Townsend retires from board
Long standing RetireInvest director Peter Townshend has relinquished his seat on the RetireInvest board to concentrate on his own solicitor’s practice.
Long standing RetireInvest director Peter Townshend has relinquished his seat on the RetireInvest board to concentrate on his own solicitor’s practice.
Townshend steps down from the board this week as the Mercantile Mutual subsidi-ary draws up its new board of directors in the wake of Townshend’s departure and that of former chief executive and chairman, Tony Muston back in December.
Townshend’s time with the group precedes even that of Muston. He joined John Blewitt at his Blewitt, Goodman group in 1985 as the company solicitor.
He then joined the board of the group just prior to it listing on the Australian Stock Exchange as Le Fort Capital in 1987. Le Fort was the first financial planning based group to list on the stock exchange and to this day remains the only one, at least until the Count group lists later this year.
Townshend played an instrumental role in preparing for the float and was one of the drivers of the group’s pioneering role in the franchising structure for dealer groups alongside fellow director David Williams.
Townshend says his parting with the group is amicable and he intends to continue to consult to the group on legal matters.
“Mercantile Mutual asked me to stay on to steady the group after the acquisition in 1985. The integration has now been bedded down so I am now looking to use my experience in financial planning to develop my legal practice,” he says.
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