Retirement Forum 2024 

Ian Henschke is a veteran journalist and former Chief Advocate of National Seniors Australia.

He held that prominent position for seven years from 2017 to 2023 and achieved a remarkable series of wins for older Australians in large part by focussing the minds of politicians on the key statistic that ‘every second voter is now over 50’.

Before becoming an advocate he was a top rating ABC radio talk show presenter. He was also a columnist for the Advertiser's SA Weekend magazine for 12 years and had stories published locally and internationally.

He's been in the media for more than 40 years, the bulk of those in television. He worked for the nine and seven networks in the 80s and 90s before returning to the ABC as the host and senior reporter on Stateline for 10 years. He also worked for ABCTV Asia Pacific, 4 Corners, 7.30 and Landline.

He’s been a finalist twice in the prestigious Walkley awards, winning a high commendation for his work on the Westpac Letters in 1991. He’s a graduate of the Murray Darling Leadership Program and won a prestigious Reuters Foundation Fellowship to Oxford in 1999 which resulted in the BBC World documentary "Emission Impossible". It won the Jury Prize at the Grenoble International Film Festival in 2000.

He was the Staff Elected Director of the ABC Board from 2000-2002 and received the Centenary of Federation Medal for Services to Australian Society through broadcasting in 2001.

He's currently the Alumni Representative on the Council of the University of Adelaide and teaches part time at a secondary college in South Australia.

Sudeep is Head of Product and Retirement Solutions at Hostplus. Sudeep is an experienced, innovative, and collaborative product, strategy, and distribution leader. He has demonstrated experience in product and distribution strategy development and execution, new product and value proposition development, strategic product and customer life-cycle management, and functional leadership of the product, distribution, retirement and strategy functions, and teams. His expertise spans across financial services, public services, and consumer services sectors including superannuation, wealth and investment platforms, banking, SMSFs, financial planning, insurance, financial administration, public trustee, telecommunication and utility industries.

With an extensive background in financial planning and executive leadership across multi-disciplinary business units, Lisa brings a wealth of experience in optimising distribution networks and fostering strategic partnerships.  Having seen the difference quality financial advice can make to people’s lives, Lisa is passionate about empowering financial advisers with tools and support to ensure our members can engage a financial adviser of their choice and feel confident their adviser will have access to the information needed to maximise their retirement savings.  Lisa is also passionate about increasing the financial well-being of women, partnering with organisations and brands including Adelady, TAFE, WEA, LG Professionals, and the Women’s Professional Development network at Adelaide University to help to foster greater financial literacy in women. 

Stefan has over a decade of experience in financial planning and brings a down-to-earth approach to the complexities of the financial world. He assists members by guiding them through advice opportunities designed to improve their position. Known for his friendly approach and passion to achieve members’ desired outcomes, he also displays a constant desire to help clients achieve financial efficiency. Stefan holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of South Australia and an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning from Mentor Education. 

Opel is a financial planner with Hostplus providing advice to Northern Territory-based members. She is passionate about educating and engaging members with their superannuation and retirement and delivering a solution-focused service to her clients, one that connects with who they are and the journey they are on. Opel has a broad range of experience in the financial services industry spanning a decade. She initially started in banking before moving to the superannuation industry. Her career in super started at the SA Public Sector super fund Super SA. It was her formative time in the super industry that motivated her to become a financial planner, after seeing the peace of mind sound financial advice could give to members heading into retirement. She later joined Hostplus through the merger with Statewide Super, having been at Statewide since 2019. Opel holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Planning and Commercial Law) from Deakin University.