The BIG Evening, A Classy Affair

Zach Holmes
25 Jul 2008

Last Night's BIG Evening was a spectacular event. With guest speakers Peter Maher (Executive Director, Macquarie Group) & Greg Matthews (CEO, Independent Asset Management), the event was the most professional Bond Investment Group showcase thus far. The event comprised of a combination of guest speakers, information on the Bond Investment Group and its future and the announcement of the new BIG director and vice-president for 2008/09. Brandon Sowers was the MC for the evening and showed everyone why he has been such a phenomenal leader (and founder) of the Bond Investment Group for 2007/08.

Greg Matthews was the first of the two guest speakers to share his ideas and wisdom with the group. He is a leading boutique fund manager and Chief Executive Officer of his firm Independent Asset Management. In 2004, Greg received The ING Ranan Lubinsky Award at the Australian Fund Manager Awards. He does admit that his pathway to his current career and lifestyle was an unusual one. As a result, he focused on how others can get to where he is now in a more conventional manor.

Greg started by highlighting the history of the Australian Stock Market and how it's "uncertainty is certain". He went on to demonstrate different valuation models that can be used to evaluate stock performance and value. Greg explained his views on risk control and analysing weaknesses, rather than strengths, to better yourself in the long-term. He summarised his speech by giving students some advice on the mindset you need to adopt when investing and his model of winning vs losing in the stock market.

Peter Maher was our second and final speaker for the evening. Brandon Sowers had the honour of introducing Peter to the group, which proved to be a challenging task due to the enormous stack of credentials Peter has accrued. Brandon's summary of Peter's history was "Let's just say he is a very important man". Peter Maher is an Executive Director of Macquarie Group and head of the Financial Services Group at Macquarie.

Peter started his speech by explaining his background and impressed us with the sheer amount of companies he has been involved with, and more importantly turned into a success. Originally from New Zealand, Peter Maher moved to Australia 11 years ago. He was involved in many leading companies in New Zealand and amazed us with his thinking strategies on how he turned them around. He explained his simple step-by-step approach to business stressing the importance of keeping it simple. Peter explained how he likes to speak to the people below him to get the real answers. He amazed the audience with his stories and examples of how he has achieved success and his basic principals which lead him to where he is today.

The night proved to be a very professional, well organised affair. A BIG thank you must go to the organiser, Brooke Bennetts. Without her dedication and hours of commitment, the event would not have been the same. Congratulations must also go to Fiona Beaverson and Nickolai Hubble for being appointed to the positions of BIG Director and Vice-President to takeover from Brandon. We hope to see great things from these two leaders in the near future.

On behalf of the Bond Investment Group, I would like to thank both our guests, Greg Matthews and Peter Maher for participating in the Bond Investment Group program. The ongoing support of leading professionals such as these individuals continues to improve and develop on the group and its reputation.