Leaders In Wealth Management – Craig Schloeffel, Head of Investment, Payton Capital
Brief overview of career to date. How did you get your first position in the industry?
I started as a graduate at CBA before embarking on a 13 year career across the Bank. After establishing a career in financial planning, I was lucky to gain valuable wealth management experience before transitioning into management roles across the Commonwealth Bank Private Wealth and Private Bank division. Leaving CBA, I was the National Sales Manager for major volume builder, Porter Davis, giving me vital experience in construction and land development which became crucial experience for my role at Payton Capital.
You spent almost 13 years at CBA receiving regular promotions. How did you manage your career through a complex business like CBA?
I found that in a big business like CBA, the key to success is being well networked and regularly managing that network. At any one time you will be interacting with different departments across the country (eg. call centers in TAS, head office in Sydney or branches all over the country) and you need to know who you can reach out to for help at each department in order to deliver successful outcomes for your team and clients. It is also important to manage up and down the managerial ranks to regularly connect with your next manager or indeed with the person who will take over your role. Working on your personal brand is very important in a big organisation as any job opportunities will attract a large candidate pool and the strength of your brand internally will often determine your ability to get an interview.
You spent several years as Executive Manager of CBA Private Bank. How transferable are those skills you developed at CBA to your new position as Head of Investment at Payton Capital?
The skills I learnt across the CBA group were invaluable for the role I now have at Payton Capital. The CBA is a fantastic place to foster the skills you need to be successful across the finance industry as the investment the Bank makes into its staff for training and development is second to none. Specifically, within the Private Bank, I was able to learn key high value client management skills including private wealth strategies, complex lending and investment structuring and philanthropy.
What do you believe are the attributes that make a successful leader?
For me, a successful leader starts and finishes in the culture you breed within your team. Creating this comes by being authentic, open, honest, compassionate, and grateful for what you and your team do every day. I thrive on creating a collaborative team who works as one and is not afraid to make mistakes and always proactively takes ownership of issues.
How has dealing with COVID-19 challenged you as a leader this year?
The biggest challenge COVID-19 has brought for me is the lack of face-to-face contact I have been able to have with my staff. Zoom is a fantastic tool for day-to-day management and contact with staff but in my opinion, nothing beats a face-to-face discussion. As I started with Payton after many offices closed, I have a staff member that I have not yet met face-to-face which is very surreal for me given I have been with the company for six months now. On top of this, I have recently hired a new staff member who I am yet to meet face-to-face which is both confronting but also somewhat liberating as it shows that business can succeed completely remote.
Can you provide an overview of your position? How do you allocate your time across difference parts of the business?
My role at Payton is responsible for all aspects of the investors and investments at Payton Capital. Within this role I am responsible for working with the Investment Directors who manage the Investment Services Team and new business relationships. This involves a lot of client interaction which is the best part of my job as I have a huge passion for always being connected directly to our client base. The other equally important aspect to my role is my position on the Payton Investment Committee. It is my responsibility to ensure that we are only approving investment opportunities that carry the appropriate risk and return metrics for our investors and will suit the current needs of our client base. At Payton, we pride ourselves on being agile in our market to find and deliver the best opportunities for our investors.
What is unique about Payton Capital’s business and their product offering?
One of the things that attracted me to Payton Capital is the ownership structure of the business. 20% of the business is owned by our charitable foundation, The Payton Foundation which was set up to help the vulnerable (centered mainly around women and children) and since being set up in 2011, has donated over $1 Million directly to charities. At Payton, we believe we have a responsibility to harness our success to help improve the lives of people, wherever they are in the world. We also say that given 20% of our business is owned by the foundation we feel like we work for the Payton foundation one day a week.
What is your approach to developing your team and culture at Payton Capital?
As I noted earlier, to me, culture is the most important part of a team, so this is something I think about a lot. Development of your people should be engrained in team culture and as a leader it’s important to foster staff development but also the staff themselves need to drive their own development. Coaching for me is a big part of the development I can provide for my team and it is something I encourage across all levels of leadership including coaching the coach – we should all take on feedback to continue to evolve.
If you could give one piece of advice about developing a career within the Wealth Management Industry what would it be?
The industry is so small that I feel having and nurturing a good network is the key to developing a career. Many executives and managers are so generous with their time so ask for that coffee, learn as much as you can, and keep in touch as you never know where you will end up and who you will be working with next.
Kaizen Recruitment specialises financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.
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