Management
Team.
Vision and leadership to take Helia to new heights.
Management
Team.
Vision and leadership to take Helia to new heights.
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Our senior executives are committed to serving our partners by helping them to grow, now and in the future.
Meet our management team providing strong leadership at Helia.
We recognise that everyone's journey to home ownership is unique. Our commitment is to continuously explore pathways to home ownership and bring the dream of home ownership sooner to more Australians.
Our executives value excellence, integrity, service and innovation.
Reach new heights. We're Helia.
Meet our management team providing strong leadership at Helia.
We recognise that everyone's journey to home ownership is unique. Our commitment is to continuously explore pathways to home ownership and bring the dream of home ownership sooner to more Australians.
Our executives value excellence, integrity, service and innovation.
Reach new heights. We're Helia.
Pauline Blight-Johnston
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Pauline joined Helia as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director on 2 March 2020.
Qualifications and experience: Pauline has over 30 years experience in wealth management, financial services and insurance in Australia, New Zealand and globally.
Prior to joining Helia, Pauline held senior leadership and strategic roles in Challenger, AMP and RGA Reinsurance Company. She has also served as Chief Financial Officer and Appointed Actuary of Asteron Life, and consulted to the insurance and wealth management industry at KPMG and Tillinghast-Towers Perrin.
An active industry participant, Pauline has served on the boards of the Institute of Actuaries, the Financial Services Council and the Australian Institute of Insurance and Finance, as well as been a member of and chairing committees of these bodies.
Pauline is a Senior Fellow of Finsia and a Fellow of each of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, the New Zealand Society of Actuaries, the Actuarial Society of South Africa, the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance & Finance and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). She also holds a Master of Economics degree from Macquarie University.
Michael Cant
Chief Financial Officer
Michael joined Helia as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in September 2021. Michael has over 30 years experience in the Australian financial services industry across insurance, wealth management and retail and business banking.
Prior to joining, Michael held a range of senior leadership roles at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), including heading the Retail Banking product function, leading CBAs Corporate Banking business, CFO for the Wealth Management and Insurance division, and General Manager of distribution for Colonial First State.
Michael also worked at specialist life insurer Australian Casualty & Life, where he held the roles of Managing Director and CFO.
Michael Cant is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, holds an Economics degree from Macquarie University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.
Andrew Cormack
Chief Risk Officer
Andy joined Helia as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in October 2015. Andy brings more than 25 years of executive experience to his role, holding the position of CRO in Australia and previously in London over the past 15 years.
He is passionate about delivering market leading risk practices and developing highly engaged teams to deliver the company's key strategic objectives and outcomes.
Before joining Helia, Andy worked in London for the leading mortgage insurance company in Europe, where he held several executive roles including most recently CRO. Prior to this, his roles included Senior Vice President (SVP) Commercial, SVP Product Development, Marketing and CFO.
Earlier in his career, Andy spent 10 years in accounting roles in London including working at JP Morgan, leading a team on emerging market fixed income derivatives. Prior to this, he worked in public accounting as a specialist auditor responsible for the Lloyds insurance markets.
Andy has a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University (UK) and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA)-(ICAEW).
Jeremy Francis
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Jeremy joined Helia as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in April 2021. With over 20 years experience in technology, banking and finance, Jeremy is passionate about delivering digital business strategies to create new opportunities for customers, drive new business growth, and deliver cultural, technology and operational change.
Prior to joining Helia, Jeremy was Chief Information Officer at Pepper Money where he was responsible for the digital transformation of Pepper’s mortgage, asset finance and servicing businesses.
Jeremy previously held senior leadership roles in financial services at Westpac, Lloyds Banking Group and Capital Finance across business and commercial banking, asset finance and consumer lending.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Information Technology from the University of Technology Sydney.
Lisa Griffin
Chief Strategic Development Officer
Lisa was appointed as Chief Strategic Development Officer in May 2024. Lisa joined Helia as Chief Commercial Officer, New Ventures in March 2021. Lisa has over 25 years of senior management, financial, customer and strategy experience in insurance, wealth management and banking in Australia.
Prior to joining, Lisa held senior roles in IAG, AMP and Suncorp leading some of the largest transformation programs in financial services and insurance. She has a track record for combining financial and strategic discipline with innovation and creativity to take businesses in new directions.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Business (Economics) from LaTrobe University, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Australian Graduate School of Management and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Nicole Lang
Chief People and Culture Officer
Nicole joined Helia in January 2021 as Chief People and Culture Officer. She is a global Human Resources (HR) executive with over 25 years experience in HR, organisational development, talent and learning across banking, insurance and telecommunications.
She has a proven track record in leading and executing on strategic and operational initiatives across multiple geographies. This includes business transformation, culture change, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and establishing new entities in both mature and emerging markets.
Prior to joining Helia, Nicole held a number of senior positions across Commonwealth Bank (CBA), most recently leading the HR function for the CBA's International Financial Services Business (based in Hong Kong) and was Company Director for a number of its offshore entities.
Nicole has a Masters in Business (International Human Resources) from Charles Stuart University, Graduate Diploma in Education from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of NSW. Nicole is a member of the AICD.
Greg McAweeney
Chief Commercial Officer
Greg joined Helia as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in August 2022. Greg has over 20 years experience in digital strategy, customer experience, strategic marketing, brand building and business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) sales leadership across financial services, telecommunications and insurance.
Prior to joining Helia, Greg held a range of senior leadership roles including CCO at HCF where he was responsible for brand and marketing, consumer and business sales distribution channels, digital and corporate affairs.
Greg held the position of General Manager Digital and Customer Experience at Vodafone where he was responsible for leading the digital ecommerce sales and service strategy. He spent 14 years with Rabobank where he started up and scaled digital banks in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Greg holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from University College Dublin and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Brady Weissel
General Counsel and Company Secretary
Brady was appointed as General Counsel and Company Secretary in July 2023. Brady joined Helia as a Corporate Counsel in July 2014 and was appointed Assistant Company Secretary in March 2016. Brady has over 13 years experience in corporate and commercial law, corporate governance, legal risk management and strategy, including through secondments to the Global Mortgage Insurance division of Genworth Financial, Inc. in 2018 and to the role of Strategy and Growth Leader at Helia in 2021-2022.
Prior to joining Helia, Brady was a lawyer at Ashurst acting on a range of corporate and commercial matters including private and public mergers and acquisitions, schemes of arrangement and takeovers, initial public offerings, equity raisings and joint ventures.
Brady holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).