Meet the team

Melanie de Jager

National Sales Manager

Email: Melanie.DeJager@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0498 555 000

With over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Melanie has held senior leadership responsibility across all aspects of mortgage origination, including sales and distribution, business development, back-office operations, credit risk, contact centres, product development and marketing, and played pivotal roles in the start-up of one of Australia’s leading mortgage aggregation businesses, followed by the start-up of the fastest growing mortgage and financial services company in the Middle East.

She has a demonstrated track record leading and developing high performing multi-channel sales and service teams and has successfully executed major business expansions across Australia and the Middle East.

Tom Christopher

Head of Ops & Customer Experience

Email: tom.christopher@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Tom Christopher joined MA Money in 2022 as Head of Product and Servicing and is responsible for leading the MA Money's Servicing Team and managing the Core Banking Platform to ensure the Core Lending function is executing our loan contracts throughout the customer lifecycle.

Tom has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry across customer experience, risk mitigation and core banking digital transformation. Tom is passionate about using data and technology to create better customer experiences and efficient processes.

Before joining MA Money, Tom was Senior Product Manager at Bluestone Home Loans overseeing the development and implementation of a new cloud-based Core Banking Platform. Prior to this, Tom was Head of Servicing and Collections at Bluestone leading the Settlements, Customer Service and Collections teams. Tom was also Manager, Borrower Assistance and Reporting with QBE Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

Tom holds a graduate Certificate in Business Management from the Australian Institute of Management and is currently undertaking an MBA at the University of Newcastle.

Douw Van Der Walt

Finance Director

Email: douw.VanDerWalt@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Douw has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services and has led operations across multiple geographical markets. His expertise includes financial management and business operations specifically in the non-bank lending sector, where he works closely alongside board and senior leadership teams to develop and execute strategy.

Prior to joining MA Money Douw held various leadership roles at Pepper Money, most recently as the Head of Planning, Pricing and Performance. He also held senior Finance roles at YBR, Westpac and Deutsche Bank.

Douw holds a Bachelor of Accounting and is a registered Chartered Accountant.

Holly Pickering

Head of Origination & Integration

Email: Holly.Pickering@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Holly Pickering joined MA Money in 2022 as our Head of Origination and is responsible for the origination transformation of MA Money's operations. This includes working closely with third party vendors and internal operations to facilitate an innovative mortgages origination process that is efficient and effective.

Holly has nearly 20 years of financial services experience and is known as a proactive and dedicated industry professional executing strategic initiatives to a high standard through effective leadership, collaboration and having a creative and engaging edge.

Before joining MA Money, Holly was Director of Credit Risk Strategy at Athena Home Loans and prior to that leading credit capability functions at National Australia Bank. With extensive experience in mortgages, credit risk and process change delivery, she has experience in finding opportunities to build and maintain a high performing mortgages portfolio through effective change management.

Thierry Merand

Head of Credit and Risk

Email: Thierry.Merand@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Thierry has over twenty years of international experience in risk management, asset management and institutional banking, with a focus on credit and structured credit products. Thierry has lived and worked in Paris, London and Sydney. Prior to joining MA Money, Thierry held a number of senior roles at Westpac, Pepper Money, JPMorgan and UK-based credit hedge fund Aladdin Solent Capital. More recently, Thierry was Head of Credit Risk for Volt Bank.

Through his career in Australia, Thierry has developed extensive experience across a broad range of consumer finance products, including prime and non-conforming mortgages, car finance, personal loans and credit cards. Thierry is passionate about using data to implement strategic initiatives and improve customer experience.

Thierry holds a Masters of Science in Engineering, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, as well as the professional Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Akeshni Gour

Treasurer

Email: Akeshni.Gour@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Akeshni has over 18 years financial services experience with extensive knowledge of the securitisation market specialising in structured finance, Master Trusts, asset backed securitisations, warehouse funding, Whole loan sales, Private Placements, portfolio management and derivatives across different asset classes in the Australian, US, Irish, UK, NZ and Asian Markets.

She has held senior leadership roles in Treasury and her experience encompasses management of capital, funding, and liquidity across a broad range of consumer finance products including prime and non-conforming mortgages, asset finance, personal loans and BNPL. She is a strategic thinker with strong knowledge of capital markets, banking services, internal controls and treasury and market risks.

Akeshni holds a Bachelor of Applied Finance and is currently studying for MBA.

Will Taylor

Investment Manager

Email: Will.Taylor@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 1300 762 151

Having started his career in Financial Modelling at PwC, Will moved to Moelis Australia where he quickly progressed from Investment Banking Analyst to Investment Banking Associate and then Investment Manager, Principal Investments & Credit.

Under this expanded role, Will oversees the MA Money Investment strategy, undertaking detailed financial performance analysis to optimise the company and deliver better outcomes for all stakeholders.

Dee Ray

WA/SA/NT

Email: dee.ray@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0473 555 444

Dee is a finance professional with over 20 years lending and business banking experience that has enabled her to develop a broad depth of knowledge allowing her to share, nurture, grow and support her network. She is passionate, highly motivated and dedicated towards making a positive difference in the lives of others and uphold kindness in all dealings, with the view of “kindness is contagious”.

Shiralee Wooding

VIC/TAS

Email: shiralee.wooding@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0482 777 444

A senior credit, lending and sales manager with 37 years of experience across both the finance and retail sales industries. Shiralee combines these extensive skills and knowledge to build long term relationships, offer outstanding customer service and achieve results.

Geoff Spencer

NSW/ACT

Email: geoff.spencer@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0473 555 888

With nearly 20 years’ experience in the finance industry Geoff is passionate about helping brokers and their customers. Geoff has a wealth of knowledge with all things mortgage related and he’s always prepared to go the extra mile. He’s very customer and broker results focussed.

Andrew Oey

VIC/TAS

Email: andrew.oey@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0492 777 333

Andrew has over 10 years in the Banking and Financial Services sector with experience in relationship management, business development, and leadership. Andrew takes a people-centric approach to business and looks forward to building strong relationships with brokers supporting their clients to find the right home loan solutions.

Sheree Horridge

QLD

Email: sheree.horridge@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0467 999 444

With more than 30 years of experience in the finance and insurance field, Sheree is driven to support brokers and their customers to find the right solutions to best fit their needs. Sheree is focused on building significant and long-term partnerships throughout the finance journey and looks forward to sharing the success with them.

Sanjay Anand

NSW

Email: sanjay.anand@mamoney.com.au

Phone: 0429 999 000

With over 10 years of experience in the Banking and Financials services industry Sanjay is passionate about helping brokers grow their business and assisting them to get the right lending solution for their clients. Sanjay prides himself on being accessible and going above and beyond for his broker partners.