New York alumni ambassadors

Deputy Chair, New York Alumni Ambassador Council

Director of Finance, SIFMA

UQ qualifications
Bachelor of Commerce 2005

Sophie is currently the Director of Finance for SIFMA. The Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) serves as a productive participant in the regulatory reform process. As the director of finance Sophie assists with the management of the financials and reporting for both SIFMA and their sister entity AFME, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

SIFMA brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers. These companies are engaged in communities across the country to raise capital for businesses, promote job creation and lead economic growth.

Sophie has completed her Chartered Accountancy in Australia while working for PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) in Brisbane as a Senior Consultant involved in the Private Clients division, managing financials and taxes for high net wealth individuals and small businesses. Sophie became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants while working at PwC in 2008.

Vice President - Diversified Industries, J.P. Morgan

UQ qualifications
Bachelor of Business Managament / Bachelor of Commerce 2009

Chris Cardell is currently Vice President, Diversified Industries at J.P. Morgan. Chris has been at J.P.Morgan since 2013, and previously held roles at Ernst & Young including Senior Executive for three years in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Chris was President of the UQ Business Association from 2008 to 2009. He has worked with PwC, BDO (Australia), and as a tutor at The University of Queensland.

Group Chief Operating Officer, Barclays

UQ qualifications
Bachelor of Commerce 1984,  Bachelor of Economics 1986

Paul Compton is the Group Chief Operating Officer of Barclays. In this role, Paul is responsible for leading the global Operations & Technology functions, driving the implementation of the structural reform and cost transformation programmes, and for the delivery of other major bank-wide projects. 

Prior to joining Barclays, Paul was the Chief Administrative Officer of JPMorgan Chase. Before being appointed in this role in 2013, Paul served as Co-Chief Administrative Officer for the Corporate & Investment Bank, Deputy Head of Operations for JPMorgan Chase, and head of the JPMorgan Chase Global Service Centre in India. Paul started his career at JPMorgan in 1997, and first led the overhaul of the wholesale bank’s credit risk infrastructure, before taking on the role as Chief Financial Officer for the Investment Bank.

Previous to JPMorgan Chase, Paul was a Principal at Ernst & Young having spent 10 years in its Brisbane, Australia and New York offices.

Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the American Red Cross of Greater New York. He has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland, Australia. He received post-graduate degrees from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Securities Institute of Australia.

Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Group Limited

UQ qualifications
Bachelor of Commerce 1994, Bachelor of Laws 1997

Matthew has more than 15 years of experience in finance and investment in Australia and internationally. Based in New York, He is a Senior Managing Director and North American Head of Lending at Macquarie Group Limited where he has been employed for the last 10 years, working in the firm's Sydney, London and New York offices.

Matthew currently oversees all lending and credit investment activities carried on by Macquarie Group's Corporate and Asset Finance business in the United States and Canada and has held that role since 2009. Since 2011, He has also served as a member of Macquarie Group's management committee in the United States. Mr Lancaster holds Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Queensland where he was awarded the University Medal.

Vice President, BlackRock

UQ qualifications
PhD 2013

Rand graduated from the University of Melbourne in Engineering (Mechatronics) and Computer Science and joined Honeywell’s graduate engineering program that transferred him to Brisbane during Queensland’s mining boom. During this time, Rand led engineering teams in the design and implementation of advanced energy and security management projects in the industry and commercial space, including GoMA, Queensland State Library, Mater Hospital and Brisbane Square.

Rand embarked on his PhD in finance at the UQ Business School, working on an ARC Industry Linkage project with Tactical Global Management on the application of copulas in portfolio management. He has published several academic publications in the areas of investment, trading strategies risk and portfolio management.
 
He received the Australia Award and was an Endeavour Research Fellow at NYU – Stern School of Business. Based on his expertise and skillsets in modelling dependence structures on financial assets, he received several offers from Wall St. Rand is currently Vice President at BlackRock and was previously Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Rand's advice to new graduates is "Focus on what you love doing, and do it well. Run your own race, and keep facing forwards."

In his leisure time, Rand enjoys marathon running, travelling, snowboarding and road-biking.