Industry leader Geoff Lloyd to chair Professional Planner publisher

Former Perpetual and MLC chief executive Geoff Lloyd has been named chair of Conexus Financial, the publisher of media titles including Professional Planner.

Lloyd says his interest in leading the company comes down to the domestic impact of Professional Planner, its super fund CIO-focused sister publication Investment Magazine and the decumulation phase-focused Retirement Magazine, and the global influence of Top1000funds.com.

“Australia is very mature but more complicated than we should be for our size,” he says. Australia’s pool of national savings is “bigger than expected from our population”, and it has “a lot to share with the globe in this space”.

“The world is deglobalising in a way… but for wealth management, financial services and the clients, there’s so much in common still,” he says.

Lloyd notes the “threat and opportunity” presented by “fake media” and the impact and obligation that established media brands have to inform and educate the public.

“Known mastheads have a potentially greater responsibility and attraction to their audience,” he says.

High profile

Lloyd is one of the financial services industry’s most high-profile leaders, having led both Perpetual Group and MLC – then National Australia Bank’s wealth management division – as chief executive.

He has also held executive positions for BT, St George Bank’s wealth management arm, and was chair of the Financial Services Council.

Lloyd also has philanthropic and not-for-profit director experience, including as prior chair of the University of Technology (UTS) Sydney Law School Advisory Board, UTS’ inaugural Philanthropy Board and The Fathering Project.

He is currently chair of direct-to-consumer investment platform Stake and adviser platform/fintech Dash Technology.

When it comes to the strategic priorities of Professional Planner specifically, Lloyd says he’s “excited” to help drive the final change of the transition of advice into a profession.

“Let’s really start to see kids leaving school wanting to become financial planners,” Lloyd says.

He’s also a big believer in the publication’s ability to help drive and raise the standard of the thousands of small, adviser-led practices.

“I worry about the large number of sole practitioner licensees or two- and three-person practices and their ability to run their business – which is tough as an SME – to service their clients and keep up with all the regulatory changes and needs they have,” Lloyd says.

“It’s hard work.”

Lloyd says over the next five years, technology will play a significant role in improving productivity and in the provision of scalable, compliant advice to clients.

“If we can double or triple – through technology – an even better service delivery in a compliant way, financial planners can see 300 clients in a connected way like they see 100 clients,” Lloyd says.

Strategic advice

Lloyd will commence the role as chair of Conexus Financial on 2 February, leading the board of the corporate entity and providing strategic advice to Conexus Financial founder and managing director Colin Tate AM and the senior leadership team.

Tate says the financial and geopolitical complexity in the world right now cements the important role that Conexus Financial plays in “hosting challenging conversations designed to inspire our readers, delegates and stakeholders to be better fiduciaries”.

“Geoff’s corporate leadership, strategy, technology and governance experience will add firepower as Conexus Financial continues to position for growth, influence and social and industry impact,” Tate says.

Lloyd says having the right team is every leader’s greatest challenge and part of his role is to ensure “[Colin doesn’t] lose his passion, his energy and his curiosity”.

Throughout his business career, Lloyd has variously been a commercial client and sponsor of Conexus Financial editorial publications and events, in addition to being a keynote speaker, author and provider of thought leadership content.

While Lloyd’s career background has largely focused on the advice and wealth management sector, he still has a keen interest in Australia’s superannuation system.

New battleground

Lloyd says the battle over investment performance in super is over. Instead, member service and experience is the “new battleground”.

But he’s also optimistic that the rise of superannuation will help improve financial literacy.

“It’s also created a huge tailwind that’s hard to measure – financial literacy to Generation X and their kids,” Lloyd says.

“Money is discussed in the home around super, saving is discussed because of super. That’s a huge advantage. It’s now a discussion in homes and that’s a healthy thing for financial literacy and a healthy thing for saving and investing in our country.”

Lloyd’s appointment comes as Conexus Financial unveils its event calendar for 2026, with 11 premium and invitation-only conferences scheduled, across all mastheads and the company’s philanthropically-funded think tank, The Conexus Institute.

It also comes as the company ramps up its podcast and video production output after a strategic investment in a state-of-the-art studio in the Conexus Financial head office, which is believed to be one of the only remaining broadcast-quality operations in the Sydney CBD and is available to select industry stakeholders to dry hire.