Fintech Australia starts recruitment for new CEO as Danielle Szetho announces resignation

After nearly two years driving the rapid growth of Australias fintech industry, Danielle Szetho today announced her resignation as CEO of FinTech Australia.

FinTech Australia has now begun the search for a new CEO, while at the same time appointing Sarah Worboys as interim CEO from 19 March while the recruitment process is underway.

It has been an honour and a privilege to have served Australias fintech industry as its inaugural industry association CEO, and to have been part of its founding journey and establishment as a real force for positive policy change and industry growth, Ms Szetho said.

With the support of the board, our team and our incredible community, we have turned FinTech Australia from being little more than an ambitious idea to an industry association that has successfully driven the fintech agenda across the nation, resulting in real, positive change in areas such as Crowdfunding, Digital Currency regulation and Open Data.

We started with 52 founding members - today we have well over 200, with strong connections across a broad range of regulators and policy makers. Weve also built a strong international network to support our fintech communitys expansion and growth.

I have enjoyed every minute Ive spent understanding our members challenges and arguing our case to government, and Im proud of what our tiny team has delivered to promote and connect the fintech community through our Intersekt fintech festival and the Finnie awards.

"It is now time to hand over the organisation to a new CEO as the sector matures and the organisation scales to the next stage of growth.Im looking forward to having a good rest and time off to travel before I delve into the next stage of my career, and Ill be working with our Policy leads and Board in the next few weeks to ensure they are supported through the transition until the new CEO can take the reins.

FinTech Australia chair Stuart Stoyan thanked Ms Szetho for her outstanding and dedicated service to Australias fintech community, after being appointed as CEO of FinTech Australia in June 2016.

For the last 20 months, Danielle has been the heart and soul of Australias fintech community. Danielles energy and passion has been central to Australia developing into one of the worlds leading fintech ecosystems, Mr Stoyan said.

With the support of a small team she has delivered incredible outcomes, including Australias first national fintech festival and industry-backed awards and a range of major policy wins for our members.

Danielles departure is our loss and I wish her all the best in the next stage of her career.

Mr Stoyan said he was very pleased to see that Sarah Worboys has agreed to be the interim CEO while a search began for a permanent CEO.

We are in the market for a candidate that can drive our ambitious program to take the Australian fintech market to the next level, he said. This is a great leadership opportunity in what is Australias largest and arguably most exciting startup sector.

A chartered accountant by profession, Sarah was until recently the head of strategy and operations at Melbourne-based peer-to-peer invoice financier Timelio.

Sarah has also been a key player driving increased female participation in the Victorian startup community. She built a community of over 1,000 women entrepreneurs through Ladies of York (launched originally from the York Butter Factory), which merged with the Startup Victoria Female Founders committee.

I thank FinTech Australia for the opportunity to guide its operations while it undertakes recruitment for the CEO role, Ms Worboys said.

Applications for the position of CEO are open until Friday, 23 March. The job description and further information on the CEO role can be found here.

About FinTech Australia's policy achievements under Danielle SzethoOver the last two years under the leadership of Ms Szetho and its Board, FinTech Australia has worked with policy makers and regulators to deliver major policy outcomes for Australias fintech community, such as:

• The creation of an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulatory sandbox;
• Bringing equity crowdfunding to Australia;
• Removing the double-taxing of goods and services tax for digital currencies, and bringing digital currency exchanges under Australias anti-money laundering regime;
• Reducing the barriers to entry for the establishment of new digital challenger banks;
• Establishing the consumer data right which paves the way for an open banking regime in Australia; and
• Establishing steps toward a self-regulatory framework for the unsecured small business fintech lending industry.