ALI Group's Broker of the Year
ALI Group’s 7th annual Broker of the Year awards, originally established in 2014, are back to recognise and celebrate the top brokers around the nation and to commend them for not only being dedicated to protecting Australian home and property buyers with loan and mortgage protection, but excelling overall in their specific state.
This year, ALI have changed the awards to reflect a Broker of the Year winner from each state and removed the national winner title. There has also been a new award introduced, known as the ‘Emerging Broker’ award, which highlights the top performing brokers of each state, who are newly authorised with ALI.
ALI believe it’s time to put some positive and light news out into the airways so we have decided to formally announce and celebrate, albeit digitally, our nationwide winners for both Broker of the Year and Emerging Brokers.
ALI CEO, Huy Truong says,
“ALI’s mission is first and foremost to protect Australian home and property buyers from financial hardship and together, with our industry partners, aggregators and our nationwide network of authorised brokers, we continue to achieve this each day. We are able to make a difference in the lives of thousands of Australians, whether it be by providing peace of mind of having a plan in place in the case of something unfortunate happening or paying a claim to someone whom could be going through one the hardest time of their lives and it’s made possible because of our authorised brokers who make their clients protection an integral part of their process. The Broker of the Year awards and the Emerging Broker awards are a great time to recognise the top brokers from each state and to celebrate their achievements.”
So, without further ado and on behalf of the whole team at ALI Group, we’d like to say a huge congratulations to the following winners:
QLD
Broker of the Year: Max Direen and the team at the Aussie Mackay Store
Max and his team at Aussie Mackay are great advocates of the risk conversation for each of their clients. All five of the brokers within the store consistently provide education around the benefits of Mortgage Protection Plan and the importance of gaining a decision. Over the years they’ve witnessed the positive impact that insurance has had on clients in their community.
In 2019, Max, his wife Kay and their team at Aussie Mackay won the prestige award of Best Regional Office 2019 at the Better Business Awards. Read more,here.
We caught up with Max recently to find out more about the Man behind the desk. You can read his feature broker profile,here.
Emerging broker: Nathan Vecchio, Principal of Hunter Galloway
Nathan Vecchio and the Hunter Galloway team have an amazing business which is particularly strong in the first home buyer market. Nathan believes in doing the right thing by the client, in fact his ethos to running his business is simply “clients come first”. This extends into ensuring all clients of Hunter Galloway are informed about the risks of entering a large debt and how they may protect themselves against those risks. Nathan has an incredible relationship with his clients, which is built on a genuine care and having their best interests at heart. For Nathan and the team at Hunter Galloway, their journey with clients is long term and doesn’t end when the finance is approved and like loan protection, they will be there for their clients should they ever need.
NSW/ACT
Broker of the Year: Chris WolterofYour Priority Home Loans.
Chris epitomises what it means to be an authorised mortgage broker. Not only has Chris embedded Loan Protection Plan seamlessly within his loan process, he makes sure his service goes beyond the transaction of getting a mortgage, encouraging every client to make an educated decision about their protection needs. Chris recently had one of his clients make a claim and because they were so impressed with the claims experience and thankful Chris had given them the option to cover themselves, they wrote an incredible testimonial, which you can read here:
Derek's Claim Story
To date, Chris has protected over 120 clients with Loan Protection Plan and is believed among his peers and the team at ALI to be a deserved winner of NSW Broker of the Year.
You can read more about the man from Tamworth and how his career took him from working in a local Tamworth radio station to servicing clients as a mortgage broker all over the country. Read Chris’ feature broker profilehere.
Emerging Broker: Dipal Patel of Aussie Home Loans
Dipal is a new broker having recently ventured into the industry as a Principal at Aussie Seven Hills. She has embraced loan protection in her business and implemented it into her process because she understands the importance of protection for both her clients and her business. Dipal ensures she has a meaningful conversation with each one of her clients about the risks of entering a large debt and why it’s important they make an informative decision about their protection needs. Dipal, who has a genuine care for people, always does the right thing for her clients, keeping their best interests at heart and always putting their needs first. A wonderful new broker to the industry, one we are proud to have authorised with ALI.
SA/NT
Broker of the Year: Leah BusbyofBlackfish Finance.
Leah’s solid process and commitment to her customers is exactly why she has protected over 600 lives with ALI’s Loan Protection Plan. Not only is Leah a wonderful advocate of why protection is so important for Australian home and property buyers, but she is an amazing mentor to many in the industry. We were lucky enough to interview Leah for a featured broker profile, you can read it hereto learn more about the woman behind Blackfish Finance.
Emerging Broker: Rachel Slekenics of Low Rate Home Loans
Rachel, whilst only authorised with ALI for under two years, has been in the industry for over 14 years now. From the moment Rachel became authorised with ALI, she hit the ground running to protect her clients from financial hardship. Always having her clients’ best interests at heart and never hesitating to reach out to her dedicated BDM Fiona Gray for help, Rachel has been a fantastic example for other brokers coming on board with ALI.
WA
Broker of the Year: Richard Wrightof V Home Loans
Richard, who has seen both sides of the fence when it comes to having protection and not having protection in place, is an enthusiastic believer in why discussing protection with clients is so important. Recently, Richard has protected his 155th client from financial hardship with a Loan Protection Plan. Early in his journey with ALI, Richard was finding more “no’s” than “yes’s”, which genuinely concerned him for his clients, who were predominately first home buyer’s. Working diligently with his dedicated ALI BDM, Leah Hutchings, Richard implemented a new process and changed the way he approached the protection discussion. You can read more about Richard and hear from the man himself in his broker profile feature and video, byclicking here.
Emerging Broker: Sergio Coelho of Movement Finance
Sergio has been a broker for about three years and began his career when the industry was amidst challenging times. Last year, Sergio and his BDM Alexis Halsted sat down together to discuss ways to incorporate LPP into his business. From the very start, Sergio was determined to get his process right for his clients. In the second half of 2019, Sergio protected over 30 lives with Loan Protection Plan and has since surpassed the 50 lives milestone.
VIC/TAS
Broker of the Year: Warren Freemanof COSIMFREE Home Loans
Warren Freeman has been on board with ALI since 2006 and in that time has remained a consistent and firm believer in protecting his clients. Both a great mentor and leader, Warren is a strong advocate within his team and his business as to why loan protection is important. Warren has protected over 226 of his clients from potential financial hardship. Warren, unlike many brokers, did not come from a financial background, in fact he was a school teacher for many years before changing careers. Warren’s story is incredibly interesting and if you’d like to read more about Warren, you can do so in his special broker profile feature,here.
Emerging Broker: Jessica Pablo of Aussie Home Loans
Jessica’s passion for ensuring her clients have some level of protection in place is second to none. With only two years of tenure under her belt as a mortgage broker, Jessica has protected over 35 clients with loan protection. Jessica’s diligence makes her a great advocate for brokers both new to the industry and new to being authorised with ALI.
To celebrate the winners, ALI hosted events around Australia in March however were unfortunately only brought to fruition in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria before the COVID-19 restrictions put the rest of our events on hold, for now.
You can read our special blogs on how wonderful those events were, by clicking on each state:
Western Australia
South Australia
Victoria
Congratulations to all the winners. Stay tuned for our Emerging Broker series, coming soon!
Best wishes,
Huy Truong - ALI Group CEO
