Paul Clitheroe AM

Chair

Paul is an experienced media commentator and Chairman of Money magazine. He is also Chairman of InvestSMART and Ensemble Theatre Foundation.

Paul is Chair, F​inancial Literacy and Professor, Faculty of Business & Economics at Macquarie University. He was Chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and Financial Literacy Australia from 2004 to 2019. 

Paul was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours for service to the financial sector through the promotion of financial literacy, and to the community.

Dana Beiglari

Non Executive Director

Dana is a Senior Solicitor in the Consumer Law practice group at Legal Aid NSW. Her team of 10 solicitors assists some of the most vulnerable people in NSW to access their consumer protection rights in credit and insurance matters. She is a passionate advocate for social justice and financial inclusion. 

Dana has provided a consumer advocate perspective in a number of public inquiries, including the Financial Services Royal Commission and the Senate Inquiry into Resolution of Disputes with Financial Service Providers within the Justice System.

Dana is a non-executive director of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, co-chair of the Consumer Law Committee at the Law Council of Australia, a Panel Member for the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and a Member of ASIC’s Consumer Consultative Panel. Dana started her career as a lawyer at the commercial law firm, Allens and has worked at community legal centres.

Mike Christensen

Non Executive Director

Mike is a highly experienced non-executive director and senior executive with over 30 years experience across regulated businesses, including financial services, funds and investment management, property and housing, health, community and education sectors. He is a seasoned finance and risk professional at an executive and governance level with current and past roles as chair and member of finance, audit and risk board committees.

Mike currently serves as a non-executive director of Southern Cross Care (NSW & ACT), Homes North Community Housing and Rosebank College.

David Cross

Non Executive Director

David is a recognised leader in education and public policy with extensive experience in senior management roles across universities, government and the not for profit sector. He is the Chief of Staff at UNSW and previously served as CEO of the Blueprint Institute for Public Policy. He has also worked as a Chief of Staff and Director of Policy for successive education ministers in NSW. Multiple initiatives he has conceived in the education policy space are now implemented and delivering measurable impact across NSW. His expertise and commentary has featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Daily Telegraph, Inside Story, and on the ABC, Sky News, and Channel 10. David holds a masters degree in politics and international studies from the University of Cambridge, a first class honours in political science from ANU, and is completing a PhD in public policy at the University of Sydney.

James Kirby

Non Executive Director

With a career spanning decades of expertise in business, economics, and investment journalism, James is currently the Associate Editor – Wealth at The Australian and host of the popular twice-weekly ‘Money Puzzle’ podcast. He is a former managing editor and co-founder of Business Spectator and Eureka Report and has previously worked at the Australian Financial Review and the South China Morning Post.

In addition to his career in journalism, James has previously been actively involved in governance and advocacy, serving on the boards of the Walkley Awards, the SVA Leadership Council (Vic), and First Nations Foundation. He is also the author of several business biographies.

Delia Rickard

Non Executive Director

Delia has over thirty years’ experience working on behalf of consumers and brings deep consumer policy expertise and sector leadership to the Ecstra Foundation Board. Delia was Deputy Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) from June 2012 until finishing with the Commission in January 2023. Her work at the ACCC spanned the consumer data right, digital platforms, energy, enforcement and compliance, product safety, ACCC’s Financial Services Competition Board, and chairing the ACCC’s market study into the cost of insurance in Northern Australia. Delia has also held senior roles at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Delia is currently a director of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), a director of Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), a trustee of the Jan Pentland Foundation, a director of Super Consumers Australia, a director of The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, a director of ID CARE, a director of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR), a director of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, and chairs AHPRA’s Rapid Regulatory Response Oversight Group.

Delia holds a Bachelor of Arts/Law from the University of NSW.

Effie Zahos

Non Executive Director

Effie is one of Australia’s leading personal finance commentators with more than two decades of experience helping Australians make the most of their money. She is a regular money expert on Channel 9s Today show and on radio stations across Australia.

Effie is the 9News Money Editor at the 9Network where she works across 9News, A Current Affair, Today, and Today Extra; and an independent director of InvestSMART. 

Effie was previously InvestSMART’s Chief Content Officer and was Editor-at-Large of Canstar for four years. She was also the editor of Money magazine until 2019, having helped establish it in 1999. 

Effie is the author of A Real Girl’s Guide to Money, Ditch the Debt and Get Rich, and children’s financial literacy book, The Great $20 Adventure. 

She has a degree in Economics from the University of Queensland.

Caroline Stewart

Chief Executive Officer

Caroline is a philanthropic leader with over 25 years of corporate, legal, financial services, governance and not-for-profit experience. 

Caroline is the inaugural CEO of Ecstra. Prior to joining she led the UBS Australia Foundation, a corporate private ancillary foundation. She has worked with multiple stakeholders across the community, financial services, corporate, government and charity sectors and was a banking and finance lawyer. Caroline brings to Ecstra her professional skills, experience, networks and a strong belief that genuine collaboration is required to address the widening financial literacy gap and many structural barriers to financial wellbeing in Australia.

Caroline is a board member of WAGEC (Women and Girls Emergency Centre, Redfern) and The Achieve Foundation. Previously she was a board member of Philanthropy Australia, and chair of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee, and Deputy Chair of Lenity Australia, a PAF focused on vulnerable women and children in Australia and the Asia Pacific. She is a member of the ACNC Sector Forum and works on a pro bono basis with community organisations. Caroline holds a BA (Syd Uni), is admitted as a Solicitor in NSW and ACT and is a graduate of the AICD.

Stephanie Hui

Head of Policy and Engagement

Stephanie is a versatile strategic leader with over 15 years’ policy, communications, governance and legal experience. Prior to Ecstra, Stephanie held senior roles within the NSW public sector delivering policy, law reform and strategic communication initiatives across the consumer protection, real estate and property and statutory compensation scheme portfolios. She also managed the company secretariat function to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority statutory Board.

Stephanie is passionate about empowering people and facilitating positive change through policy development and awareness raising. She started her career as a lawyer at commercial law firm Freehills and has also worked in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Stephanie holds a B. Laws (Hons I) and B. Commerce (Syd Uni).

Jeremy Motbey

Grants and Impact Manager

Jeremy is a partnerships expert with over 20 years of corporate and not-for-profit experience. Prior to joining the team at Ecstra, Jeremy was Corporate Partnerships Coordinator at Oxfam Australia where he stewarded private sector engagements encompassing fundraising, cause-related marketing, and social venture incubation. 

He is passionate about measuring social impact and addressing inequality through responsible business, ethical consumerism, and social entrepreneurship. 

Jeremy is actively engaged in several voluntary roles including Chairing the Grants sub-committee of Impact100 Sydney. 

He holds a BA (Macquarie Uni) and a Graduate Certificate in Social Impact (UNSW).

Jo Morgan

Head of Marketing & Communications

Jo is a senior marketing and finance industry leader with over 20 years’ experience in the financial sector. She has held a number of senior leadership roles across blue-chip, National and boutique asset managers and financial advice businesses within the Australian financial services industry. Her experience includes business and marketing strategy & planning, media liaison, campaign development and execution, digital and marketing analytics. 

Jo holds a B. Business (Marketing), a Masters of Applied Finance and Investments (MAppF), is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and a Fellow of FINSIA, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Jo is also a non-Executive Director of Pony Club Australia.  

She is an advocate for financial literacy and education and passionate about having a positive impact on the well-being of Australians. 

Dr Tracey West

Financial Education Manager

Dr Tracey West is a financial literacy and financial education expert with over 11 years’ experience investigating consumer knowledge and behaviours. Tracey joins Ecstra from Griffith University, where she was a lecturer in behavioural finance in the Griffith Business School. In this role she managed many funded projects, established the behavioural science major, developed finance curriculum and was involved in student competitions and committees.  

Tracey’s PhD was on household financial decision-making and she has published widely on household wealth, financial literacy, financial socialisation and financial planning issues. Through her research, Tracey highlights the challenges many people experience when making financial decisions. Her work focuses on inclusion issues of vulnerable groups such as older people, young people and women.   

Tracey is a strong advocate of accessible financial education and for informed policymaking. As an established expert, she is regularly invited to comment on financial literacy matters on panels, podcasts, radio and print media, including The Conversation.  

Tracey holds a PhD (Finance), a GradDip Secondary Education and BCommerce (Griffith University).