Team: Meet our Directors & Advisory Board
Ken Whitney, LLB (Hons), TEP
Executive Director
Ken Whitney is the executive director of Antipodes Trust Group Ltd, a professional trust management company based in Auckland, New Zealand, and has been the executive director of First Trustee Company (NZ) Limited since its inception in 1999.
Ken was a partner in a legal practice for over 25 years before becoming a specialist professional trustee and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Ken is also active in the charitable sector, being Chair of Philanthropy New Zealand, the peak body for philanthropy in New Zealand, a past trustee and Chair of Foundation North, New Zealand’s largest philanthropic trust, a past Convenor of the Combined Community Trusts of New Zealand and a trustee of the Auckland Foundation and Auckland Health Foundation. He is also a director of various private trust companies and a trustee of a number of private trusts.
Claire Cooke,
Director
Claire Cooke is a partner at Cone Marshall Limited, Barristers and Solicitors, Auckland. She was born, raised and educated in South Africa and is fluent in both English and Afrikaans. She completed her BA at Rhodes University and her LLB at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and converted her qualifications when she emigrated to New Zealand. Claire holds a practicing certificate issued by the New Zealand Law Society and is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Claire joined Cone Marshall in 2009 and has been mentored by both Karen Marshall and Geoffrey Cone in the area of international trust and tax planning. During her time at the firm, Claire has developed into a competent and skilled advisor who builds a rapport with clients and pays careful attention to their particular circumstances and needs.
Claire is a director of trust companies in the role of trustee. She has a wealth of experience in the trust, cross-border and tax planning area, particularly with regards to the settlement and management of trusts, companies and limited partnerships in New Zealand and abroad and the migration of companies to and from New Zealand. Claire particularly relishes the challenges associated with the restructuring of existing structures which span over several jurisdictions.
Advisory Board
Gil Levy, Diploma of Law – Barristers Admission Board
Tax and Management Advisor
Gil Levy is the principal of Gilsons Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers.
Gil spent the majority of his professional life as a tax partner with the international accounting firm Pannell Kerr Forster (now merged with BDO in Sydney) and the U.S. based accounting firm Arthur Andersen where he was the head of the Private Client Group in the Sydney Tax division. Following the merger of Arthur Andersen with Ernst and Young in 2002, Gil started the Sydney Branch of the accounting firm MGI Melbourne to provide specialist tax consulting services to their Sydney and offshore based clients and to continue to provide those services to ex Andersen clients.
In 2012 Gil set up his own firm Gilsons Chartered Accountants and Tax Advisers providing high level tax advice to other accounting firms operating primarily in the small to medium enterprises market,both inbound and outbound advice to corporates and high net worth individuals,and dispute resolution with the Australian Taxation Office.
Since February 2021 the firm has operated out of Kelly+ Partners Sydney CBD office working closely with their team of tax lawyers.
Gil has been admitted as a Barrister at the Supreme Court in Sydney. His accreditations include Bachelor of Commerce (Accountancy) from the University of NSW, Chartered Accountant, Certified Practicing Accountant CPA, Chartered Tax Advisor, and Registered Tax Agent.
His professional roles include President of The Taxation Institute (now Life Member), President of the Asia Oceania Tax Consultants Association (AOTCA), member of the International Tax Specialists Group (ITSG), and member of the National Tax Liaison Group. He is also the author of numerous papers for The Taxation Institute.
Joff Macleod, MTaxS
Tax and Management Advisor
Joff has in excess of 30 years’ experience in the Chartered Accountancy profession with the majority of this time devoted to providing tax and advisory services to private and family businesses in Australia.
After completing his CA qualification at a small Melbourne firm, Joff moved to MGI Melbourne (then Boyd Tuckwell Lush) in 1986 and advanced to partnership in 1990. He held the Managing Director role at MGI from 2003 until 2014 when the business was sold to PwC. During this time, the business expanded into Sydney, became part of the MGI International network and an independent wealth advisory firm was created as an integral part of the business model.
Joff spent approximately five years as a partner at PwC before retiring from the partnership in 2018 and commencing his specialist Chartered Accountancy and consulting business, Terra Australis Advisory Pty Ltd. Joff’s focus through Terra Australis Advisory is to provide strategic advisory services to private and family businesses many of which are in the Australian food and agribusiness sector. Joff holds a number of board and advisory board roles with businesses in the financial services and professional services sector including the First Trustee Company Ltd in New Zealand.
Joff has presented papers at various seminars throughout Australia and overseas on taxation, succession planning, retirement planning and international taxation. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters of Taxation from The University of Melbourne and is a member of various other professional and industry bodies.
Joff has held a number of pro bono roles including a long term board and Chair role with the Ardoch Youth Foundation, a long term role on the advisory board of the Australian Professional Footballers Association, an advisory board role with Beanstalk AgTech and is a member of the Victorian State Council of Agribusiness Australia.
