The chair of the Financial Planning Association, Neil Kendall, has paid tribute to the tireless efforts of departing chief executive Mark Rantall in shaping the future of the financial planning profession in Australia.
Kendall announced Rantall’s departure yesterday at the FPA Professionals Congress in Brisbane. Rantall was awarded life membership of the FPA, and Kendall said Rantall’s stint with the association has coincided with unprecedented change for both the association itself and for its members.
“We’ve had amazing changes since our vote [in 2011],” when FPA members voted to restructure to become a member-only association, Kendall said.
“We’ve come from an association that had got along quite well to an association with a clear, direct purpose. The five-year journey has been quite amazing, and I’ve got to say that spearheading that has been our CEO Mark Rantall. He’s spent five years at the front of the organisation negotiating, bartering, getting things done, and building a great team.”
Kendall said it was notable that Rantall (pictured on the right) was the first CEO of the FPA who was also a Certified Financial Planner. His successor, Dante De Gori (pictured on the left), will be the second. De Gori is currently the FPA’s general manager of policy and professionalism
“You can see the difference it makes when your CEO understands what it is we do, is committed to what it is we do,” Kendall said.
“Mark brought passion about financial planning to the FPA management and team.
“Mark has been running the role for five years now and he’s been tireless. There’s no time of day that Mark is not available to take calls or deal with issues. Mark tells me he goes on holidays; he just doesn’t tell me when. When I ring him and he’s walking up a mountain in Noosa, he just carries on as if he’s at work. I do worry about the heavy breathing, but he tells me not to panic.”
Kendall said that Rantall had elected not to renew his contract with the FPA so he will “effectively step down from his role as CEO on March 1 next year”.
“Mark is going to pursue a career as a non-executive director and has in that capacity accepted a role to continue with the FPA as a director on the board,” Kendall said.
“I think this is an appropriate time to thank Mark for the work that he has done, for the leadership he has provided, for the team he has built. Please join with me in recognising Mark as we award him life membership of the FPA.”
Kendall said the FPA had led regulatory change on a number of fronts as it strove to have financial planning structured and recognised as a profession.
“We got rid of investment commissions before the FoFA reforms,” Kendall said.
“We had the best interests duty as part of our code before it became law. Last year the FPA put out a 10-point plan. We said to the government, ‘This is how you build a profession – these are the steps, these are the parts that you need to make a profession’.
“The government has adopted eight of the 10 proposals in our 10-point plan.
“We’ve led through and made submissions along the way on the FoFA outcomes, the PJC inquiry, the Financial System Inquiry. The FPA have been leaders in building this profession and influencing the government and other stakeholders to build a profession.
“This year the government has announced – finally – that the term ‘financial planner’ will be recognised in law, and the only people that can call themselves a financial planner are those people who are properly qualified, trained and authorised to do so. This is a great step forward for us, that clear recognition by government of the importance of financial planning as a profession.”
Kendall said Rantall had been “very thoughtful” about the CEO succession plan.
“He’s been discussing this with the board for some time,” Kendall said.
“We’ve worked through a succession plan, we’ve done extensive search of industry across our profession to find our next CEO.”
Kendall said De Gori has “extensive industry knowledge [and] is passionate about financial planning”.
“He will be our second CEO who is a CFP. [He has] lots of industry experience and importantly he is our first internal successor – another first for the FPA and another positive step forward that we are now able to deliver a CEO from within our own ranks.”