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 is a Director of the Australian Bankers' Association and was formerly the Chairman until December 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.
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 as well as Westpac's International and Pacific Island businesses.
Lyn has over 25 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 is a board member of the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA), the Banking & Finance Oath and the Westpac Foundation. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women.
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. George is Governor of the St. George Foundation and Chairs the Prime Minister’s Industry Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment.
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 Board member of Asia Society Australia and the Westpac Foundation. She is a member of Chief Executive Women and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Alexandra 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.
Rebecca Lim
B Econ, LLB (Hons)
Group General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer
Rebecca was appointed Group General Counsel in November 2011 and Chief Compliance Officer in December 2013. Rebecca is responsible for Westpac's compliance, legal and secretariat function globally.
Rebecca joined Westpac in 2002 and has held a variety of other senior leadership roles including General Manager, Human Resources for St.George Bank and General Manager, St.George Private Clients.
Rebecca began her career at Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst) before joining the US firm Skadden Arps where she worked in both New York and London. Rebecca then moved into an in-house role in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in London before returning to Australia and joining Westpac.
David Lindberg
HBA (Hons Economics)
Chief Executive, Business Bank
David was appointed Chief Executive, Business Bank in June 2015. He manages the Group’s end to end relationships with business customers for the Westpac, St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne brands. The Business Bank provides a wide range of banking and financial products and services to Australia’s small, commercial, corporate and agri businesses.
Prior to this appointment, David was Chief Product Officer 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. 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 and Sustainability and Customer Advocacy.
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
Group Executive, Strategy & Enterprise Services
Gary was appointed Group Executive Strategy & Enterprise Services in October 2016. In addition to his previous role as Chief Strategy Officer, his role is designed to accelerate the delivery of the Group's Service Revolution strategy and transformation agenda.
In this expanded role, Gary's responsibilities also include banking operations, procurement, property, analytics, and enterprise investments. In addition, Gary continues to oversee the Group's mergers & acquisitions portfolio.
Before joining Westpac in 2008, Gary held a number of senior finance roles at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) including Deputy CFO and CFO Retail Bank. Gary has over 20 years' experience in financial services, covering finance, M&A and large scale program delivery. He 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.