When Peter Rayner left Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), an antecedent institution of Charles Sturt University (CSU) after majoring in Accounting, his first real job was with one of the large international accounting firms in Sydney.

 

Like every other accounting graduate, he did his share of company audits, client accounting, and taxation work. After six years, he rose to the level of Manager, which was the level before partner. Peter says he “was lucky enough to work with the managing partner of the firm in Australia, and as a result spent a lot of time travelling and working with other affiliated firms around South East Asia. Being with a firm that was internationally connected, and working on cross border assignments for a wide variety of clients was not just interesting, it was a great opportunity to widen my otherwise reasonably narrow horizons; very rewarding indeed.”

 

This first job influenced the direction of Peter’s career although he does admit “that I have been lucky and have been at the right place at the right time.”

 

Peter’s original aspirations were to get some experience in “the big smoke” and then return to the bush as the local accountant. After the experience of his first job however, he realised that there was so much more to see and experience, and that as he pointed out “my accounting and financial skills would put me in good stead, whichever path I took. And there were so many paths that one could take; you just had to take a risk and try.”

 

Peter’s first path led him into Stockbroking, both trading in shares and on the corporate advisory side.  He was in stockbroking at the time of the crash of 1987 and the ‘bull market” that preceded it.  From Peter’s view, “it was an amazing experience, which truly put on display  the full range of human emotions.”

 

After the crash of ’87, Peter moved into the embryonic Australian private equity arena and was a Director of a large firm for over six years. Here he learnt the skills of acquiring, managing, merging and selling which he applied to many up and coming private companies.

 

Private equity was also Peter’s introduction to main stream funds management and after a stint as Head of Institutional Business at Perpetual Investments he became Chief Executive Officer of giant German Bank, Dresdner’s, Australian fund management company.

 

Allianz later absorbed Dresdner Bank and Peter retained the CEO position until he left about two years ago. Peter had been extremely successful during his time at the helm.  By the time he left, he and his team had increased assets from $30 million to $5 billion.  On his departure from Allianz, Peter says “I had spent many years travelling the globe in these two CEO positions, and the time had come to slow down and see more of my family, or so I thought.”

 

After a year off, some private travel and a couple of Directorships, Peter is once again a CEO. This time, of a boutique funds management group, specialising in private equity & hedge funds, Saltbush Funds Management.

 

“This is the last time!” Peter exclaimed but when asked what attracted him most to this current job he had to confess “it was simply the challenge, or as Mallory said ‘because it was there’.”

 

He had been doing some consulting work with this firm, not looking for anything more but then, seemingly without realising, he was the CEO. Peter’s connections with Saltbush can be traced back ultimately to College days, in particular with the Mitchell Rugby Club.

 

“I love a challenge, and  I must say that the people I went through Mitchell, and played Rugby with, all relished a challenge, be it personal or as a team. In this sense, like seems to attract like.”

 

Although he admits that none of this would have been possible without his first job and having been educated in the practical way that “we all were at Mitchell all those years ago.”

 

When asked where his drive and commitment come from he says “I would have to say that I am competitive by nature, and certainly like a challenge, but my parents had the biggest influence on me to the extent that if something needed doing, I learnt very early on that you simply got on with it. My father was a no nonsense stock and station agent and farmer, and I very much respected his commitment to what needed doing. He could, and very often did, work around the clock. My mother always supported him; they were a great team.”

 

Peter Rayner considers the next most important influencing factor in his life was that “I was lucky enough to be at MCAE with what I think were some very talented and exceptional people.

 

People like Andrew Denton (presenter ABC TV – Enough Rope), Steve Ell (CEO Serko Australia), Dave Mackay (CEO of Kellogg worldwide), Jim McCormac (now Managing Director – International Business Unit – TNT Express UK), Ross Reynolds (who became a Wallaby and was part of the Grand Slam win with Allan Jones; not to mention winning 3 Sydney Premierships), Tim Sheridan (a state rugby player and presenter with Channel 9 in Sydney) and many others  who were all very strong minded and talented people, but all new the benefits of  being team players.”

 

Looking back, Peter recognises that “these people had a big influence on me realising the value of true teamwork. Each was very talented in so many ways, from their Rugby prowess through to their organisational and people skills. We all seemed to continuously support one another, both on and off the rugby field, and if the rugby results were a barometer of the effect of teamwork, we won the Central West Rugby competition in 1978 and were runners up in 1977 and 1979.”  

 

For young graduates just starting out, Peter offers the following advice “know where you want to go; have a plan as to how to get there, but be flexible and adaptive; be a very, very, very good listener; be a true team player, with trust being the driver and be prepared for setbacks, because they will happen…..but above all ……be persistent, it beats intelligence every time, as long as you are honest.”

 

 

Note:  Peter and the players, coaches and managers from the 1978 and 1979 teams are getting together for a 30th Anniversary reunion next year at the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University.  For more information contact the Alumni Office on 02 6338 4629 or via email to alumni@csu.edu.au