Andrew Clifford, BCom (Hons)
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer since 1 July 2018, Director and Chief Investment Officer since 8 May 2013
Mr Clifford co-founded Platinum in 1994 as the Deputy Chief Investment Officer, having previously been a Vice President at Bankers Trust Australia Limited covering Asian equities and managing the BT Select Market Trust – Pacific Basin Fund.
Since taking over the role of Chief Investment Officer in 2013, Mr Clifford has spent considerable time and effort on improving the organisational structure of the gradually-expanding investment team to make the execution of our investment process more seamless and efficient.
With full endorsement from the Board, Mr Clifford took over the role of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Platinum Group from Kerr Neilson on 1 July 2018 and will lead the firm to write its next chapter.
Mr Clifford handed over portfolio management responsibilities of the Platinum Asia Fund to Joseph Lai in late 2014, which he had managed since the fund’s inception in 2003. He took over the portfolios of Platinum Capital Limited (ASX code: PMC) and The Platinum Master Portfolio Ltd from Kerr Neilson on 1 July 2018, and co-manages with Clay Smolinski the flagship Platinum International Fund, the Platinum International Fund (Quoted Managed Hedge Fund), and the Platinum World Portfolios - International Fund.
Kerr Neilson, BCom
Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance and Nomination & Remuneration Committees since 31 August 2020, Director since 12 July 1993, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer from 12 July 1993 to 30 June 2018
Mr Neilson was the founder of Platinum and was appointed as Managing Director upon incorporation of Platinum Investment Management Limited in 1993. Prior to founding Platinum, Mr Neilson was an Executive Vice President at Bankers Trust Australia Limited (BT) where he made important contributions to the development of BT’s retail funds management division. His career in the financial services industry spans over more than 45 years, including times he had spent working in the UK and South Africa before migrating to Australia.
Mr Neilson, with the help of Andrew Clifford, founded Platinum with a view to making money for investors. The emphasis was on continuing the successful investment approach he had employed previously. This entailed building portfolios of misunderstood companies that were experiencing change or mispricing due to transient factors or intuitive biases applied by market participants at large. By investing in companies around the world, unconstrained by index weighting or other pre-determined allocation parameters, Platinum owned genuinely differentiated portfolios and produced outstanding investment returns.
From day one Mr Neilson and the team eschewed the use of hard selling techniques, maintaining that if our performance can withstand the test of time, there should never be a need for such tactic; whereas, if Platinum fails to generate satisfactory returns for investors, then the firm should not continue. Prior success, notably, sidestepping the 1987 crash, ensured that from the outset there were willing investors prepared to give Platinum sufficient support to gradually build the business and, fortunately, the company’s performance over the years has proven the longevity of our approach.
As Platinum’s investment philosophy and process became systematically inculcated within the team, Mr Neilson stepped down as the Chief Investment Officer in 2013, and has over time handed over his various portfolio management responsibilities to other global portfolio managers in the team.
With the full endorsement of the Board, Mr Neilson handed over the role of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Platinum Group to Andrew Clifford on 1 July 2018. From this time until August 2020, he remained an Executive Director and also worked as an analyst on the generation of investment ideas within the investment team. From 31 August 2020, Mr Neilson became a Non-Executive Director of Platinum.
Elizabeth Norman, BA, GradDip FP
Director since 8 May 2013
Ms Norman has been an integral part of the investor services and communications team since Platinum’s founding. She began her career at Bankers Trust, working on new product development, and later joining the retail funds management team where she worked closely with Mr Neilson and Mr Clifford. Ms Norman joined Platinum in February 1994 as Investor Services and Communications Manager. Her appointment to the Board in 2013 as Director of Investor Services and Communications reflects the firm’s ever-greater focus on its widening client base and a strong commitment to supporting retail and institutional clients with dedicated investment specialists.
Andrew Stannard, CA, BMgt (Hons), GradDip AppFinInv
Director since 10 August 2015
Mr Stannard joined Platinum as Finance Director in August 2015. Prior to that, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer for the Asia-Pacific region at AllianceBernstein. Mr Stannard has more than 25 years of finance experience with expertise in audit, financial control, operations, funds management, financial services regulation and corporate governance. He is a chartered accountant.
Company Secretary
Joanne Jefferies, BCom, LLB
Company Secretary since 17 October 2016
Ms Jefferies is an English law qualified solicitor with more than 23 years of legal experience in the asset management and securities services sectors, in England and across Asia Pacific.
Ms Jefferies joined Platinum in October 2016 as General Counsel and Group Company Secretary, having spent the previous six years at BNP Paribas Securities Services as Head of Legal Asia Pacific, Company Secretary for all Australian subsidiaries and a member of the Asia Pacific Executive Committee. Ms Jefferies has previously held senior legal positions with Russell Investments, Morley Funds Management (Aviva Investors) and Lord Abbett, and served as the General Counsel for the UK’s funds management industry association, the Investment Association.