AU hires head of accounting alliances

Michelmore replaces Davis

By Julie May
Wed 24 Feb 2010

Australian Unity dealer group appoints a new resource to manage alliances with accountancy firms.

Dealer group Australian Unity Personal Financial Services (AUPFS) has hired Elise Michelmore to head up its accountants alliance channel, the group has announced.

AUPFS head Steve Davis said the move signalled the dealer group's intention to aggressively build its business.

"We have relationships with around 60 accounting firms and we intend to grow that significantly over the next few years," he said.

As AUPFS national manager of partnerships, Michelmore will be responsible for driving revenue through the identification and recruitment of additional accountancy firms either as referrers or as authorised representatives, and helping new and existing accounting practices to grow and manage their businesses and profits.

Michelmore will also be responsible for providing accountants and advisers with advanced sales training and assisting them in building and managing relationships, the group said.

Joining AUPFS from Perpetual Private Clients, where she was a senior financial consultant, Michelmore has over 19 years of senior management, sales training, financial planning and accountant partnership experience in the financial services sector.

Prior to working at Perpetual Private Clients, she was at Westpac where she performed roles such as branch manager, senior financial planner and district manager.

Michelmore replaces Davis, who was appointed AUPFS head in September last year.

Davis replaced Ross Johnston, who stepped down from the role in February to run his own practice under the AUPFS brand.

Johnston also retained a lesser role within the AUPFS leadership team as head of financial planning.

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