10 Minutes with
Denis Giles
There are four C’s required to fill the shoes of outgoing UC Invest Chair, Denis Giles: Competitive, Creative, Caring and Comedian. Taking some time out from his nature-loving and female–dominated family life, Denis shows us the lighter side of being a financial expert. Finishing up at the end of this year as Chair, Denis has every intention of heading out into the wild, or wherever the hiking trails take him and his wife. This gregarious former banker, who ‘just evolved’ into the role of Chair, will be sorely missed by the UC Invest Board. Who makes up your family? There’s my wife Pat, two daughters Emily (34) and Zoe (32), and three granddaughters Millie (12), Connie (11) and Abbie (9). Our dog ‘Sandy’ is a tan border-collie, with attitude. What’s your family life like? Happy wife is a happy life. It’s all good. We’ve been married 41 years! Tell us about your most memorable moment... Pat and I drove from Adelaide to Sydney non-stop in 1998, arriving at my daughter Emily and our son-in-law Phil’s home at 1am. After Emily got out of bed and opened the door to us, she went and picked up our one week old granddaughter Millie and placed her in my arms.
that I’ve been lucky to have a hand in. What stands out for me most though are the changes in financial services delivery since I started work in a bank in August 1963. I have seen the change from ‘horse and buggy’ banking technology to the ubiquitous service offerings of today. Banking has never been more convenient. What is your favourite part of supporting the work of UC Invest? The dividends it pays to support the work of the church. What do you think you have brought to your role as Chair? I value competence and creativity highly - I see these values being expressed in my board and staff colleagues. Complacency is not an option.
My heart was overflowing with love for my gorgeous Millie! Connie and Abbie were both born in McLaren Vale so I got to hold them just after birth. With both there was the same effect on me as with Millie.
In my working life, I was seen as an ‘enabling’ type of person. I’d like to think that we support each other to reach peak performance, individually and collectively. None of us on our own is as smart as all of us combined.
What did your career look like? I’ve spent most of my career in banking and finance but also did a lot of organisational development work in the early 1990’s. After 1983-ish, marketing was my most prominent role.
What will you do at the end of your stint as Chair? Pat and I are now in the ‘wandering’ stage of our life, so we have several bike touring and bushwalking adventures on our wish list. We have wonderful friends in different parts of Australia that we’re keen to visit as well as continuing to help out in bush revegetation projects on Kangaroo Island.
1963 – 1978 The Savings Bank of SA 1978 -1989 Satisfac Credit Union 1989 -1994 Pannell Kerr Forster Chartered Accountants 1994 – 2006 Satisfac Credit Union Retired 28 July 2006, aged 59 years - nine years later than my original goal. Any particular career highlights? There have been so many successful projects and activities
I’m a firm believer that when you retire, you don’t retire from life. You just get to do lots of things that give you pleasure. Anything further that you’d like to add? If I were younger, taller, stronger, faster, more handsome and had a better bike than Paul Barnett, I’m sure I could beat him in a bike race.
Winter 2010