Xavier O’Halloran
CEO
Xavier O’Halloran is the CEO and founding Director of Super Consumers Australia. He is a consumer advocate whose role it is to keep industry and regulators focussed on the needs of consumers in financial services markets. He works with a team of consumer finance experts to better understand how people engage with these markets and how these markets can be designed to meet consumer expectations. He is excited by cutting through spin and making the complex simple, so everyone can confidently make decisions about their financial well-being. Previously, he worked at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) as a Policy Officer working on telecommunications consumer protection and competition policy.
He also led the team responding to the Financial Services Royal Commission at CHOICE, Australia’s largest consumer advocacy group. Xavier has represented consumers on several government and industry advisory bodies. He also developed an online ‘chat bot’ to help younger people engage with their super.
Katrina Ellis
Deputy Director
Katrina Ellis has over 20 years experience in the financial sector. As the Deputy Director of Super Consumers Australia she is passionate about ensuring that the super system works for everyone. Prior to joining Super Consumers, Katrina had a long career at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in a range of leadership roles. In particular, she led teams who implemented many of the key regulatory changes in the superannuation industry over the last decade. She was an academic in Australia and the US and has a PhD in finance from Cornell University.
Rebekah Sarkoezy
Senior Research and Policy Advisor
As a fierce consumer advocate and social researcher, Rebekah is passionate about making markets work for people by amplifying their voices in policy debates. Rebekah has a Bachelor of Social Science and a Masters in Public and Social Policy from Macquarie University, and is an alumni of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia 2021 Mentoring Program. Her research interests include responsible regulation and market stewardship, dispute resolution, and industry responses to consumer vulnerability.
Susan Quinn
Advocacy Manager
Susan leads our strategic campaigns and advocacy work. She is focused on planning strategic campaigns that maximise our impact in building a fairer super system. She loves to be part of a small but powerful team making a huge difference to millions of Australians in their retirement. Susan is a highly-experienced consumer and community advocate, having run successful campaigns and published influential policy reports in areas as diverse as financial services, housing and climate change. She was closely involved in the Financial Services Royal Commission, both as a consumer advocate and later at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, implementing key recommendations on insurance regulation. She was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2018 to travel overseas to explore how to protect and empower financially vulnerable people in big data laws and practices. Susan holds a Bachelor of Laws and BA Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology Sydney, and a Graduate Certificate in Social Science (Policy and Human Services) from RMIT University.
Daniel Herborn
Investigative Journalist
Daniel is interested in telling stories that foreground the interests of the most important stakeholders in our retirement system – the millions of Australians with super accounts. He also writes explainers that demystify an often overcomplicated space and empower readers to get the most out of their retirement income. Some of his favourite stories to work on have included Super Consumers’ work highlighting the pandemic exclusion clauses in insurance in super (and getting funds to agree not to rely on these) and telling human stories about the inequalities in the system. Before this role, he worked as a lawyer and news journalist and diligently checked CHOICE ratings before every major purchase.
Antoinette Dyce
Communications and Operations Co-ordinator
Antoinette oversees our social media and web presence, writes newsletters and other content, manages the website, and supports the team through editing a range of work including submissions. Operationally, Antoinette manages key projects such as our website rebuild and branded templates creation.
Coming from a background as a senior television producer and writer, Antoinette has a BA Communications from UTS and a Master of Human Rights from USYD. Working for a not-for-profit consumer advocacy organisation such as Super Consumers has allowed her to combine these areas of expertise, bringing her experience in creating content for broad audiences, her writing and research skills, and her social justice values to the role.
Julian Peters
Economist
Julian Peters is an Economist who has recently completed a PhD in economics at UNSW, and was a casual lecturer at the University of Sydney, teaching Econometric Applications to Master’s students. His dissertation research concerned modeling the effect of policies in Australian banking and the mortgage broker market.
Previously, Julian was a director at ABN Amro and RBS banks in Sydney, in the area of equity derivative trading. He rose to this position having traded equity derivatives for investment banks in London and is highly experienced in the financial markets and pricing derivatives. Before financial markets, he was a research economist at NZIER, where he was part of the macroeconomics team.
Since starting his role at Super Consumers, Julian has immersed himself in superannuation analysis and enjoys providing unique insights to this market. Julian currently enjoys applying his financial and economic skills to important questions within the superannuation sector.