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Feature OFF THE CUFF Chris Burns
Chief executive officer, KeyInvest Lending Services What was the last book you read? It was one of the Harry Potter books I read to my children before their bedtime. If you did not live in Australia, where would you live and why? I’d live in Bali. We have a holiday home there and I go there with my family as often as I can. The climate is brilliant, the local people are so friendly.
Ernie, Graham and Simon Reibelt
If you could sit down to lunch with anyone you like, who would it be? Nelson Mandela. He is such an inspirational person. What was the first job you ever had? When I finished school I worked as a bank clerk for BankSA in Adelaide. What do you do to unwind As much exercise as I can. I enjoy running, hiking, soccer, cross-country marathons and cycling. I find physical exercise clears the mind perfectly. What’s the most extravagant gift you ever bought yourself? It would be the holiday home in Bali. However, it’s something that my whole family benefits from so I think it was a very justifiable purchase. What CD is currently playing in your car stereo? It’s an Eminem CD, which my daughter put in the car stereo and I haven’t got around to changing yet. If you could give anyone starting out in business one piece of advice, what would it be? Invest as much as you can into your education and be prepared to do your apprenticeship in whatever career you undertake. If I was not working in the mortgage industry, I would like to be...? A tradesman working in the building industry. I don’t have any skill with my hands and I have a lot of admiration for people that do. Where was the last place you went on holiday? It was to Bali on a family holiday this year.
Father and son among AMA elite
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NSW father and son combination were some of the stand-out finalists at September’s Australian Mortgage Awards (AMAs), which brought together the industry’s best. Industry stalwart Graham Reibelt, from Oasis Mortgage Group in NSW, made the finalist selection in the “Broker of the year: NonConforming” category, while his son Simon Reibelt was a contender for the “Quality Young Gun of the Year: Franchise” grouping. Reibelt puts the family’s success in being selected this year down to a single-minded focus on the group’s area of specialty: non-bank, non-conforming loans. “We haven’t deviated from that area, including during the global financial crisis,” he said. Simon Reibelt said having his father’s “intrinsic knowledge” to draw on was a key aspect of his
ability to make the AMA finalist cut. Simon made a decision to “join forces” with Graham during the financial crisis, and has since gone from strength to strength. “He knows what you need to do, and we’ve put in 200% effort over the past year,” he said. Graham Reibelt won the NonConforming award at the AMAs in 2003 and 2004 and has been a finalist every year bar one. However, it’s the first year Simon Reibelt was waiting in the hope of taking home the Young Gun title. While both failed to take home the title in 2010, there is no doubt this family will be back in the running in years to come. In an interesting coincidence, Graham is up against his other son, Ernie Reibelt, in the local Blue Mountains Business Advantage Awards, where both are finalists in the Business Services category.
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2/08/2010 9:15:07 AM