Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group has announced the appointment of Jillian Segal AM to its boards.
Ms Segal, a respected company director with extensive regulatory and legal experience, joins the boards of Rabobank Australia & New Zealand’s major operating entities – Rabobank Australia Limited, Rabo Australia Limited and Rabobank New Zealand Limited.
Part of the global cooperative Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist food and agribusiness bank, Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is one of Australasia’s largest agricultural banks and a major provider of corporate and business banking services to the region’s food and agribusiness sectors. The bank also operates online retail savings and deposits business RaboDirect in both countries.
Announcing the appointment, Rabobank’s Australian & New Zealand chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said Ms Segal’s extensive board experience across the private and public sectors, including in financial services – coupled with a career-long background in governance and law – made her an “ideal fit” for Rabobank’s Australian and New Zealand boards.
“We are truly delighted to have Jillian join the Rabobank boards,” he said. “She is one of Australia’s most accomplished and highly-regarded directors, and sought-after for her expertise in business, governance, banking, financial regulation and education. We are very pleased Jillian will now bring this expertise to Rabobank, as the bank further grows and develops in Australia and New Zealand’s burgeoning agricultural sector.”
Ms Segal previously served as a commissioner and later deputy chair at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and as a director of ASX Limited and National Australia Bank Limited, as well as board chair of the Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman, among a number of other board positions.
She currently holds a number of non-executive positions, including deputy chancellor of UNSW Australia, chair of the General Sir John Monash Foundation and the Australia- Israel Chamber of Commerce (NSW), directorships with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Grattan Institute and Trustee of the Sydney Opera House Trust.
Ms Segal was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for services to business law, particularly in the areas of financial services reform and market regulation, and awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 for services to society through business leadership. Ms Segal holds a BA LL.B from the University of New South Wales and has a Masters of Laws from Harvard Law School.
Ms Segal takes the seat on the Australian and New Zealand Rabobank boards left vacant by retiring former Rabobank Australian chairman Bill Gurry.
Sir van der Heyden paid tribute to Mr Gurry, who served on the Rabobank’s Australian and New Zealand boards since 2005, and as chairman of Rabobank Australia since 2009. A highly-experienced company director, Mr Gurry had held a number of senior roles in the financial services industry, including executive chairman of UBS Australia, CEO of Potter Warburg and managing director of National Mutual Royal Bank.
“Bill has made an outstanding contribution to Rabobank in both Australia and New Zealand over the past 13 years, overseeing more than a decade of extraordinary growth in the business,” he said.
In addition to chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden, Ms Segal joins other directors of Rabobank Australia & New Zealand – Anne Brennan, Andy Borland, Berry Marttin, Sander Pruijs, Geerten Battjes and Peter Knoblanche (managing director Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group and CEO Rabobank Australia).
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is a part of the global Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has nearly 120 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and operates in 40 countries, servicing the needs of approximately 8.6 million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1000 offices and branches. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is one of Australasia’s leading agricultural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 94 branches throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Media contacts:
Denise Shaw
Head of Media Relations
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand
Phone: 02 8115 2744 or 0439 603 525
Email: denise.shaw@rabobank.com
Skye Ward
Media Relations Manager
Rabobank Australia
Phone: 02 4855 1111 or 0418 216 103
Email: skye.ward@rabobank.com