Turnbull Foundation joins Australian Philanthropic Services in city

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There’s never been a more exciting time to run a charitable foundation in Australia, with glorious leader Malcolm Turnbull calling on a galaxy of philanthropic stars to aid him in his family’s giving endeavours.

The Turnbull Foundation last week moved its digs from the Turnbull & Co offices in inner-Sydney’s Potts Point to Australian Philanthropic Services’ city centre location.

The foundation will be in good hands at APS, which is chaired by former Challenger chief Chris Cuffe and boasts a board taking in Sydney Uni chancellor Belinda Hutchinson, Fairfax scion Timothy Fairfax and Mr Everywhere, David Gonski, who has known Turnbull for decades, with both advisers to the late Kerry Packer.

Fairfax was one of the first to ring the bell when the Turnbulls reopened the Lodge in January for an Australian of the Year morning tea (he was nominated in the seniors division).

APS can do everything for the charitably inclined, including helping hand out grants, but it’s believed the Turnbull Foundation’s directors — the PM, wife Lucy and Seven legal eagle Bruce McWilliam — just want them to take care of the pesky admin paperwork.

Zero sum game

Gender diversity purists might be disappointed to see ANZ wealth boss Joyce Phillips out the door the day after the appointment of local Google boss Maile Carnegie as Shayne Elliott’s new head of digital.

Joyce’s exit means a zero net gain in ANZ’s female executive headcount, but then if management styles are taken into account perhaps the internal view is that the Melbourne-based financial insto is better off, even if it doesn’t register on the stats.

New York-born Phillips doesn’t mince her words.

“I’m a triplet,” she said in 2014. “I was competing in my mother’s womb and to let you know how that worked out, I was born a pound bigger than the others.”

Cash king for Kogan

Kogan boss and majority shareholder Ruslan Kogan might be the only one smiling in the face of the dramatic 85 per cent share price plunge of loss-making sharemarket newcomer Temple & Webster.

Kogan and his Milan Direct business partner Dean Ramler sold their online furniture shop to the Carol Schwartz-chaired group for about $20 million in November just ahead of the T&W float.

Kogan appears to have got all cash for his part in the deal, in contrast to his mate Ramler, who bagged some cash but also a hatful of T&W shares.

Ouch.

At the time of the float Ramler’s stock was valued at $8m, but now it’s down to just over $1m. He’s taken a job with T&W running his beloved Milan Direct, which has just splashed out on a bricks-and-mortar store in Melbourne’s Richmond.

The pair were advised in the deal by Arnold Bloch Leibler’s Jeremy Leibler, with the law firm declaring after it was done that “it was a pleasure to help (Kogan and Ramler) achieve such a great result”.

Kogan’s business partner in his eponymous online retailer is his old Melbourne High School mate David Shafer, who happens to be ex-ABL. Shafer has 20 per cent of Kogan, which the pair want to soon float, while Kogan has the balance.

Guvera in a spin

Have they installed a revolving door on the Gold Coast boardroom of Darren Herft’s perennial (and also loss-making) IPO hopeful, Guvera?

A flurry of paperwork filed with Greg Medcraft’s ASIC reveals changes galore, with company secretary David Antonelli replaced by Canuck Ken Hostland — although the company says Antonelli remains financial controller.

Meanwhile, LA music industry identity Phil Quartarato seems to have been carried all the way around and back into the boardroom.

Phil Q, who’s closely associated with the careers of Janet Jackson, Ben Harper and Lenny Kravitz, quit in June last year but rejoined at the end of January.

Also out is Guvera’s PR help, global giant Edelman, which told Margin Call queries should now be directed to an in-house operative.

No doubt shareholders brought into the company by Herft’s AMMA Private Equity, which has trousered millions for its fundraising efforts, would also like to hear what’s happening with Guvera’s long-promised IPO. An announcement promised last month has so far failed to come to pass.

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