OUR TEAM
John Poynton AO
Chair
John is a co-founder and the Executive Chair of Poynton Stavrianou.
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He has decades of advisory and capital markets experience across equity, debt, infrastructure, and property.
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In parallel with his career as an investment banker, John has also been an active non-executive director of ASX-listed companies, government and education bodies and not-for-profit organisations.
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John is Chair of Strike Energy Ltd and life sciences company Lixa. He is also a non-executive director of Perth Airport Pty Ltd.
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John has served on the boards of Alinta, ASX, Austal, Crown, Fleetwood and Multiplex. For the Federal Government he has been a director of EFIC, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board and the Higher Education Endowment Fund. John also served for 10 years as a Guardian of Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the $250+ bn Future Fund.
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He spent 20 years at Hartley Poynton (now Euroz Hartleys) with the last 10 years in the role of MD/Executive Chair. He was a co-founder of Azure Capital and served as Executive Chair for 12 years.
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In the not-for-profit arena, John has chaired the Council of Christ Church Grammar School and was a long-standing board member of the Business School at the University of WA. John has also served as chair of Celebrate WA, Giving West, and the Foundation of the WA Museum.
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In 2006 John was the recipient of the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in the Industry and Commerce category and in 2016 he was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
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John holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an honorary Doctor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia where he was also awarded a Dean’s Medal.
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He is a Fellow of AICD and AIM and is a Senior Fellow and Life Member of FINSIA.
John is an experienced pilot and holds a private fixed wing licence with a command instrument rating. He also holds a commercial helicopter licence.
Chris Stavrianou
Managing Partner
Chris is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Poynton Stavrianou.
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Chris brings over a decade of experience in mergers and acquisitions with Macquarie Capital in London and UBS in Sydney where he advised on more than $50bn of completed transactions with a focus on the energy, utilities, infrastructure and industrials sectors.
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As a member of the Australian Treasury senior executive, Chris established and led Treasury’s Western Australian office, which advises the Australian Government on Western Australian trade and investment and the domestic economy. Chris also advised Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board on sensitive foreign direct investment into Australia.
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Chris received his BSc from the University of Western Australia, his MBA with Distinction from INSEAD, and his MPA from Harvard University where he was a fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Chris is a member of the Australian Government's Takeovers Panel, an Adjunct Professor at the Business School of the University of Western Australia, chair of Council of Christ Church Grammar School and a member of the board of the Clontarf Foundation.
Todd Grover
Partner
Todd has over 18 years of Mergers & Acquisitions experience in Western Australia, specialising in large private treaty transactions with local, national and global counterparties. His expertise spans across a wide variety of sectors including: mining services, transport & logistics, equipment rental, technology, media & telecommunications, and utilities services.
Some of Todd’s most recent transactions include the sale of Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals to global infrastructure fund, I Squared Capital, and the Sale of Go West to ASX listed Kelsian. Todd subsequently supported Kelsian on their acquisition of Horizons West.
A co-founder of boutique M&A firm, Tomkins Turner, Todd built a significant portfolio of successful transactions before selling the practice to a global accounting practice, joining as a corporate finance partner late in 2017. In 2023, Todd re-acquired the practice with fellow corporate finance partner Justin Boyce Cam and merged with Poynton Stavrianou.
Todd holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia, is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand, has a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Todd is a passionate supporter of early education and as such sits of the executive of the Fathering Project chapter for Nedlands Primary and is a board member of the Christ Church Grammar School Foundation.
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Ben Jones
Partner
Ben is a Partner of Poynton Stavrianou.
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He has over 25 years of experience in Australian real estate finance and valuation and has held senior lending and risk roles across institutional property and commercial banking for Westpac and NAB specialising in commercial real estate, hospitality, government, infrastructure and community housing.
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More recently, Ben was the Executive Director of a debt and equity real estate funds management and advisory firm. Prior to that, Ben was WA and SA State Director for MaxCap Group, one of Australia’s largest commercial real estate financiers. During this period, Ben was responsible for regional strategy, business development, relationship management of borrowers along with private and institutional investor clients.
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Ben commenced his career as a Certified Practicing Valuer where he specialised in commercial office, retail, land subdivisions and specialised trading properties. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Curtin University), AAPI (Australian Property Institute), GAICD (Australian Institute of Company Directors) and has been the Responsible Manager and Director under an AFSL dealing MIS to wholesale investors.
Cassie Adamini
Director
Cassie is a Director of Poynton Stavrianou with over 12 years of M&A experience, most recently as a Director in BDO's M&A Team in Perth. Her experience spans Mining Services, Industrials, Health Services, TMT and Financial Services. Prior to her 5 years at BDO, Cassie was in HBF's Strategy Team in Perth.
At BDO, Cassie was involved in several private treaty transactions, including the sale of CMW Geosciences, a specialist Australasian engineering firm, to the global private equity backed consultancy, Kiwa. Cassie was also a key member of the team advising on the sale of McKay Drilling, a market leading West Australian drilling company, to Canadian listed Major Drilling, one of the largest listed drilling companies in the world. Cassie also acted as lead advisor to ASX-listed Kelsian on their acquisition of Horizons West.
Cassie also has extensive strategy experience, having worked at HBF in the Strategy Team for over 6 years, assisting HBF with on-strategy acquisitions and off-strategy divestments. Prior to this, Cassie spent 5 years working in London at Goldman Sachs, UBS and Carphone Warehouse, and became a Chartered Accountant whilst working at PwC in Perth.
Cassie has a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance), is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Lance Malone
Director
Lance is a Director at Poynton Stavrianou with over 14 years of experience in real estate structured finance and capital markets.
He has held senior roles in real estate investment and private equity, credit investment at one of Australia’s largest real estate debt funds, and debt structuring and execution with major banks.
Lance holds a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours; is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand; a member of the Australian Property Institute; and a PhD candidate in Finance at the University of Western Australia, with research on credit markets published in international peer-reviewed journals.
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Brandon Hayward
Associate Director
Brandon is an Associate Director at Poynton Stavrianou and brings over six years of experience having worked in investment banking in both Australia and Hong Kong. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Brandon was an Associate at Argonaut Capital (Hong Kong).
Brandon holds a Bachelor of Science (Nanotechnology) and a Master of Commerce (Finance) with distinction from the University of Western Australia.
Tom Zekulich
Associate Director
Tom is an Associate Director at Poynton Stavrianou and brings more than eight years of experience advising private equity, corporate, and strategic clients on transactions across Australia and Europe. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Tom held a Manager role within EY's M&A Strategy and Transactions team, having spent time in Perth, Sydney and London.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia and is a certified Chartered Accountant (CA).
Sharon Zheng
Associate Director
Sharon is an Associate Director at Poynton Stavrianou with over 12 years experience across Leveraged and Diversified Finance and M & A in investment banking in South Africa. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Sharon was a Principal at Nedbank Leveraged and Diversified Finance team in South Africa where she advised and executed bespoke debt financing solution to PE, investment holding companies and large corporates across financial services, healthcare and FMCG sectors.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Cape Town and is a Chartered Accountant.
Isabelle Davidson
Associate
Isabelle is an Associate at Poynton Stavrianou and brings over 7 years of experience in corporate finance, spanning M&A and valuations. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Isabelle held a Manager role in BDO’s M&A team, advising private businesses across the mining services, transport, consumer discretionary products and retail industries.
Isabelle holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance/Marketing) with distinction and is a certified Chartered Accountant (CA).
Josh Richards
Associate
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Josh is an Associate at Poynton Stavrianou with 4 years' experience in health and infrastructure advisory and private market M&A. Prior to joining the team, Josh worked at BDO, advising clients in the transport and logistics, mining and retail sectors.
Josh holds a Master of Applied Finance Degree (with Distinction) from the University of Western Australia.
Rebecca Wasley
Associate
Rebecca is an Associate at Poynton Stavrianou, with 6 years' experience in private market M&A. Prior to joining the Poynton Stavrianou team Rebecca worked in the M&A team at BDO, advising Perth based mining services, technology and professional services clients.
Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics & Finance) from the University of Western Australia. Rebecca is a CFA Charterholder.
Bryan Chan
Analyst
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Bryan is an Analyst with a background in private M&A transactions in Perth.
Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Bryan worked at BDO in the M&A team advising clients in the mining services and transport logistics industry.
Bryan holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Accounting) from the University of Western Australia.
Nick Jewell-Tait
Analyst
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Nick is an analyst at Poynton Stavrianou, with experience in natural resources and industrials equity research. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Nick worked at Terra Capital.
Nick holds a Masters of Commerce (Finance) from the University of Sydney
Grow Your Vision
Alex Krajcar
Analyst
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Alex is an Analyst at Poynton Stavrianou. Prior to joining the team, Alex worked at RSM in the Corporate Finance team.
Alex holds a Master of Economics with Distinction from the University of Western Australia.
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Grow Your Vision
Harry Rickarby
Analyst
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Harry is an Analyst at Poynton Stavrianou.
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Prior to joining the team, Harry gained practical experience through internships and vacation programs with Deloitte. Here, he collaborated with Woodside’s Corporate Finance team, and WGA, contributing to financial and project analysis for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Sam Wolf
Analyst
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Sam is an Analyst at Poynton Stavrianou with two years' experience in accounting and finance. Prior to joining Poynton Stavrianou, Sam worked at Wesfarmers in the Group Reporting team.
Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Business Law) from the University of Western Australia.
