WA’s best brokers crowned at Better Business Awards 2021

Individual brokers, business development managers (BDMs), loan administrators and offices were celebrated over the course of the evening for their hard work and dedication to supporting their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a hat-trick for Winthrop-based brokerage Towner Finance last night.

Founder and managing director Michelle Towner was crowned the Best Residential Broker and the Broker of the Year at The Adviser’s Better Business Awards in Perth, while the company took home the award for Best Customer Service (Office) .

Meanwhile, PKF Perth Financial Services took home two awards at the Better Business Awards in WA, with senior mortgage broker Janine Leafe being championed as the state’s Rising Star, and the team as a whole winning the award for Best Independent Office (5 brokers or less).

Michael Harris, The Perth Mortgage Specialist, was honoured as the broker with Best Customer Service (Individual), with the judges recognising his “initiative and points of difference focused on customer service and outcomes”, as well as his dedication to an ongoing review process and “great use of innovation to clients”.

Sarcha Sagisaka from Success Finance Solutions took home the award for Best Finance Broker.

Loan Market broker Christine Dunkerton was named the state’s Best Regional Broker, for her work servicing clients in Avon Valley, Northam, York and surrounding suburbs, while Harley Radovan’s Bunbury-based brokerage, Focused on Finance, was celebrated as being the leading Regional Office for 2021.

In honour of her work training new brokers, Aussie’s Jacqui Bridger was awarded the title of Mentor of the Year last night. 

New brokers also triumphed at the awards, with Amy Ferguson from Inca Mortgage Solutions, being named as the Best Newcomer to the WA broking industry.

Burgeoning brokerage The Loan Company, run under the management of Simon Kahl, was recognised as the largest independent office, winning the Best Independent Office (more than 5 brokers) award.

In the office category for branded or franchise brokerages, the WA winner for Best Branded Office 2021 went to Nectar Mortgages (Darch), headed up by Beau Duggan.

In the Editor’s Choice award, editor Annie Kane this year awarded Leonie Stratton from Boutique Finance Perth as the recipient of the WA award, in recognition of her passion for the industry, her genuine care for her clients, and her work in helping women become financially independent.

BDMs, lenders and loan administrators celebrated

As well as highlighting the achievements of brokers, the Better Business Awards Queensland also commended business development managers (BDMs) and loan administrators for all they do behind the scenes to help their broker partners.

Vima Moorghen from Momentum Wealth took home the trophy for Best Loan Administrator this year.

In the BDM categories, Mitchell Mott from Macquarie was named the Best Lender BDM (Bank) while Stephen Davis from Pepper Money won the same award in the non-bank category for the second year in a row.

In the Best Aggregator BDM award, AFG’s partnerships manager Jia Jia Wong, was celebrated as being the best in the state.

The full list of Western Australia’s Better Business Awards winners is available now. 

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! 

Better Business Summit 2021

The Better Business Awards ceremony follows on from the Better Business Summit, which continues on to three states.

Themed ‘Better Connected’, over the course of the conference, brokers will hear inspiring stories of resilience and fortitude – with keynote speakers Saroo Brierly telling his incredible and moving story of reconnecting with his biological family in India (on which the movie Lion is based), and Thankyou founder Daniel Flynn demonstrating how perseverance and passion can effect change and turn the business-as-usual model on its head.

As well as providing inspirational and thought-leadership content, the summit is packed with professional development content.

The Adviser team will unveil exclusive findings from the Consumer Access to Mortgages Report session to showcase what borrowers want from the mortgage experience and how brokers can help achieve it.

Broker referral partners (estate agents, buyers agents and accountants) also reveal the key trends they’re seeing in the home buying journey in their local area, and what they most want from their brokers to maximise strategic partnerships.

The summit also includes a live recording of the Elite Broker podcast, to showcase how leading brokers navigated the path to success and what they think of the current market.

Business coach Stewart Bell, founder of Audere Coaching & Consulting, will delve into how brokers can master their workflow, capacity and energy in three key areas, giving brokers the best chance of staying out of the admin and being front-and-centre with clients.

The final session of the day will hear from performance and wellness coaches as they unpack techniques to help brokers connect with their wellbeing so that they can ensure they can outperform competition, engage their intuition, and detox their day for improved work/life balance and increased professional performance.

The Better Business Summit 2021 is a not-to-be-missed event and tickets are still available for the next events*, including Adelaide (17 June) and Sydney (24 June).

Make sure you don’t miss out by securing your place now! Tickets can be purchased here.

*Due to the continually changing situation in Victoria, the Better Business Summit in Melbourne has been postponed from its scheduled date of 3 June. Further details will be announced once confirmed.

[Related: Queensland’s best brokers named at Better Business Awards 2021]