(Pictured: Greg O’Neill)

The annual La Trobe Financial/Fund Executives Association Ltd CIO and COO Awards will be announced at a cocktail party in Melbourne on December 2. Three finalists in each category will be recognized, along with the ultimate winners of each.

This is the first year that the awards, instigated and formerly produced by La Trobe Financial, are being presented under the FEAL umbrella. The two winners each receive a $10,000 cash prize to go to an educational purpose of their own choosing.

Under the previously announced agreement between La Trobe and FEAL, La Trobe has become the major sponsor of the awards for a three-year period, allowing for the prize money and organisation of the event itself. FEAL takes over fully as of next year.

The finalists were decided earlier this month following an industry-wide nomination process. This year’s judging committee consisted of Greg Bright (chair), of Investor Strategy News, Neil Cochrane, FEAL chair, David Coogan of PwC, Jeff Bresnahan of SuperRatings, Chris Page of Rainmaker and Greg O’Neill, La Trobe’s president and CEO, who committed to the new arrangement earlier this year.

Guest speaker will be former Labor minister Greg Combet. MC is journalist and broadcaster Michael Pascoe. In previous years about 150 industry professionals attended the two-hour event, on the top floor of Melbourne’s Eureka Tower.

To register, go to website

or phone FEAL on (02) 9299 6648.