Mr Frank Zipfinger has over 25 years experience in the property industry.
Mr Zipfinger was appointed Independent Chairman of Aspen Group in November 2011. He is also Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.
He was formerly a Partner in the Property, Construction & Environment practice of the Sydney office of Mallesons Stephen Jaques where he specialised in property investment and development. Frank was also the Chairman of Mallesons Stephen Jaques from 1 February 2005 until 30 June 2010. Prior to this appointment, Frank completed over five years in various roles as a Managing Partner with the firm.
Frank is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the St Joseph's College Indigenous Fund, a member of the board of the Melbourne Business School and President of the School's Alumni Council, a director of the Australian Youth Orchestra and a director of the Australian Boards of the international not-for-profit organisations Room to Read and Grameen Australia.
Frank is a Director of Galileo Japan Trust and was appointed Non-Executive Director of Aspen Group Limited on 31 January 2011.
Mr Gavin Hawkins is a founding director of Aspen Group, and served as the Group’s Finance Director until his appointment to the position of Managing Director in June 2010. Mr Hawkins is responsible for the implementation of the Group’s strategy and overseeing all operational and administrative functions for the Group.
Mr Hawkins has in excess of 20 years experience in the public accounting and corporate sectors. As a Chartered Accountant, Mr Hawkins spent a number of years with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, developing expertise in audit, corporate governance, corporate advisory, and management consultancy. He further developed his skills and experience in the corporate finance and investment banking industry, spending several years in London working with major financial institutions including Sumitomo Finance and Barclays Capital.
Mr Hawkins holds a Bachelor of Business and is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Appointed as an Executive Director on 31 October 2001 and a member of the Nomination Committee on 9 June 2005.
Mr Reg Gillard brings over 30 years experience in accounting and corporate finance to the Board. He has extensive experience and significant expertise in the evaluation and acquisition of businesses requiring development capital, initial public offerings, rights issues and placements, together with ongoing funding, corporate governance and compliance issues of listed public companies.
Mr Gillard holds several non-executive directorships of ASX listed public companies. He has developed close working arrangements with a number of substantial Australian and international investment funds and has been responsible for, and involved with, the funding of several listed public companies.
Mr Gillard is a Registered Company Auditor, Justice of the Peace, a Fellow of the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Licensed Real Estate Agent.
Mr Terry Budge is a former career banker with over 35 years experience in the Australian banking industry and business. Mr Budge was most recently Managing Director of BankWest from 1997 to 2004 and previously worked with the National Australia Bank for 25 years in a number of senior executive roles.
Mr Budge is currently Chairman of Leadership W.A., Chancellor of Murdoch University, a director of Westoz Investment Company and Days of Change, and is a member of AON Risk Services Australia Limited Board of Advice. Mr Budge’s former roles included Chairman of LandCorp, National Director and Western Australian State President of AICD, the State President Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) and a member of the Federal Government’s Financial Sector Advisory Council.
Appointed Director on 6 May 2005, Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee on 9 June 2005, and a member of the Nomination Committee on 11 November 2006.