Management team

Melanie Evans

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Melanie joined ING in 2017 to lead the Retail Bank for ING Australia. She was appointed country CEO in November 2020. Melanie has spent her career in financial services. Starting out with a St. George Bank cadetship in 1995, she later joined Westpac’s equities business in 2000. After a move to BT Financial Group in 2003, she spent a decade in product, brand, marketing, superannuation, platforms and investments leadership roles. Returning to banking within the Westpac Group as a Chief of Staff, she then went on to lead business units across mortgages, transformation and business banking. In 2017 she moved to ING, leading ING's retail growth and diversification agenda.

Melanie is a Board Member and Deputy Chair of the Australian Banking Association, Chair of the Business Council of Australia's Women's Workforce Participation Committee and is also a Board Member of the European Australian Business Council.

Hein Wegdam

Head of Business Banking

Hein Wegdam joined ING Australia as Head of Business Banking in July 2024. Prior to his move to Australia, Hein was Regional Director for Business Banking and Head of ING Real Estate Finance at ING Netherlands.

Hein brings a wealth of experience and a global perspective to Business Banking in Australia, taking explicit Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into consideration. As Head of Business Banking, Hein is responsible for initiatives aimed at empowering and supporting small, medium to mid-sized businesses in their financial journeys now and in the future.

Andrew Hector

Head of Wholesale Banking

Andrew is responsible for ING’s Wholesale Banking activities in Australia and a member of the Executive Committee. As a senior executive with more than 30 years of corporate and institutional banking experience with Australian and international banks, Andrew has worked across a diverse range of sectors, including Retail & Wholesale trade, Food/Beverage & Agriculture, Telco/Media & Entertainment, Property and Health.

Andrew has a Bachelor Business, Banking and Finance from Charles Sturt University.

Berkay Özlüdil

Chief Operations Officer

Berkay Özlüdil joined ING Australia as Chief Operations Officer in March 2025. Prior to his appointment, Berkay held senior leadership roles in ING Turkey and Belgium covering strategy, delivery and digitisation of business operations and services. With extensive experience across ING's global markets, Berkay is responsible for delivering efficient, secure processes, and seamless digital experiences for customers, aligned to ING Australia's strategy for future growth.

Berkay holds a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Arts, Double Major Degree in Law and Economics from Koç University, Istanbul.

Claire Machin

Head of Legal

Claire joined ING Australia as Head of Legal & General Counsel in April 2024, and is a member of the Executive Committee. With over 25 years’ experience working senior roles across financial services and private legal firms, she is a commercially focused executive bringing a wealth of experience in highly regulated environments.

Claire holds a Masters of Law from University of Sydney and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Flavio Passaro

Head of HR

Flavio was appointed as Head of HR for ING Australia in 2024, and is a member of the Executive Committee. He started with ING Germany in 2018, where he held senior HR leadership roles, before moving to Italy to take on the role of Head of HR in 2023. With extensive HR experience working in financial services, he brings a diverse, global perspective leading complex business transformations, developing people and practices to drive success and build a high-performance culture.

Flavio holds a Bachelor of Arts Philosophy & Economics from Universität Bayreuth and a Master of Arts Management & Human Resources from Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg.

Michal Kowalczyk

Chief Financial Officer

Michal Kowalczyk was appointed Chief Financial Officer for ING Australia in January 2023.

Michal brings more than 20 years of international experience in banking. He has held a range of executive finance roles, delivering substantial growth in ING’s Polish and German businesses. Prior to his appointment as ING Australia CFO he was Head of Global Management Accounting and Advice for ING Group where he was responsible for management reporting, planning and forecasting processes for ING Group globally, and providing strategic counsel to ING’s Management Board Banking on key decisions to maintain sustainable business growth.

Michal holds a Master of Arts, Banking and Finance from Warsaw School of Economics.

Linda Da Silva

Chief Information Officer

Linda Da Silva joined ING Australia as Chief Information Officer in December 2019. In this role she leads the Technology and Data teams to deliver the digital and data agenda for ING in Australia.

Prior to joining ING, Linda held a number senior leadership roles at Westpac Banking Corporation managing large complex areas spanning Consumer Bank, Wealth, Group Operations and Enterprise Services. Her last role at Westpac Group was CIO BT Financial Group.

Linda joined the Westpac Group in 2008 following a 15-year career in consulting and leadership roles in Australia, Asia, Middle East and the UK. As a consultant, Linda worked across many industries to deliver large-scale technology transformation programs.

Linda is a highly experienced technology leader, who combines strong business acumen with deep technology, transformation and execution expertise to deliver innovative, strategic business and customer outcomes.

Praveen Khurana

Chief Risk Officer

Praveen Khurana was appointed Chief Risk Officer for ING Australia in February 2023.

Praveen is a results-driven banking professional with proven strengths in financial & non-financial risk management and people development. He has a deep knowledge of credit risk management and is passionate about innovation, automation and transformation.

Praveen has more than 25 years of international experience in risk management across various industries, including executive roles for ING in the Netherlands and Asia. Prior to joining ING Australia, he was ING’s Head of Risk for Retail/Rest of World.

Praveen holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Major in Finance from the Institute of Management Technology, India; Cost Accountancy Certification from Institute of Cost Accountants, India and Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Law (Gold Medallist) at S.D College Chandigarh, India.

Dr John Laker AO

Dr Laker was appointed as Chairman of the Board in 2020.

In 2003, Dr Laker was appointed as Chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the body that supervises banking, insurance and superannuation in Australia. In 2008, he was reappointed to another five-year term as Chairman, and retired in 2014 after a further extension. Dr Laker chaired the panel that led the Prudential Inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) from mid-2017 to mid-2018.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2008 and has won other professional awards for his services to the regulation of the Australian financial system.

Vicki Allen

Vicki Allen is an experienced non-executive director and chairman, with particular expertise in highly regulated industries. Her current directorships include ASX listed, subsidiary and private company boards. Her executive career of more than 30 years was spent in the financial services and property investment industries. This spanned senior strategic, operational and investment management roles in organisations such as Westfield, Lend Lease, MLC and Trust Company.

Vicki is a Non-Executive Director of Steadfast Group Ltd, NSW Treasury Corporation, GPT Funds Management Ltd and New Forests Pty Ltd.

Vicki holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School as well as a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and is a member of the AICD's Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) Regulated Entities Forum.

Lisa Gray

Lisa Gray is an accomplished CEO and company director of businesses across private and public sectors. Lisa brings over 30 years' experience in leading and transforming large, distributed customer businesses across banking, investment management, superannuation, insurance and wealth management.

Lisa is a non-executive director of Challenger Limited (ASX:CGF) and Challenger Life Company Limited, Bupa Australia and New Zealand, and Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC).

Lisa was the CEO, VFMC from 2016 to September 2021. Prior to working with Government, Lisa held senior executive roles at NAB including Group Executive, Enterprise Services and Transformation and Group Executive, Personal Banking. Before joining NAB, Lisa was CEO, MLC Insurance and Managing Director, Plum Financial Services.

Lisa's qualifications include an Advanced Management Program from INSEAD, MBA from University of Melbourne and Columbia University (NY), Graduate Diploma in Management from RMIT, and a Bachelor of Town and Regional Planning (Hons) from University of Melbourne.

Jan Swinhoe

Jan has over three decades of distinguished experience in financial services spanning institutional banking, wealth management, superannuation, and insurance.

Jan's career began with actuarial roles at AMP and Mercantile Mutual Life, followed by significant positions in derivatives and capital markets at Citibank Australia and County NatWest Australia. She later joined Westpac Banking Corporation, where she held senior leadership roles in the Institutional Bank, including Head of Consumer, Industrials & Property, and General Manager - Large Corporates, overseeing operations across multiple regions.

Her tenure at Westpac culminated in her role as General Manager, Westpac Private Bank overseeing the end-to-end business, where she was responsible for strategy, revenue, research, risk management, operations, human resources, distribution, and marketing.

Since transitioning to a non-Executive career in 2011, Jan has held Director roles on multiple boards, such as Fusion Retail, Suncorp Superannuation, Mercer Superannuation (which she Chaired for 9 years) and IMB Bank, contributing her expertise in strategic leadership, governance, and risk management. Notably, in addition to being a board member of Athletics Australia for 9 years, she became its female President A in its 105-year history.

Currently, Jan serves on the Boards of Swiss Re, Life and Health, Vanguard Super, and Australian Philanthropic Services.

She holds a B.Sc (Hons) in Pure Mathematics, is an Associate of the Institute of Actuaries (Actuary of the Year 2024-5), and is a Graduate of the AICD.

Richard Kimber

Richard Kimber is a seasoned international Financial Services and Technology CEO and experienced Board Director and Chairman.

Richard is currently Chairman of Stone & Chalk, Non-Executive Director (and Chair of the Strategy & Transformation Committee, and member of the People & Culture committee) of Kina Securities Limited (ASX:KSL), Non Executive Director (and Chair of the Risk Committee) of Energy One Limited (ASX:EOL) and Non-Executive Director of Daisee; a multi-award-winning AI software company he founded in 2017. Prior to these role he was CEO of ASX listed OFX Group, a leading international payment company. In 2006 he was appointed as the first Managing Director of Google in Southeast Asia. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of firstdirect Bank in the UK - the original neobank. This followed several international roles with the HSBC Group, including; Global Head of Internet Marketing based out of New York and the APAC leader for eCommerce based out of Hong Kong.

Richard has a Bachelor of Science and an MBA from Macquarie University.

Darryl Newton

Darryl Newton has an extensive career over a variety of industries and roles. Most recently, he was the CRO of Australia Post from November 2013 to March 2018 and acted as a Special Advisor to Australia Post until the end of 2018. Mr Newton's career has spanned the accounting and consulting profession, the banking industry and the diversity of Australia Post. Darryl was a partner at Ernst & Young for fourteen years specialising in Financial Services customers in Australia and also on major assignments in Indonesia and Thailand.

Melanie Evans

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Melanie joined ING in 2017 to lead the Retail Bank for ING Australia. She was appointed country CEO in November 2020.

Melanie has spent her career in financial services. Starting out with a St.George Bank cadetship in 1995, she later joined Westpac’s equities business in 2000. After a move to BT Financial Group in 2003, she spent a decade in product, brand, marketing, superannuation, platforms and investments leadership roles.

Returning to banking within the Westpac Group as a Chief of Staff, she then went on to lead business units across mortgages, transformation and business banking. In 2017 she moved to ING, leading ING's retail growth and diversification agenda.

Melanie is Chair of the Business Council of Australia's Women's Workforce Participation Committee and is also a Board Member of the European Australian Business Council and Australian Banking Association Limited.