Andrew Pridham (born 24 August 1966) is an Australian investment banker. He is the Co-founder and Group Vice Chairman of financial services firm MA Financial Group as well as Chairman of

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

Club, the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

Career

Originally from Adelaide, Andrew Pridham was previously Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking, Australasia at

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

. He was appointed Managing Director at 28. He spent years working in London and Singapore as global head of real estate at UBS before returning to Australia in retirement aged 34. He then founded a boutique investment banking business called First Provident. In 2004

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...

acquired First Provident and Pridham was appointed as its Head of Investment Banking and later Executive Chairman. In 2009 he left to establish the Australian arm of US Investment Bank Moelis & Company. Moelis & Company Australia is a 50/50 joint venture where Australian executives, including Pridham, own 50% of the business. The firm has since re-branded to MA Financial Group, of which Pridham was CEO of till 2020. He then stepped down to his current role of Group Vice Chairman. Upon his return to Australia in 2004, he was appointed to the board of the Sydney Swans. In 2013 he was appointed Chair. In his first season as Chair, the Sydney Swans finished minor Premiers and played for the 2014 Premiership, only to be soundly defeated by

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

. Pridham has at times been an outspoken critic of what he sees as the excessive voice of some Melbourne based AFL clubs, and in particular Collingwood's

Eddie McGuire Edward Joseph McGuire AM (born 29 October 1964) is an Australian television presenter, journalist and Australian Football League commentator. He is also an occasional ''Herald Sun'' newspaper columnist. He hosts Channel Nine’s Millionaire ...

. In 2015 Pridham found himself at the centre of a major national controversy relating to the racially inspired booing of Sydney Swans champion player

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

. Pridham was highly outspoken, condemning what he saw as blatant racism. He made a number of strong speeches on the issue and was widely quoted in the press defending Goodes and chiding those he saw as racist, disrespectful or downplaying the significance of the issue of racism in Australian society.

Awards and recognition

In the

2019 Australia Day Honours The 2019 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2019 by the Governor General of Australia, Pet ...

Pridham was made an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AO) for "distinguished service to the investment banking and asset management sector, to sporting groups, and to philanthropy."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pridham, Andrew Living people Australian investment bankers 1966 births Officers of the Order of Australia Australian chief executives Sydney Swans administrators