Providence Formal Investment Committee
Steven Crane
Steven has over 50 years of investment experience, having started in financial markets in the early 1970s. He has held such positions as Senior Portfolio Manager and member of the Asset Allocation Committee at AMP. For seven years he was the Chief Executive of ABN Amro. His current directorships include APA Group, Bank of Queensland and Shopping Centres Australia (SCP).
Chris Grubb
Chris has over 50 years experience in senior fund management and broking positions within the Jardine Fleming Group in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. He was also a Director of Jardine Fleming Ord Minnett and Chairman of Investor’s Mutual and Investor Web and is currently a Director of several Asian-focused investment funds. He also chairs Boardroom Australia.
Stephen Roberts
Stephen has over 50 years of experience as an economist and financial markets strategist in banking, broking, and funds management. He has worked as Chief Economist with Equitilink and UBS. He worked on the Secretariat of the Australian Financial System Inquiry (Campbell Committee) in 1980, helping draft recommendations that led to the deregulation of the Australian financial system. He is an honours graduate in Monetary Economics from the London School of Economics.
Peter Hooker
Peter has over 40 years’ experience in investment markets including Industrial Analyst at BZW Australia, and Director reporting to Head of Research. He was on the Equities Executive Committee and Director and Head of Industrial Research. Peter has served as Treasurer of Médecins sans Frontières Australia and as a member of the Psychology Board of Australia. Peter also consults as a business mentor. He has a B.Sc. in Chemistry, B.E. (Honours) in Chemical and Materials Engineering, and Graduate Diploma in Finance and Investment.
Jonathan Pain
Jonathan has 40 years of international investment experience. He has held such positions as Chief Investment Strategist of HFA Asset Management, Chief Investment Officer of Rothschild Australia Asset Management, Head of Investments at Gulf International Bank in Bahrain and Chair of the International Asset Allocation Committee at Paribas Asset Management in London. He holds a joint honours degree in Economics and Politics from Keele University and a Master’s degree in the Economics of Finance and Investment from Exeter University.
Ian Wenham
Ian has over 40 years of experience in equity research, investment strategy and portfolio management. He has held such positions as Equity Analyst with Meares and Philips and Research Director of BZW Australia covering equity strategy and industrial research. He was also Regional Research Director with BZW Asia and Director of Asian Research at Lehman Brothers Asia where he chaired the Investment Policy Committee and was the firm’s supervisory Analyst for the Asia-Pacific Region. He has also managed strategic global equity investments for the Lowy Family Private Fund. He currently heads his own investment firm.
Marc Wait
Marc is the Chief Investment Officer for Providence and has been a member of the Investment Committee since 2019. Marc has over 30 years of investment experience across multiple asset classes in London, Abu Dhabi, and Sydney. He began his career in Sydney with HSBC and Citigroup Global Asset Management (CGAM) managing Fixed Income, Currency, and Money Market portfolios. Marc moved to London in 1999 with CGAM as a Portfolio Manager managing fixed income and asset allocation funds. At Fidelity International in London, Marc was the Group Leader, Short Dated Bonds, chaired the firm’s Fixed Income Asset Allocation meetings and contributed to the firm’s asset allocation process. Marc moved to Abu Dhabi to become the Head of Treasury at the Sovereign Wealth Fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The role of Treasurer involved directly running portfolios, manager selection, involvement across all the asset classes and being a member of ADIA’s Chief Investment Officers’ forum. Marc has a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics (Hons) from the University of Sydney, is a CFA, a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, and a GAICD.
James Smith
James has over twenty-five years of investment market experience. Prior to joining Providence in 2015, he held the position of Deputy Head of Domestic Sales at CIMB Securities (Australia) and was a member of the CIMB Equities (Australia) Management Committee. He has also held positions as Director -Sales at Royal Bank of Scotland, ABN AMRO and Sales at Deutsche Bank. James also sits on the Investment Committee at Benetas as an external adviser.
Michael Ogg
Grant Patterson
Grant is the CEO of Providence, one of Australia’s first boutique investment advisory firms established in 2000 with a client-first philosophy. With over 35 years of experience in investment markets, Grant has held senior roles including Director of ABN Amro, Head of Retail Broking, and Head of the Sydney Institutional Dealing Desk. He is highly regarded for his expertise in wealth succession planning, guiding families through the complexities of intergenerational wealth transfer. Beyond Providence, Grant is an Ambassador for the ASX Refinitiv Charity Foundation and The Duke of Edinburgh Award, a Mentor with RAISE and Chair of the Providence Philanthropic Foundation.
Justine Morton
Justine has over 30 years of investment and finance experience both in Australia and internationally. A significant part of Justine’s career has been spent trading for and researching hedge fund strategies. In London she worked with Credit Suisse, then Lehman Brothers and the Cargill family. Upon returning to Australia, she founded Finsbury Capital Advisers, raising capital for some of the world’s largest hedge fund managers. As a Senior Investment Adviser with Providence, Justine works closely with a range of wealthy families and not for profit clients, ensuring that their investment portfolios reflect their unique circumstances, values and purpose. In keeping with the team structure at Providence, Justine is an active member of the investment committee and contributes to due diligence in alternative strategies. A strong believer in responsible investing, commercially sensible ESG processes and good governance, Justine developed the current ESG strategy for Providence. Justine is also a member of the AICD and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.