Directors at turnaround and restructuring bodies ARITA and TMA

28 June 2023 Consultancy.com.au

A number of senior advisors from the country’s leading turnaround and restructuring consultancies have been elected to two local industry associations.

Two of Australia’s largest professional bodies for the turnaround & restructuring consulting industry have elected new boards, with Rachel Burdett of Cor Cordis taking up the president’s seat at ARITA alongside new vice president Kathy Sozou from McGrathNicol and state representatives from KordaMentha, Deloitte, SV Partners, and FTI Consulting.

Senior managing director Joseph Hansell of FTI Consulting meanwhile joins the board of TMA Australia.

Directors at turnaround and restructuring bodies ARITA and TMA

Rachel Burdett

A partner based in Melbourne, Burdett has been with Cor Cordis for the past seven years, specialised in performance advisory, turnaround, restructuring, and insolvency with a focus on the banking and construction sectors among others. Earlier in her career, Burdett spent close to a decade between KPMG and Ernst & Young, before returning to the latter as an executive director following a later stint at NAB. She also spent five years as a senior leader at BDO.

Burnett has been a national board member of ARITA since 2019, as chair of its Victoria/Tasmania division.

She said of her two-year appointment as president: “I will be focusing on collaboration, advocacy and promoting sustainable best practices during my tenure. It is imperative as practitioners and as a profession that we are cognisant of our broader environment, that we are reflective and adaptive. Investing in best practice also remains a strategic priority.”

Kathy Sozou
Sydney-based McGrathNicol partner Kathy Sozou meanwhile takes up a vice president post at ARITA (the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association). Starting out as a UNSW commerce graduate at KPMG, and spending five years with the firm between Australia and the UK, Sozou has since been with McGrathNicol for more than a decade and a half, advising clients across a multitude of industries on restructuring and turnaround.

Sozou and Burdett step up in place of outgoing president Michael Brereton of William Buck, and are joined on the ARITA board by state representatives Leanne Chesser (Vic/Tas), a two-decade KordaMentha veteran, FTI Consulting senior managing director Kelly Trenfield (Qld), Deloitte financial advisory partner Matthew Donnelly (WA), and Jason Porter of SV Partners (NSW/ACT). SA/NT is represented by Mike Hayes from law firm Piper Alderman.

Joseph Hansell
In the board of fellow professional body TMA (the Turnaround Management Association), FTI Consulting senior managing director Joseph Hansell is among four new appointees. A two decade industry veteran, Hansell joined the firm in Sydney in 2016 from later KPMG acquisition Ferrier Hodgson, and has had his hands full this year with administration assignments including Tribe Breweries and Jenny Craig.

Hansell joins a number of other advisors on the TMA board from the country’s leading consultancies in the turnaround & restructuring space, including KordaMentha partner Chris Martin who was appointed president last year. Also among the directors are McGrathNicol chairman Jason Preston, Gayle Dickerson of KPMG, Deloitte’s Queensland restructuring services lead Richard Hughes, and Alinta Kemeny, a partner in Ashurt’s specialist restructuring team.