Michelle Tate-Lovery has been named the Money Management 2012 Financial Planner of the Year, with Fiducian's William Johns being named the runner-up.
Related: Meet the winner
Related: Meet the runner-up
Related: Meet the finalists
Tate-Lovery has been working primarily with clients in the allied health sector for more than 20 years and was recently named the state and national winner of the 2012 FPA CFP Professional Best Practice Award.
It was her commitment to professionalism and education which impressed the judges the most.
Tate-Lovery has operated on a fee-for-service remuneration model since opening her business in 1989.
"Michelle has made a significant contribution to the continued drive towards professionalism in the industry, particularly through her work with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the development of workplace financial education programs," said last year's winner and member of the judging panel, Charles Badenach.
The runner-up spot was awarded to Fiducian Financial Services financial planner William Johns, who specialises in clients with physical and mental disabilities.
At Fiducian, he had implemented the Benefiting the Community model, where each client nominates a charity and donates part of Fiducian's advice fee to it.
"What I do is not easy and sometimes I feel like giving up, but an award like this means the industry acknowledges my contribution," he said.
This year's Financial Planner of the Year award saw a list of diverse yet high-calibre financial planning professionals emerge into the finals.
Managing director of Wealth Enhancers Sarah Riegelhuth, Tupicoffs authorised representative James Kenny and partner at Quantum Financial Services Claire Mackay were all praised by the judges on their contribution to the financial planning industry and their respective communities.
