CAFBA founding president receives OAM

The Australia Day 2023 Honours list, released today (26 January) recognises 1,047 outstanding and inspirational Australians.

The Order of Australia honours is the principal means of recognising “outstanding members of the community” at a national level and comprises four levels: Companion of the Order (AC), Officer of the Order (AO), Member of the Order (AM), and Medal of the Order (OAM).

The Medal of the Order of Australia is awarded for service worthy of particular recognition. 

Mr Gandolfo has been named an OAM in recognition of his “service to the financial sector”, including his work advocating Australia’s commercial finance broking industry and finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) more generally.

Mr Gandolfo, who is the director of Melbourne-based commercial brokerage Quantum Business Finance, co-founded the broking association in 2008 with Terry Moody (currently the chair of education).

He was the association’s inaugural president and has since been president a further six times.

Mr Gandolfo is currently a CAFBA patron, its chair of advocacy, and an honorary life member.

In his various positions at the association, Mr Gandolfo has liaised with politicians and regulators to discuss the needs and concerns of small businesses and highlight the important role that finance brokers play in providing much-needed commercial and asset finance support for SMEs.

This included co-authoring a number of submissions to government on behalf of CAFBA including for the 2019 banking royal commission and the Productivity Commission’s report into Competition in the Australian Financial System to call for a clear distinction between consumer and small-business lending regulation.

He has also served as a director and deputy chair of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), an adviser to the Small Business Ministerial Advisory Council, and co-chaired the Reserve Bank’s Small Business Finance Summit in 2019.

The association congratulated Mr Gandolfo on his OAM, flagging that his “unwavering commitment to CAFBA and its values has been a major driver of CAFBA’s success, particularly in the association’s work in advocating for commercial finance’s self-regulating framework”. 

CAFBA chief executive David Gill commented: “David has made an enormous contribution as an advocate for small business and to commercial finance over the past 25 years, much of it in a voluntary capacity.

“This award is a worthy acknowledgement of this life of achievement and influencing real change.” 

Speaking of his OAM, Mr Gandolfo told The Adviser: “I’m incredibly humbled by this award… 

“I never did this for the recognition, but the OAM is a great honour and validation of the work we’ve done. Because there’s nothing I’ve done without the phenomenal support of CAFBA, and people like David Gill, Terry Moody, Kathryn Bordonaro, and Matthew Atkin. 

“So, this is recognition of a collective effort,” also thanking the patience of his family and his colleagues at Quantum Business Finance, who “have put up with a lot of absences over the years”.

“I’m passionate about this industry and I’m just as energised now as I’ve ever been to work for outcomes for commercial brokers and their clients.”

Speaking of the 1,047 Australians who were honoured in this year’s list, the Governor-General David Hurley said: “Congratulations to the outstanding Australians recognised in today’s Honours List. The recipients have had a significant impact at the local, national and international level and are, quite simply, inspiring.

“They go above and beyond, are from all over the country, and contribute every day in every way imaginable. These are the people who see us through good times and bad. They’re the first to show up and the last to leave.

“They’re almost always humble to a fault but I urge recipients, for today, to put aside that humility — it’s important they know how much they are valued.”

There are 736 awards in the general division of the Order of Australia with 48 per cent for women and 45 per cent for service to local communities.

“It is encouraging to see an increase in diversity in the Order of Australia. Each recipient has something in common — someone nominated them. The Order belongs to each of us and we each have a part to play. The only way a person can be recognised is for someone to nominate them,” he said.

The CAFBA co-founder has become the latest member of the broking industry to be appointed to the Australian honours system. In 2019, the managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), Peter White, was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

[Related: Asset finance accreditation the next ‘battleground’: CAFBA]