As the dust settles following a highly successful 2022 Australian Mortgage Awards, the broker winners are reflecting on their achievements and prestigious award wins.
More than 700 brokers, BDMs, lenders and aggregators attended the 2022 AMAs, held at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney on October 14, with 27 award recipients crowned at the in-person event.
Mhairi MacLeod (pictured below), from Astute Ability Finance Group on the NSW Central Coast was awarded the Pepper Money Broker of the Year – Specialist Lending award.
“Winning such a prestigious award has given myself and my business incredible traction with future and existing clients to make myself and my team their broker of choice when it comes to their specialist lending needs,” MacLeod said.
“The AMAs were a standout not only for the venue but how Key Media managed to bring together the fabulous sponsors such as Pepper Money and brokers in one room to support the finalists and the entire industry. With a record crowd, this just goes to show how important bringing people together to celebrate creates a community.”
Read more: Australian Mortgage Awards 2022 winners revealed
MacLeod said the awards were spectacular and people should never underestimate the power of peer-to-peer networking.
“This, along with celebrating industry achievements truly showcases the entire industry as a collective. As a broker, winning an award such as the Pepper Money Broker of the Year – Specialist Lending also is a game changer when you want to stand out in the crowd, allowing my customers to know myself and my team have been highly awarded within an industry of professionals.
“I would like to thank Pepper Money for their contribution to the industry and investing in education for brokers to enter this space and credit must also go to all the BDMs, as well as SFG and COG who work hard every day to service their broker partners, and Key Media for bringing our industry all together.”
Evelyn Clark (pictured below), from St Kilda brokerage Everlend, won both the MFAA Brokerage of the Year (1 to 5 Staff), as well as BOQ Broker Best Customer Service from an Individual Office.
“A key mission of our business is to provide accessible financial education to empower our clients to make informed financial decisions and ensure they understand why we have recommended specific lenders or products,” Clark said.
“Launching Everlend allowed us to disseminate more educational resources and build a business around supporting clients long term, not just on a transactional basis. Therefore, being recognised for both best customer service and brokerage under five staff is truly a testament to the value our clients feel this brings.”
Read more: Australian Mortgage Awards 2022 – Excellence Awardees revealed
Clark said it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many friends, brokers and business owners all performing at the top of their game at the AMAs.
“I have always been a strong believer in collaboration over competition and it is great to see how much the industry gets around each other. Both of these are team award wins, and I am so proud of my team. The Everlend team want to improve financial literacy and support its customers to work towards their long-term goals so Mandy, Maddie and Marry Joe deserve the recognition as much as myself.”
Christian Stevens (pictured below), from Shore Financial in North Sydney won Equity-One Broker of the Year – Productivity on the night.
“It makes me very proud to be named as the winner of broker of the year (productivity) at the 2022 AMAs. Productivity comes down to great process and doing it consistently to succeed as the number one broker in Australia,” he said.
“I have been able to double my settlement numbers every year since starting in this industry and that comes down to being productive with my time and building out my team, allowing me to focus on front-end business generating activities. Awards are great industry recognition for all the hard work and long hours that have gone in to getting me to where I am today.”
Stevens said it was great to see everyone in person again, with the room packed full of familiar faces and many new ones too.
“Industry award nights are always a great networking opportunity and it’s nice to catch up with other brokers – especially those from out of town,” he said.
“I’m already looking forward to next year’s event, it is always a very fun night.”
Stevens said nothing that he had achieved would be possible without Shore Financial.
“Thank you to Theo [CEO Theo Chambers] and Alex [managing director Alex Nochar] for taking a chance on me all those years ago and Alecia [operations manager Alecia Hodge] and Mel [office manager Melanie Guiroyan] for being so patient with me. Even though this is an individual award, I couldn’t have achieved this without the support of my team,” he said.
“Thank you to all the lenders and dedicated BDMs who spend hours each day assisting me with complex scenarios. Shout out to AFG, Salestrekker, Quickli and any other platforms we use to make our job easier. The last person who deserves a mention is my beautiful wife who has supported me from day one and has never complained once about me being on my phone far too much – she is the most important person in my life and the reason why I work so hard.”
Brenden Lowbridge (pictured below), from Money Links in Newcastle was a joint winner of the NextGen Broker of the Year – Regional, along with Jason Cuerel of Mortgage Innovations on the Gold Coast.
Lowbridge said it was a privilege to serve clients in his local community and to be recognised for the work that Money Links does as a team.
“I am a very proud and passionate Novocastrian, so I love that in a small way this achievement recognises the great city of Newcastle and the growth we are experiencing,” he said.
“It was a full house on the night and the energy in the room was epic. Full credit to everyone involved in putting the night together, it is not easy to organise events of this calibre for crowds that size and would like to thank the whole Money Links team who are dedicated and are constantly striving for excellence. This award may be listed in the ‘individual’ category, but it is absolutely a team award and we will be celebrating it together accordingly.”
Nick Atanasovksi (pictured below), of Cronulla-based Turnkey Finance won Adelaide Bank Young Gun of the Year.
Atanasovksi said when launching Turnkey Finance, he had set himself a few goals.
“One of them was to win Young Gun of the Year at the 2022 AMAs, so being nominated and going on to win this amazing award amongst the other eight worthy candidates is an outstanding feeling of pride, gratitude and humility,” he said.
“It validates the direction of my business and the work my team and I put in to ensure our clients are as happy and supported as they can be.”
Atanasovksi said the 2022 AMAs were fantastic.
“It was an electric atmosphere and so good to see industry colleagues all dressed up and having a great night. Ed Kavalee was great as MC and we also loved the live music after the formalities were done,” he said.
“I’m grateful for my hardworking team at Turnkey Finance who are passionate about establishing a strong foundation with and going on to support our clients throughout their financial journeys. Behind every successful man stands an even more incredible woman and without my wife being an absolute pillar of support and taking care of everything when it comes to our daughters and family life, I wouldn’t be able to focus on my career in the way that I do.”
