Raiz Invest announces board changes with founder George Lucas to leave

Raiz Invest have announced that George Lucas, current Managing Director and Joint Group CEO (International), will be leaving the organisation, at the end of December 2022.

George Lucas founded Raiz based on his foresight in recognising an opportunity to provide online wealth accumulation products to small investors via the Acorns platform. Acorns, a specialist micro-investment company launched in the US in 2012, was recognised by Lucas in 2014 as an innovative opportunity to bring micro-investing to the Australian market.

Lucas’ initiatives include establishing Raiz and leading the company through significant growth and expansion, now operating with over $1 billion in assets currently under management, and over 1.5m investment accounts.

Lucas said, “Founding and building Raiz has been my most rewarding challenge. I’m proud of having helped over 1 million people learn more about savings and investments. I am excited about the future for Raiz, especially the renewed focus on educating the next generation on building financial security.”

Chair, Harvey Kalman stated, “I am going to miss having George’s unique perspective and my directors and I are indebted to George’s intuition and spirit of entrepreneurship, leading to the identification and successful execution of a market opportunity that has provided a wealth management pathway to our investors, allowing them to access markets and savings opportunities previously unavailable to them”.

Effective immediately, Raiz have announced that Brendan Malone, currently Joint Group CEO (Australia) will take on the role of Managing Director and CEO and will assume responsibility for all Raiz offices.

Kalman added, “Brendan has been an integral part of the business since joining as the first employee of the organisation in 2015. He brings a passion for our customers and our people, as well as an intimate knowledge and understanding of our business. The Board is confident that Brendan is well equipped and committed to leading the next stage of growth for the Company.”

Raiz noted that it’s also making changes to its composition, with Harvey Kalman stepping down from the role of Chair.

“It has been a privilege to Chair the Board of Raiz over the past twelve months, steering it through one of the most tumultuous periods in the organisation’s history. The organisation is moving into a new strategic era, and I believe this is a good time to allow fresh leadership in the Chair and CEO roles to take the business forward. I am pleased to announce that Stuart Grimshaw, our current Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee will step into the role of Chair. I will continue to serve the Board as a non-executive director and look forward to being part of the organisation’s exciting future,” Kalman stated.