Former ACCC deputy chair joins Ecstra Foundation board

Ecstra Foundation has announced the appointment of Delia Rickard to its board of directors.

The deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) until her retirement in January 2023, Rickard would join Ecstra’s board on 18 April 2023.

“She brings deep consumer policy expertise and sector leadership across her distinguished career,” noted Ecstra’s chair Paul Clitheroe AM. 

“We are confident Ecstra will benefit from Delia’s insights into financial capability and her passion for financial literacy and consumer protection as Ecstra delivers on its mission to help build the financial wellbeing of all Australians.”

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At the ACCC, Rickard’s work spanned consumer data rights, enforcement and compliance, product safety, the ACCC’s Financial Services Competition Board, and chairing the ACCC’s market study into the cost of insurance in Northern Australia.  

Prior to that, she had been a senior executive at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) where she oversaw the development of the Moneysmart website and was a member of the ASIC advisory panel into school banking.  

She was also a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) board since August 2022. 

Her vast experience would include being a trustee of the Jan Pentland Foundation, director of Super Consumers Australia, and chairing Good Shepherd’s Advisory Committee on Financial Inclusion Action Plans. 

Clitheroe noted: “Ecstra’s suite of financial education programs in schools, community grants, and partnerships focused on improving consumer outcomes are vitally important as many Australians are navigating cost-of-living pressures and increasing household financial stress. Delia’s extensive experience and understanding of these areas will be enormously beneficial to Ecstra.”

Commenting on her appointment, Rickard said she looked forward to contributing towards financial capability and wellbeing, an area that she felt “deeply passionate about”. 

“Ensuring consumers, especially young people, can access the information, tools and resources to make sound financial decisions has been a focus throughout my career. I am pleased to be working with the Board to help elevate this important work,” Rickard said. 

Caroline Stewart, chief executive of Ecstra Foundation, highlighted that Rickard joined the board at a “critical juncture”. 

“She was instrumental in the development of the original and very successful National Financial Literacy Strategy. Given the uncertain external economic environment and many areas of persistent economic inequality, we would like to see renewed cross-sector commitments, including by the government to the current National Financial Capability Strategy, launched in 2022,” Stewart said. 

“This would include collaboration and co-ordination of the efforts of many stakeholders working directly to support consumers, a nationally consistent approach to providing effective financial education in schools and appropriate consumer protection and policy settings to help improve the financial futures of all Australians.”