Our 2024 Judges

Andrew Phanartzis is currently the Director of Property Association, a consultancy firm for residential developers in Australia. The company offers a suite of services including, acquisition, planning, creative, sales and property management.

Andrew is extremely motivated, knowledgeable, loyal and reliable. He prides himself in exceeding expectations, adding dollar value to clients and sets the bar high. He believes the property market is dynamic and constantly evolves his strategic approach to enhance its effectiveness.

Andrew’s exposure to large residential developments, master planned communities and house and land subdivisions has provided a wealth of experience with some of the largest developers in Australia.

Andrew is a licenced real estate agent, holds a BA in Human Resource Management & English from the University of NSW and has completed PS146 Financial Planning qualifications.

At Opica Group, we provide Lenders & Brokers with Australia’s only Customer Transaction Verification and Responsible Lending Engine designed to manage and verify a consumers’ spending habits. We are due to launch “YourRentCheck”, Australia’s first AI Assisted rental payment verification platform for Real Estate Property Managers using our proprietary Artificial Intelligence engine. Brett been working in the Mortgage & Finance industry for over 25 years and in 2011 was recognized by the MFAA as a Fellow of the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia. In 2001, he pioneered outsourced mortgage processing services by creating the first BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) operation for Mortgage Brokers in Australia, ultimately becoming the world’s first and only rated Loan Processing solutions provider by Standard & Poor's. After taking the reins of the Stargate Group in the early 2000’s, he was instrumental in introducing the first Mortgage Broker CRM Systems into the Australian Mortgage Landscape all while guiding it through the GFC. . In 2014, he led the Stargate business through its acquisition by the ASX listed Rubik Financial Limited (RFL) and worked through a 2-year transition as Group Executive – Mortgages. He also serves as Executive Director of business advisory firm TICH Consulting Group, Chairman of soon to be launched Equity Lending fintech Lendmore Australia & is an advisor to a number of Mortgage and Real Estate companies in Australia.

Fiona Blayney is CEO and Founder of the highly successful consultancy, training, recruitment and outsourced services business Real+. Over sixteen years she has developed a reputation for being one of the best business strategy, talent and growth specialists around.

Fiona’s energetic and motivational presence has ensured popularity at industry events. Regularly acting as MC, performing keynote presentations; and facilitating workshops and panels across Australia, NZ, and abroad. Together with TRET she also delivers the annual ARPM conference.

Widely known for her no holds barred approach, Fiona believes her role as an Industry Thought Leader is to push boundaries, challenge the status quo and in general “break stuff” with veterans and start-ups alike.

Jason is the Director of Broker Essentials and is Australia’s leading Mortgage Broker Mentor and sort after media commentator. In 2016 Jason foundered Broker Essentials and launched a training program for brokers after years of inquiries into the best practices and habits of a high-performance business.
Jason was named 2021 Mentor of the Year at The Adviser Better Business awards, 2021, APAC Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 - Financial Services, ABA 2020 Mentor of the year, and AMA 2020 Service provider of the year. He was the Managing Director of The Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC) and has been instrumental in taking ALIC to the forefront of the mortgage brokering industry. In 2014,15,16 and 2017 ALIC was voted the top independent brokerage of the year by Mortgage Professional Australia, Australia’s best brokerage in 2014 & 15 at the Australian Mortgage Awards and MFAA in 2016 and 2018.

Jason has over 30 years’ experience in the finance sector, having worked in senior sales, distribution and management roles for ANZ and having provided financial advice and services on behalf of financial planning, equity trading platforms, private banking, lending and retail distribution brands.

More details can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-back-broker-essentials/ and at Broker Essentials www.brokeressentials.com.au

Jess Densley is the founder of the Elite Agency Success System, a leading real estate consultancy group working with business owners and sales people to achieve peak performance in their business worldwide.
He has previously been a high performing real estate agent ranked in the top 2% of agents in Australia, inside the countries largest franchise group operating from a regional market place. Jess also has been a leading business owner who operated an awarding winning real estate business that was crowned the number one regional business a record 4 times across Victoria & Tasmania.
As well as being a leading sales coach, Jess also has credentials as an accredited level one (ICG) human behaviour coach working with corporate organisations on unlocking potential in their individuals and teams.

Josh has a career spanning over 30 years helping finance brands build their audience with content that people want to watch, read and share.
Originally a finance journalist by trade with News Corp, he’s worked across Australia, Asia and the UK with giants in media, big banks and the world’s biggest internet company, Google.

In 1996 Josh co-founded financial content marketing agency The Dubs and has since been helping Australia’s finance brands create engaging content that makes them stand out. Working with big brands like Westpac, CBA, ANZ, BT Financial, TAL, and Citi, Josh has led the agency to create content that helps clients grows brand credibility, audience engagement and scale across global markets.

Melanie Hoole specialises in social media marketing; helping real estate professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile, and implement inbound marketing activities to attract home sellers and find more listings. If you’re looking for digital marketing or social media help, but are unsure where to start, contact Melanie at www.hoole.co or read her #digithoole insights at www.hoole.co/blog.

Neville Hurst is a senior lecturer in property studies at RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Originally trained as an electrical engineer he has worked extensively in industry and for the last 33 years in the property sector as a practitioner and academic. Prior to joining education Neville owned and operated his own real estate agency for many years selling and managing properties on behalf of clients. A significant part of this business was a business brokerage run in partnership with his business partner. Academically Neville’s research interest focuses on real estate industry practices, valuation practices, housing markets and in particular energy efficient housing. Currently undertaking his Phd, Neville is investigating real estate agent attitudes and engagement with sustainable housing and is working with peak industry bodies to create greater awareness of the importance of energy efficient housing for a sustainable future.

Peter Lynch is a leader in Professional Indemnity Insurance in the real estate, valuation and management right industry sectors.

He boasts over 30 years’ experience with Aon Risk Solutions and as the Client Manager is responsible for developing new business within the real estate sector including the identification of business opportunities with franchise groups and other stakeholders.

He took a significant role in providing advice and support to introduce a Real Estate specific indemnity insurance scheme and is responsible for the highly successful REIQ/REINT schemes which he coordinated with the assistance of industry, lawyers, underwriters and claims staff.

Peter has a strong interest in promoting safe and quality business practices in real estate and has been a regular contributor to course materials, presentations and editorial submissions. He has been called upon to be a guest speaker at training forums for the REIQ, REIA, REINT, REIWA and various franchise groups.

Peter also provides individual Risk Management training to a number of his Franchise Group clients.

Rex is a principal and the founder of M A Legal. Rex started M A Legal with an immense drive to help his clients achieve success within the framework of the law.

Rex has an extensive legal background holding roles as General Manager and Legal Counsel for a large manufacturing distribution company, Senior Solicitor acting for members of the BRW 1000 Entrepreneurs List as well as legal counsel for government bodies and charitable organisations.

He is known for his business acumen and ability to guide clients not only through complex commercial litigation and business negotiation but in their strategic growth and planning needs. He has played a pivotal role not only in start-ups but in existing large enterprises with his clients comprising real estate moguls and business leaders.

Rex brings a unique and fresh perspective to legal challenges in business and commerce as he himself engages in significant property development ventures, sits on a number of boards as well as is a founding director of the charity, Build 4 Kids Inc.

Rex develops and extremely strong rapport with his clients and is driven to achieve the best possible outcomes for them and in return has built a significant and loyal following. He is an extremely passionate individual who does not do anything in half measures; it takes one look at his collection of motor and boxing memorabilia to know that he will fight for his clients. His lovely demeanour aside, he is fierce and fearless in all his pursuits.

Rex is a family man having welcomed his daughter into the world in 2017 and has an ambitious list of pursuits outside of work not limited to snowboarding, racing cars and motorbikes, boxing, weight training, enjoying a good wine and espresso martini, and travelling.