FinEd Forum 2024 Speaker bios

Hon. Daniel Mookhey MLC

Treasurer of NSW

Daniel Mookhey was elected to the Parliament of NSW on 6 May 2015 as a Member of the Legislative Council.
The son of Indian migrants, Daniel was the first MP in an Australian Parliament and the first Treasurer to be sworn in on the Hindu religious text, the Bhagavad Gita.

Daniel is a passionate advocate for the people of NSW.

As Treasurer since March 2023, Daniel has delivered two budgets, with a focus on helping the people of NSW with the cost of living, fixing essential services, addressing the housing crisis and driving reform to get the state budget back to a sustainable position.
He has done this at a challenging time for the people of NSW with high inflation and interest rates affecting both family budgets and the state budget.

Effie Zahos

9News Money Editor, author and personal finance commentator

Effie is one of Australia’s leading personal finance commentators with more than two decades of experience helping Australians make the most of their money. A regular money expert on Channel 9’s Today Show and on radio around Australia, Effie is also the author of The Great $20 Adventure and A Real Girl’s Guide to Money and Ditch the Debt and Get Rich.

Effie was InvestSMART’s Chief Content Officer and was Editor-at-Large of Canstar for four years. She was also the editor of Money magazine until 2019, having helped establish it in 1999.

She will be joining the 9Network in a new role as 9News Money Editor from October 7 where she will work across 9News, A Current Affair, Today, and Today Extra, delivering critical financial insights that directly impact Australian households and families.

Passionate about financial literacy, Effie sits on the board of directors for Ecstra, a not-for-profit organisation committed to building the financial capability of all Australians. She also sits on board for ASX listed company InvestSMART, a low-cost digital wealth creating platform.

Effie holds a Bachelor of Economics Degree from the University of Queensland. She is the proud mother of two children who are beginning to build on their own financial freedom.

Caroline Stewart

CEO, Ecstra Foundation

Caroline is the CEO of Ecstra, and a philanthropic leader with over 25 years of corporate, legal, financial services, governance and not-for-profit experience.

Caroline works to improve genuine collaboration across sectors, to address the widening financial literacy gap and improve the financial wellbeing of Australians across all life stages. This includes engaging with communities, educators, consumer organisations, corporate, government and charity sectors.

She led the UBS Australia Foundation, and is a board member of charities including WAGEC (Women and Girls Emergency Centre, Redfern) and The Achieve Foundation. Previously she was a board member of Philanthropy Australia, chair of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee and on the board of Lenity Australia. She is a member of the ACNC Sector Forum and works on a pro bono basis with a range of community organisations. She started her professional career as a banking and finance lawyer.

Roset Khair

Vice President Economics and Business Educators NSW

Roset Khair is the Head of Teaching and Learning at her school, having taught in the public and independent school sector. She has been a been a Director of the Economic and Business Educators NSW for almost 6 years and has convened and presented many of their Commerce & Business Studies courses around assessment, literacy, and creative and independent learning. She is also the NSW Affiliate for Business Educators Australasia, the professional organisation representing all states. She is also the educational consultant for the ASX Sharemarket game where last year she finished a major project updating their learning materials.

Roset holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Management), Diploma in Business (Front Line Management), and a Master in Teaching (Secondary) and a Master in Education (Learning and Leadership).

In 2022 she was awarded Western Sydney Women Educator of the Year and was also awarded 2022 Crescent Awards Educator of the year for Innovation in Teaching.