Rob B Thomas

Mr Thomas has a strong background in financial services and capital markets and is a non-executive director of several Australian listed companies. Formerly he was a Partner of Potter Partners (now UBS) where he was also Head of Research.

He is the former Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of County NatWest Securities and then became CEO and then Chairman of Citibank Corporate and Investment Bank in Australia. Mr Thomas has also held the position of Chairman at Australian Wealth Management Ltd (ultimately IOOF Ltd), TAL (Australia’s largest life insurance company) and HeartWare® International Inc, the second largest global manufacturer of left ventricular assist heart pumps. Mr Thomas is Chair of AusBio Ltd and Grahger Retail Securities, and a director of Biotron Limited and O’Connell Street Associates.

For many years Mr Thomas was regarded as one of Australia’s leading financial analysts and regularly lectured with Financial Services Institute of Australia (“FINSIA”). He has considerable expertise in Mergers & Acquisition (“M&A”) and capital markets including advising on the floats of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Qantas, and vast experience in Audit and Risk Management. Mr Thomas is also approved under the NSW prequalification scheme for Audit and Risk Committee Independent Chairs and Members for government/public sector agencies and has previously served as the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee of Virgin Australia Limited (for 11 years), HeartWare® International Inc, REVA Medical Ltd and the State Library of NSW.

Mr Thomas holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University, a Diploma of Business (Accounting) from Swinburne and is a fellow of FINSIA. He is also a Master Stockbroker, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.