Sequoia announces another chairman change

The firm has appointed Mike Ryan as non-executive chairman, effective immediately.

This will be the firm’s third chairman in four months following the departure of John Larsen in April 2024 after five years, who was then replaced by Charles Sweeney.

Ryan’s previous experience includes six years at Shaw and Partners as head of equities, 12 years at Goldman Sachs/JBWere in London and Australia, and three years as executive director and head of distribution at Morgan Stanley.

Since 2022, he has held a variety of non-executive board roles including at a generative artificial intelligence firm called MyWave.AI.

“Sequoia is very pleased to have secured such a well-respected industry executive and is confident Mike will provide outstanding and visionary leadership and assist Sequoia in achieving its ambitious goals over the coming years,” the firm said in an ASX statement.

“He has a proven track record in strategic planning, organisational growth, and stakeholder engagement with impressive previous executive experience in leading financial services businesses in Australia and globally.”

In April, John Larsen stepped down as chair after five years and was replaced by Charles Sweeney.

Larsen initially remained at the firm as a non-executive director and chair of the audit committee but stepped down altogether in mid-May.

The board now consists of chief executive Garry Crole, Kevin Pattison, and Sweeney.

A shareholder dispute earlier this year sought to remove Crole and Pattison from the board and replace them with Peter Brook and Brent Jones. Jones has been the firm’s head of professional services since December 2017. Jones previously spent 15 years as managing director of InterPrac which was acquired by Sequoia in 2017. Brook has been the chair of Diverger – which was recently acquired by Count – since December 2021, having previously been chair of Xplore Wealth in 2019.

An extraordinary general meeting held in June saw shareholders vote in favour of retaining Crole and Pattison.

However, the licensee has since made changes to its business structure which will see the licensee move from having four reporting divisions to just two: licensee and adviser services, and legal and administration services.

It also announced that it will seek a successor for Crole to start in FY2026–27.