Kilter Rural was formed in 2004 in response to institutional demand for investment in sustainable management of farmlands, water and ecosystems. In 2006 Kilter Rural attracted its first $200 million commitment to invest through its proprietary model in the renewal of rural landscapes.
Kilter Rural’s purpose is to build long-term value for investors through resilient farmland and water investments. It is one of Australia’s largest water fund managers, and manages more than $250m of water, farmland and ecosystem assets.
An information memorandum for the Australian Farmlands Fund was approved and released in June 2020, with the Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Water Fund information memorandum approved and released in January 2021 and the Kilter Water Fund information memorandum released in March 2021.
In December 2018 Regal Funds Management Pty Limited (Regal) acquired a 50 per cent stake in Kilter Pty Ltd. Regal and Kilter Rural have aligned to drive growth and jointly extend its ‘profit with impact’ investment approach to Australian farmland and water. Regal brings expertise in financial markets, assessing and delivering risk-adjusted returns and capital raising networks.
Regal is one of Australia’s leading investment managers, specialising in alternative strategies. Since 2004 Regal has been trusted to invest on behalf of a wide range of institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
Kilter Investments Board
Jennifer Morawska
Chair and Non-Executive Director
Jenny is a commercial Director, with deep global technology and finance experience as a CEO and Senior Executive, across multiple industries and diverse stakeholder groups. Jenny brings an understanding of, emergent technologies, sustainability and practical experience in driving new revenues, customer engagement and efficiencies from a diverse range of industries including finance, medical and science technology, health and education. Her commercial acumen and successful business career have been underpinned by her training as a research scientist and her further career as a consultant and banker. Jenny was one of the four most senior women in Federal Government. She is also a pragmatic commercial businesswoman who for the last 15 years has worked on the global stage. Jenny was appointed to the Board in November 2020 and appointed as Chair of the Board on 1 January 2021.
Jacqueline Courtney
Non-Executive Director
Jacqui is an Investment Committee member with the Besen Family Foundation and a founding director of Impact Club (2016-today) and the RIAA (1999-2004). Through her long involvement with values-based investing and her own investments, Jacqui has developed wide-reaching global networks in the impacting investing arena. Jacqui has extensive experience with a career in marketing strategy, project management, and investment analysis. In addition to her commercial strategy expertise, Jacqui has been actively involved with biodiversity conservation for the last 18 years and views regenerative agriculture as a key solution to solving a number of looming environmental issues facing the planet and humanity. She now manages her family investments, focusing on sustainable agriculture and aquaculture. Jacqui was appointed to the Board in November 2020.
Anita Butters
Company Secretary and Compliance Officer
Anita has 25 years’ experience working in financial management and governance in agricultural and natural resource management. Anita has been working in Kilter Rural since its inception in 2004, leading implementation of quality assurance, compliance and governance processes.
Cullen Gunn
CEO & Director
Since the late 1980s Cullen has dedicated his working life to advancing sustainable farmland, water and ecosystem management in Australia. Long-term exposure to the investment needs of Australian landscapes prompted a desire to attract institutional-scaled investment in sustainably managed landscapes.
Cullen is a director of Accounting for Nature, a not-for-profit company with a vision to be a recognised global leader for measuring changes in the health of the environment. Cullen is a founding director of Kilter Rural and has been overseeing the existing investment portfolios since 2006.
Kilter Rural Board:
Euan Friday
Chair, CIO & Director
Euan has more than 25 years’ experience in senior financial and commercial roles. Prior to joining Kilter Rural in 2008, Euan spent 10 years working in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Corporate Finance practice in Melbourne and Europe. This was followed by seven years with STA Travel where he held the roles of chief financial officer (CFO), director of sales and managing director for STA’s AUS/NZ business. During this period STA Travel’s annual turnover increased from $180 million to $350 million.
At Kilter Rural, Euan has been integral to the establishment of the water business which today manages assets across all major classes of Water Entitlement on issue in the sMDB. Today, as CIO, Euan heads up Kilter Rural’s investments team focused on identifying and securing new investment opportunities for clients.
Ian Gibson
Non-Executive Director
Ian has almost 25 years’ experience in financial markets. For much of the past 15 years Ian has acted as a director, investment adviser and consultant to a range of financial groups and organisations.
As well as being a director of Kilter Pty Ltd, Ian is a director of Regal, a director of Attunga Capital Pty Ltd (a hedge fund involved in power markets), a director of Renew Power Group Pty Ltd (a renewable energy business), an adviser to RPG Management Pty Ltd (family office) and is an independent member of the investment committee for Atrium Investment Management Pty Ltd (a multi-asset fund manager).
Brendan O’Connor
Non-Executive Director
Brendan has more than 20 years of financial services experience across a diverse range of asset classes with organisations including KPMG, Westpac and Challenger Limited. Brendan is the CEO of Regal, a specialist alternatives investment manager with offices in Sydney and Singapore. Immediately prior to joining Regal in 2016, Brendan spent more than 10 years at Challenger, including eight years as the CFO of Challenger’s funds management business.
Brendan holds a Bachelor of Business, majoring in accounting and finance, from the University of Technology, Sydney, is a chartered accountant and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Cullen Gunn
CEO & Director
Anita Butters
Company Secretary and Compliance Officer