in international credit, working throughout the Asia Pacific region. Before that, she worked with Chase Manhattan Bank in New York in private and business banking and international credit audit. She also worked in project finance in Paris and New York for Banque Indosuez and Barclays Bank respectively.
Alexandra is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Board member of Asia Society Australia. She has an MBA in Finance and Multinational Management from the Wharton School of Business and a Master of Arts in International Studies and French from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a BA in English and Economics from Cornell University.
Peter King
BEc, FCA.
Chief Financial Officer
Peter was appointed Chief Financial Officer in April 2014, with responsibility for Westpac's Finance, Group Audit, Tax, Treasury and Investor Relations functions. Prior to this appointment, Peter was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer for three years.
Since joining Westpac in 1994, Peter has held senior finance positions across the Group, including in Group Finance, Business and Consumer Banking, Business and Technology Services, Treasury and Financial Markets.
Peter commenced his career at Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu. He has a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and completed the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
David Lindberg
HBA (Hons Economics)
Chief Executive, Business Bank
David was appointed Chief Executive, Commercial & Business Bank in June 2015, responsible for managing the Group's end to end relationships across small and medium enterprises, commercial and agri-business customers as well as asset and equipment finance.
Prior to this appointment, David was Chief Product Officer, responsible for the Group's retail and business products across all brands, as well as overseeing the Group's digital activities. Before joining Westpac in 2012, David was Executive General Manager, Cards, Payments & Retail Strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. David was also formerly Managing Director, Strategy, Marketing & Customer Segmentation at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited and Managing Vice President and Head of Australia for First Manhattan.
David McLean
LLB (Hons).
Chief Executive Officer, Westpac New Zealand Limited
David was appointed Chief Executive Officer, Westpac New Zealand Limited in February 2015. Since joining Westpac in February 1999, David has held a number of senior roles including Head of Debt Capital Markets New Zealand, General Manager, Private, Wealth and Insurance New Zealand and Head of Westpac Institutional Bank New Zealand, and most recently, Managing Director of the Westpac New York branch.
Before joining Westpac, David was Director, Capital Markets at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell since 1994, where he was responsible for starting and developing a new debt capital markets origination business. He also established the New Zealand branch of Deutsche Bank and was New Zealand Resident Branch Manager. In 1988, David joined Southpac/National Bank as a Capital Markets Executive. Prior to this, David worked as a lawyer in private practice and also served as in-house counsel for NatWest NZ from 1985. David is a Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.
Christine Parker
BGDipBus (HRM)
Group Executive, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability
Christine was appointed Group Executive, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability in October 2011, with responsibility for human resources strategy and management, including reward and recognition, safety, learning and development, careers and talent, employee relations and employment policy. She is also responsible for Corporate Affairs & Sustainability.
Prior to this appointment, she was Group General Manager, Human Resources, from March 2010, with responsibilities across the entire Westpac Group. Prior to that, Christine was General Manager, Human Resources, Westpac New Zealand Limited.
Prior to joining Westpac in 2007, Christine was Group Human Resources Director, Carter Holt Harvey, and from 1999 to 2004, she was Director of Human Resources with Restaurant Brands New Zealand.
Gary Thursby
BEc, DipAcc, FCA
Chief Strategy Officer
Gary was appointed Chief Strategy Officer in February 2015. Reporting to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Gary is responsible for the development of the Group's strategy, along with business development and mergers and acquisitions. Gary first joined Westpac in 2008 and more recently was Chief Financial Officer, Australian Financial Services, where his responsibilities included Westpac's Australian retail banking and wealth management businesses.
Gary has a wealth of financial services experience, having held a range of senior positions across a number of financial institutions over the last 20 years. Prior to joining Westpac, he served as Chief Financial Officer, Retail Bank at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Gary commenced his career at Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu.
Gary has a Bachelor of Economics and a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting from Flinders University of South Australia and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.