Our Ombudsmen
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Katy Adams, Ombudsman Katy was appointed as an Ombudsman, Panel Chair and Adjudicator in May 2010. Katy graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the London School of Economics, and completed her articles with Clifford Chance, in London and Hong Kong, before working as a solicitor at Clifford Chance in the tax and pensions department. Following a year travelling in Australia and New Zealand, she returned to England to lecture at the College of Law, where she taught tax, wills and probate, and business law. In 1994 Katy emigrated to Australia, and since then has worked in private practice, as in-house counsel for superannuation fund administrators, and as a senior lawyer at ASIC, including as a superannuation specialist in the regulatory policy branch during the introduction of the financial services reform legislation. Since 1997, Katy has been a member of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. In 2007 she was appointed to the role of Tribunal Legal Counsel, after acting in that position for two years. From September 2007 to September 2009, she was the Tribunal’s Acting Deputy Chairperson. Michael Arnold, Ombudsman Michael has been a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria since 1966 and was admitted as an Attorney, Solicitor and Proctor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1976. He was a foundation partner of Melbourne firm Arnold Thomas & Becker (Solicitors) in 1968. Michael was a Member of the Victorian Parliament between 1982 and 1988 and a Judge of the Victorian Accident Compensation Tribunal between 1990 and 1992. He was the National Referee, Alternate Panel Chair and Adjudicator with the Insurance Ombudsman Service between June 1996 and November 2003. He then was National Panel Chair at the Financial Industry Complaints Service from November 2003 to June 2008. He has been National Panel Chair and Ombudsman at FOS since July 2008. Ron Beazley, Ombudsman Ron was the Victorian Government Solicitor from May 1991 until his retirement in May 2000; he served under the Kirner, Kennett and Bracks governments, during a decade of unprecedented change in all aspects of public life. Prior to his appointment as Government Solicitor, Ron had been Senior Partner, Litigation, in the Melbourne office of the national law firm Sly & Weigall (now Norton Rose) for 15 years. Before that he ran his own legal practice in Wangaratta. Ron was admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1961. Ron was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Law Institute of Victoria in 1996. He was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management in 1999 and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration (Vic.) in 2002. In May 2000 he was the inaugural recipient of the Chief Justice's Medal for distinguished service to the law and the community. Ian Dunn, Ombudsman Ian was a partner in a city law firm handling, principally, insurance litigation, from 1967 to 1996, when he was appointed CEO of the Law Institute of Victoria. After resigning from that position in 2002, he served from 2004 as Chair of the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation (VCGR). In that role he presided over many hearings about disciplinary matters and public inquiries about the awarding of new or additional licences for poker machines. He stepped down from that role in 2009. Before his term at the Law Institute, Ian had qualified as a mediator and he has conducted many mediations in Supreme Court and County Court matters, again, principally, in insurance-related matters. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at La Trobe University. Denny Meadows, Ombudsman Denny was appointed as an Ombudsman at FOS in May 2010 and has been an Adjudicator since December 2008. Before that, he was National Operations Manager of the Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS), a position he held since October 2002. Denny has 30 years experience as a lawyer. Over the 15 years prior to joining FICS, he was a member of a number of different government tribunals – the Social Securities Appeals Tribunal, the Mental Health Review Board, the Veterans Review Board and the Victorian Legal Aid Panel of Independent Reviewers, which he chaired. Denny has also worked in private practice as both a solicitor and a barrister and in government positions, including as a legal officer with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Christine McCarthy, Ombudsman Christine has over 30 years experience in the insurance industry and in legal practice. Before her appointment as an Ombudsman, Christine had been an Adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman Service (and one of its predecessor schemes, the Insurance Ombudsman Service) since 2007. For the last ten years, Christine has also been a Senior Legal Counsel at WorkSafe, working in a specialised team that manages all the common law litigation in all jurisdictions in Victoria. Christine is also an accredited mediator and has a Masters of Law from Melbourne University, specialising in insurance law. Don O'Halloran, Ombudsman Don was appointed as an Ombudsman at FOS in July 2010. Prior to coming to FOS, he was a full-time Member at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). During his four years at VCAT, he sat in the Civil, Occupation and Business Regulation and Guardianship lists. Before working at VCAT, he was a specialist insurance litigation partner in a large Melbourne legal firm for 21 years. Don has a Masters of Law from the University of Melbourne and he is the former Legal Member of the Chiropractors Regulation Board and former Treasurer of Headway Victoria. Dick Viney, Ombudsman Prior to the establishment of FOS, Dick had over ten years experience as Panel Chair and Adjudicator in the General Insurance Disputes and Life Insurance, Investment and Superannuation Disputes areas of the Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS). In 2001 he conducted the first Independent Review of the Code of Banking Practice, which resulted in a total recast of that Code. Before this he worked as a consultant to the Banking and Finance Group at Mallesons Stephen Jaques and between 1995 and 1999 he was a Director of the Australian Financial Institutions Commission, which regulated non-bank financial institutions. Dick has been closely involved in the development and implementation of consumer credit law reforms, in particular the Credit Acts 1984 for Victoria, NSW and other jurisdictions and then the Uniform Consumer Credit Code 1994. Dick is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Courts of Victoria and Western Australia. Marita Wall, Ombudsman Marita has practised law for over 25 years, primarily in the area of financial services. Before being appointed as an Ombudsman, Marita worked as a barrister, in various roles with the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (including Acting Chairperson, Acting Deputy Chairperson, inaugural member and legal counsel) and as a solicitor. She holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne, specialising in superannuation law. She continues to guest lecture in the University of Melbourne’s Master of Laws program. Marita has also been active in policy-making, having made submissions to government and appeared before various review committees, including the Super System Review, the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Collective Investments Review, the Attorney-General’s Department, Treasury and the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation. |