FAAA members elect new board directors

Natallia Smith and Pedro Marin Ramirez have been elected to the Financial Advice Association Australia board of directors and Deborah Kent has been re-elected, in the election held between 6 and 20 October.

The three directors will be officially appointed on 23 November at the FAAA annual general meeting.

Natallia Smith established TruWealth Advice in 2010 and has operated under her own AFSL since 2017. She advises retail clients on retirement planning, superannuation, investments, Centrelink, personal insurance and aged-care planning, with a focus on women over 50 approaching retirement or going through a life transition.

She is an FAAA Financial Planner AFP member and serves on the FAAA Melbourne Chapter Committee, where she is helping develop the chapter’s International Women’s Day event for March 2027.

“Being a representative of the industry, I thought the practical knowledge, skills and expertise that I’ve accumulated over the years being a financial planner and a business owner, hopefully would help the board to achieve the goals that they’ve set for the association,” Smith tells Professional Planner.

“That’s what I was hoping to achieve and just help our profession to grow, to strive for excellence, to achieve better outcomes for our customers. It is all about making sure that the population of Australia is able to receive good quality, affordable financial advice.”

Smith says she is passionate about helping women to be financially educated and achieve better outcomes for themselves and their families.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to starting [as a director] and meeting all of my peers and really looking forward to the FAAA Congress that is happening in November.”

Pedro Marin Ramirez is a director and responsible manager of Marin Financial, an own-AFSL firm. He is an ordinary member of the FAAA and a CFP professional, practising since 2018. He co-chairs the FAAA Brisbane Metro Community and sits on ASIC’s Queensland Regional Liaison Committee, where he has raised the industry levy’s impact on firms bringing in new advisers and argued for a simplified advice threshold for small balances.

In his election pitch to FAAA members, Marin Ramirez said the hardest problem for financial advisers is not advocacy, it is arithmetic.

“We are now under 15,000 advisers for 27 million Australians. Our adviser population is ageing and the pipeline is not replacing us.” He said he wasn’t asking the board to fix the pipeline on its own, he was asking to help.

Marin Ramirez said he would represent the views of small advice practices.

“Most of our members are not in large licensees, and decisions about cost and standards land hardest on firms like mine,” he said. “That view belongs in the room when they are made.”

Deborah Kent is a CFP and the founder of Integra Financial Services, authorised representative of Oreana Financial Services, and provides holistic financial planning and aged care advice to clients. As a current board director of the FAAA, she chairs the Policy and Regulations Committee and sits on the Remuneration and Governance Committee. Prior to the FAAA formation, Kent was president of the Association of Financial Advisers.

She won’t be able to stand for re-election immediately after serving the new term.

In her pitch, Kent said if re-elected she would continue to advocate for members, support a sustainable advice profession, promote high professional and ethical standards, and ensure the FAAA remains financially strong and well governed.

The new directors will join Diana D’Ambra, Shaun McDonagh, Jade Khao, who was re-elected in November 2025; and Glenn Calder and Ben Marshan who were both appointed in November 2025.

Sheila Gutierrez-Cabacungan will stand down as director following the end of her three-year term.

“Sheila has contributed enormously to the FAAA both as a board member and a volunteer. In particular, her hands-on involvement with our communities across the country has embodied the FAAA’s commitment to grassroots engagement,” FAAA chair David Sharpe said in a statement.

David Sharpe will be replaced as chair by current deputy Michelle Veitch

“As a member-led organisation, having a majority member-elected board helps us remain close to the advisers we are here to represent and the issues that are important to them,” Sharpe said.

“The calibre of the candidates was extremely high and it was fantastic to see so many members keen to get involved in their association and play a role in its future.

“Natallia, Pedro and Deborah offer a diverse range of experience, skills and perspectives from across the financial advice community and will be strong representatives of our association and our profession.”

A total of 18 members nominated for the three seats available, with Deborah Kent and Sheila Gutierrez-Cabacungan standing for re-election.

Directors serve three-year terms and cannot hold office for more than two consecutive terms, and no more than 10 years in total. Elections are held two out of every three years.

The FAAA board can have a minimum of three member directors and maximum of nine, four must be practicing CFP professionals. Both Kent and Marin Ramirez are CFPs.

Professional Planner reached out to Marin Ramirez and Kent but had not heard back at the time of publication.