Melbourne United
Board and Shareholders

Mike Symons - Chairperson

Mike’s corporate advisory experience is vast and spans many complex acquisitions, divestments, capital raisings, mergers and strategic advice to both public and private corporations. Mike has particularly deep industry and transactional expertise in transport/logistics and other key sectors. Prior to co-founding Canterbury Partners with Simon Jones in 2003, Mike was an Associate Director of NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) private equity business from 1998 to 2002. Before that Mike was Senior Manager at Arthur Andersen, where his area of expertise was corporate recovery and turnaround consulting, developed over 9 years’ employment with Arthur Andersen.

Having spent eight years as Chair of the Melbourne Racing Club, as well as other long-term involvements in boards across various industries, Mike joins Melbourne United as Chairperson of the Board. Mike is also committed to using his wide range of relationships across Melbourne's corporate landscape to help promote and champion diversity and inclusion.

Simon Hupfeld - Board Member

Simon Hupfeld is the CEO of The AMES Companies in Australasia and Europe, one of the world’s largest suppliers to the garden and hardware industries, and a division of Griffon Corporation.  Simon joined AMES after Griffon acquired Northcote Pottery, where he was part-owner and CEO, from 2003 - 2013. Simon was a keen junior basketball player and has rediscovered his passion for the game through attending the Melbourne United games with his wife Renae, and daughters Halle, Madeline and Evie.  Through his ownership in the Melbourne United franchise, Simon is looking forward to making a contribution to the exciting growth of the NBL and basketball in Australia and New Zealand. 

Larry Kestelman - Board Member

Larry Kestelman is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur whose limitless enthusiasm for business has bred a winning culture throughout the expanding portfolio of companies over which he presides. His passion for business has reached the sporting world in the form of ownership of the Melbourne United Basketball team. Having supported the club for more than two decades, he has helped achieve escalating membership numbers and been instrumental in taking the game to bigger venues in front of capacity crowds.  

Michael Schnieder - Board Member

Michael was appointed Managing Director, Bunnings Group in May 2017 following his appointment as Managing Director, Bunnings Australia & New Zealand in March 2016. Prior to this, Michael led the store operations teams across Bunnings Australia and New Zealand, after joining Bunnings in 2005.

Brett Ralph - Board Member

Brett is the Founder and Managing Director of Jet Couriers, a family business with operations in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In addition to his transport companies, he has a diverse range of business interests operating through Australia, Europe and North American. Brett is an avid sports fan and is the Chairman of the Melbourne Aces Baseball Club.

Chris Moore - Board Member

Chris has over 20 years of experience in project management and delivery of major infrastructure projects in Victoria and currently sits on various leadership and governance boards bringing a wealth of strategic experience. Chris leads a large team and believes that investment into his people is fundamental to any successful business, project or team. He previously ran his own independent construction services cost management business prior to returning to major project delivery. Chris has a diverse range of business interests including property and sports. After many years playing state level basketball, Chris is enjoying combining his love of sport and business.

Kevin Li - Owner

After completing a Bachelor of Commerce in 2005, Kevin ran multiple successful family businesses before starting Landream. Responsible for strategically growing a family owned suburban property developer into a trusted leader of international standing, achieving outstanding project sell outs at record prices at Beecroft Place and Opera Residences in Sydney and now bringing the first Mandarin Oriental hotel and branded residences to Melbourne, the first in Australiasia. Highly skilled in capital raising, project finance structuring and management of joint ventures, Kevin is the driving force behind the success of Landream and the respect it has achieved amongst its peers.  

Andrew Turner - Owner

Prior to founding Banner, Andrew had more than 25 years’ experience in Global Financial Markets having worked extensively in Capital Markets specialising in derivative products. He has extensive banking and financial expertise having worked in London, Tokyo and Australia with leading international financial institutions and has been investing in alternative real estate opportunities since 1998. Andrew is a member of the Banner Investment Committee.  

Jeremy Vogler - Owner

Jeremy has been an active investor in international real estate since 1986. He has 27 years’ experience in the international money markets, specialising in managing interest rate options groups. Since 1989, Jeremy has held director and senior management positions in leading brokerage companies in Hong Kong, London and Tokyo.

David has an array of business interests and associations with the companies listed under Brandi Inc. He founded and now acts as a consultant for financial firms, has opened restaurants in Melbouirne, and is a proud sponsor of several sporting clubs.

David Brandi - Owner

John Hronis - Owner

John Hronis is the Managing Director of Dreamstreet Lending Pty Ltd and has been in the finance industry since 2001. Dreamstreet Lending is an established and trusted lending provider based in Melbourne.

As a Certified Financial Planner with over 20 years financial services experience, Callum Howard has spent the last 10 years in private practice successfully advising individuals, families and businesses in all areas of wealth management. Callum's ability to provide financial and strategic guidance is drawn from a wealth of business experience gained through interests in Childcare, Property, Healthcare & Transport. Basketball has always been a part of Callum's life, with a successful junior and senior representative career and post playing, continues to be involved through coaching and a number of positions on sporting boards.    

Callum Howard - Owner

Simon Kelly - Owner

Simon has had a playing and coaching interest in basketball since his junior days in Werribee. Holding a Bachelors of Commerce majoring in Sport Management, Simon has continued an active interest in sport throughout his professional life. Simon began his career looking after the fleet logistical needs of both Europcar and Hertz Australia. Simon has spent the last 15 years in a family owned group, with interests in education, technology and property. Having guided the group through 2 successful divestments to both an ASX listed company and venture capital backed national education provider, Simon is looking forward to developing and expanding his current ventures in the sports and leisure space.

Aaron Sansoni - Owner

Known as an investor, empire builder,  philanthropist and best-selling author, Aaron has built a fortune by starting, building, and investing in over 130 companies. Aaron was nominated for Australian of the Year 2017 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2016. Featured in over 50 publications worldwide, Aaron runs successful private equity firms with interests in Media, Technology, e-commerce, SAAS, Education, Hospitality, Sports, Entertainment, Retail, Aerospace, Health and many more. He has shared the stage with business icons, including Sir Richard Branson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Robbins, Gary Vee, Tim Ferriss, Dr Eric Thomas and trained over 700,000 students in 132 countries.