Our Judges

Rex Afrasiabi is a director of New Chapter Legal and Bond Property Lawyers, commercial and property law firms dedicated to helping clients achieve success within the framework of the law. Rex’s career spans diverse legal and business roles, including General Manager and Legal Counsel for a major manufacturing distribution company, Senior Solicitor for high-profile entrepreneurs on the BRW 1000 List, and counsel for government bodies and charitable organizations.

Known for his business acumen, Rex expertly guides clients through complex commercial litigation, business negotiations, and strategic growth initiatives. His clientele includes real estate moguls and business leaders, where he has been instrumental in helping both startups and large enterprises reach their goals.

He also co-hosts the business advisory show “Real Estate Renovators,” bringing together industry experts to discuss growth and strategy. His expertise is widely recognized, with features in Forbes, Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and the Herald Sun, as well as appearances on numerous podcasts.

Outside of his professional pursuits, Rex values time with friends and family, especially with his two daughters, embracing the balance that family life brings to his career.

Sinthya, (CPA), Executive (MBA), is a Senior Financial Analyst at Qantas, where she looks after the Regional Workforce Division, providing critical financial insights, supporting and managing key commercial decisions and strategic planning across the wider business.

“The numbers don’t rule, they can inform, but it’s all about us as accountants inside companies having the deep understanding and skills to look at the past and present to help predict and shape the future.” She further leads multiple projects, protecting and serving the public interest by ensuring that investors and other stakeholders have materially accurate financial statements and other reliable information on which to base decisions.

Additionally, Sinthya is an Adjudicator for Australasian Reporting Awards, as well as a Judge for multiple Award shows across the Accounting industry, including Accountants Daily, Accounting Reporting Awards, Commercial Finance Awards, & Better Business Awards, recognizing individuals and organizations that have achieved outstanding accomplishments in the industry.

Also, Sinthya is a Board Member at MyQOL Incorporated Charity, and an appointed Committee Member for CPA Divisional Corporate Sector Comittee, further contributing to the Accounting Profession, Partner, and prepare members for today and tomorrow in a globally connected world.

Richard Brown brings a unique blend of strategic marketing and award-winning mortgage broking expertise to the REB judging panel. After a distinguished 20-year career in Advertising and Media, Richard transitioned to mortgage broking in 2023, where he has made an immediate and significant impact. Named The Adviser’s Australian New Broker of the Year in 2025, Richard has rapidly built a high-growth brokerage centered on exceptional client outcomes.

His experience working and partnering with real estate businesses across the industry has given him exposure to the best agents and operators. Richard is highly regarded for his dedication to first home buyers and seasoned investors alike, driven by a philosophy that clear communication and high-energy service are the benchmarks of industry excellence.

Lisa B has spent over 30 years in real estate. She has owned multiple offices, including franchises and independent offices, successfully building her own ​brands in numerous businesses.

Lisa is an accredited life coach and an NLP master practitioner
She has published 5 best-selling books and was also featured in the book Real Estate Millionaire.

Lisa founded The Real Estate Club, a complete training program for real estate agents of all levels.

She is also the founder of The Let’s Talk About Real Estate Podcast and Facebook group, and is a proud member of eXp Realty.

Jason is the Director of Broker Essentials and is Australia’s leading Mortgage Broker Mentor and sort after media commentator. In 2016 Jason foundered Broker Essentials and launched a training program for brokers after years of inquiries into the best practices and habits of a high-performance business.
Jason was named 2021 Mentor of the Year at The Adviser Better Business awards, 2021, APAC Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 - Financial Services, ABA 2020 Mentor of the year, and AMA 2020 Service provider of the year. He was the Managing Director of The Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC) and has been instrumental in taking ALIC to the forefront of the mortgage brokering industry. In 2014,15,16 and 2017 ALIC was voted the top independent brokerage of the year by Mortgage Professional Australia, Australia’s best brokerage in 2014 & 15 at the Australian Mortgage Awards and MFAA in 2016 and 2018.

Jason has over 30 years’ experience in the finance sector, having worked in senior sales, distribution and management roles for ANZ and having provided financial advice and services on behalf of financial planning, equity trading platforms, private banking, lending and retail distribution brands.

More details can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-back-broker-essentials/ and at Broker Essentials www.brokeressentials.com.au

Simon Clarke is the founder of Setlr and a devoted, client-focused buyer’s agent with over a decade of experience in real estate. His career began alongside property developers, but it was buying his own family home in Morningside with the help of a buyer’s agent that sparked his calling. He saw firsthand the value of having someone in your corner—and decided to dedicate his career to doing the same for others.

Helping people realise their property dreams is what drives Simon. Whether it’s securing a new family home or an investment that ticks all the boxes, he takes immense pride in delivering outcomes that matter. Known for his strong negotiation skills and long-standing relationships with agents, Simon consistently opens doors to off-market opportunities and creates advantages for his clients in a competitive market.

What truly sets Simon apart is his approach. In an industry often clouded by aggressive tactics, he is ethical, transparent, and approachable. His communication style builds trust, and his ability to negotiate with both strength and fairness is a breath of fresh air.

As a father of a young family, Simon understands the importance of the right home in the right location—particularly for clients relocating from interstate or overseas. This personal perspective, layered with professional expertise, makes him one of the most sought-after buyer’s agents in South East Queensland.

The strongest endorsement of Simon’s work is the repeat business and referrals he receives, with many past clients returning to upsize, downsize, or add to their portfolio.

Jess Densley is the founder of the Elite Agency Success System, a leading real estate consultancy group working with business owners and sales people to achieve peak performance in their business worldwide.

He has previously been a high performing real estate agent ranked in the top 2% of agents in Australia, inside the countries largest franchise group operating from a regional market place. Jess also has been a leading business owner who operated an awarding winning real estate business that was crowned the number one regional business a record 4 times across Victoria & Tasmania.

As well as being a leading sales coach, Jess also has credentials as an accredited level one (ICG) human behaviour coach working with corporate organisations on unlocking potential in their individuals and teams.

Adam Franklin is the author of Web Marketing That Works — an Amazon #1 best seller. He is a professional speaker, marketing coach and CEO of Bluewire Media. Accolades include being named Australia’s #1 business blog, #7 LinkedIn Expert in Asia Pacific and #9 on Entrepreneur magazine’s top marketing podcasts. Adam’s work has featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, The Australian, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Adam helps businesses win high-value clients via LinkedIn. He teaches 1000s of students via his online courses and coaching programs and his weekly ‘Bluewire News’ email goes out to over 35,000 business owners worldwide.

Neville Hurst is a senior lecturer in property studies at RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Although originally trained as an electrical engineer Neville has worked extensively in industry and for the last 40 years in the property sector as a practitioner and academic. His research interest focuses on real estate industry practices, valuation practices, housing markets and in particular energy efficient housing. Completing his Phd in 2019, Neville investigated real estate agent attitudes and engagement with energy efficient housing and is working with peak industry bodies to create greater awareness of the importance of sustainable housing to future cities.

Associate Professor Adrian Lee is a real estate researcher specialising in uncovering and utilising unconventional disaggregated data sources for real estate valuation. He is currently the leader of the Property and Real Estate Discipline Group at Deakin Business School and a core member of Deakin’s HOME Research Hub. He was an expert witness to the 2014 Australian Federal Government’s inquiry into foreign investors in residential real estate. He has won almost half a million in competitive government and industry research grants related to real estate including an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. His research on real estate has been published in top tier academic real estate journals including Management Science, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics and Housing Studies. His work has featured extensively in the media including in Domain, realestate.com.au and Sydney Morning Herald.

As Chief Economist of PRD Real Estate (PRD), Dr Diaswati (Asti) Mardiasmo leads a nation-wide (Australia) research team providing high-quality property, housing, and market research to PRD franchises and brings a multitude of expertise: economics, public policy, demographics, housing data, future projects and supply of housing, stakeholder engagement and management, and high-level data analysis.

Professor Rahat Munir is the Head of Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University. He is FCA, FCPA and PhD. Professor Munir is internationally acclaimed for his engagement with industry-driven curriculum and has been at the forefront of leading development and change initiatives. He is also forensic accounting specialist with financial crime investigative skills. He has pioneered innovative learning and teaching (L&T) practices, academic standards & accreditations. Her maintains strong ongoing relationships with external stakeholders, including professional associations, universities and communities - Universities in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe. He has served on the panel for Faculty/Course Reviews of various Universities in Australia and New Zealand. With his strong engagement with industry, he leads CFO Forum, Industry Academic Series, Thought Leadership and Business Leaders Roundtables. He has written over 100 peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, monographs and commissioned reports, and over 50 publications for professional and lay audiences. Although the bulk of his research focuses on management accounting and controls, he has also published in important cognate areas such as education, CSR, corporate governance, corporate culture and research expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Professor Munir has delivered scores of invited/keynote presentations, and his expert opinions has been featured in radio, television, newspapers, newsletters, and web outlets. He is affiliated with several professional bodies including the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Professional Risk Managers International Association, USA, American Accounting Association, British Accounting Association, Canadian Accounting Association and European Accounting Association. Professor Munir serves on various high-level Committees and Advisory Boards. Professor Munir’s sustained excellence in teaching and research has been recognised through international awards.

Andrew Phanartzis is the visionary Director of Property Association, Australia’s boutique consultancy for residential developers. Under his leadership, the firm delivers end-to-end expertise—from site acquisition and strategic planning through creative marketing, sales execution, and ongoing property management—helping clients transform land parcels into thriving communities.

With more than 15 years’ hands-on experience alongside some of the nation’s largest master-planned communities, apartment complexes and house-and-land subdivisions, Andrew has contributed to more than $2 billion in residential projects across the East coast of Australia. His strengths lie in anticipating market shifts, innovating sales strategies, and unlocking hidden value at every stage of the development lifecycle.

A licensed real-estate agent and FS146-qualified financial planner, Andrew holds a BA in Human Resource Management and English from the University of New South Wales. He is celebrated for his unwavering professionalism, unrelenting work ethic and a client-first mentality that consistently delivers above-market returns.

Peter Lynch is a leader in Professional Indemnity Insurance in the real estate, valuation and management right industry sectors.

He boasts over 30 years’ experience with Aon Risk Solutions and as the Client Manager is responsible for developing new business within the real estate sector including the identification of business opportunities with franchise groups and other stakeholders.

He took a significant role in providing advice and support to introduce a Real Estate specific indemnity insurance scheme and is responsible for the highly successful REIQ/REINT schemes which he coordinated with the assistance of industry, lawyers, underwriters and claims staff.

Peter has a strong interest in promoting safe and quality business practices in real estate and has been a regular contributor to course materials, presentations and editorial submissions. He has been called upon to be a guest speaker at training forums for the REIQ, REIA, REINT, REIWA and various franchise groups.

Peter also provides individual Risk Management training to a number of his Franchise Group clients.

Hayley Mitchell started in Real Estate in 1999 and has built a successful career working in all facets of Property Management including owning her own businesses. A fully licenced Estate Agent, Hayley has won numerous awards and accolades including REIV Property Manager of the year twice and was also named one of Elite Agents Top 50 Industry influencers in 2017, 2018 & 2019. She is passionate about improving the standards in the Industry and shares her knowledge with others through her training and Events Company – MitchellPT. This business provides training that is Innovative, relative, and useful.

Leanne Pilkington is Chief Executive Officer and Director of boutique real estate network Laing+Simmons. She is the current President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia and was the longest serving President of the Real Estate Institute of NSW. She is also a Trustee on the REISuper Board.

Leanne’s 40+ years’ experience covers the full spectrum of real estate services: sales, property management, retail and commercial leasing and management as well as property development. Being recognised in a range of awards such as Telstra and Optus Business awards and a number of industry Thought Leadership Awards, she is considered one of the industries most influential people.

Leanne continues pioneering industry firsts, including being founder of the Real Women in Real Estate network holding events around the country, improving diversity on the REI Board and champions the growth of industry professionalism. Leanne is a licensed real estate agent, has completed her Property Valuation qualifications, and holds a Masters in Business Administration.

Brett is a second-generation mortgage stalwart, having been actively involved in the Mortgage & Finance industry for over 30 years after starting his career working at the family-owned lender Interstar (now Advantedge). He then went onto to run the Stargate Group where he pioneered outsourced mortgage processing services by creating the first BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) operation for Mortgage Brokers and was instrumental in introducing the first Mortgage Broker CRM Systems in the early 2000’s, used by over 5000 mortgage brokers prior to its acquisition by then ASX listed Rubik Financial Limited (RFL).

Brett set about using AI to build supportive systems for mortgage participants, building the first Responsible Lending platform at Opica Group, and now as founder & CEO of Docuscan Australia he is building industry leading platforms for Brokers, Lenders and Mortgage Professionals using his vast experience in the latest AI technologies to Eliminate Data Entry using Drag & Drop Data Capture and Document Fraud Detection solutions to facilitate digital customer acquisitions.

Brett also serves on the Board of an advisory services firm, a responsible lending technology firm, a new to market fintech lender specialising in loans to Australia’s front-line responders and has been an investor and advisor to lenders, aggregators and regulators in Australia and abroad.