Who We Are

Who We Are

The people behind FMH Group are highly experienced industry leaders.

The Board

Damian
Damian Degenhardt

Founder
Executive Director

simon
Simon Slagter

Group CEO
Executive Director

kenneth
Kenneth John Ryan AM

Non-Executive Chairman

blank
Damian Degenhardt

Founder
Executive Director

simon
Simon Slagter

Group CEO
Executive Director

Damian founded efm in 2000 and built the company into the largest 4PL in the region and a top 200 private company in Australia.

After a brief role within a Tier 1 express freight carrier, Damian quickly identified an opportunity and started efm in a capital-light niche of the market: freight brokerage. Through the successful attraction of industry leaders to the organisation, growth was rapid and unprecedented. His understanding of the potential for technology to transform the logistics industry has driven the Group’s investment in technology and the use of its proprietary software as a competitive advantage.

His vision is to build an integrated logistics network heavily enabled by technology to capitalise on the Group’s unique market position. This integrated network would reduce the Group’s reliance on any one carrier, differentiate it from the traditional larger players and shield it from emerging startup competition. Damian is known for his integrity, strategic vision and entrepreneurial skills.

Simon commenced his career as a trainee with Deloitte and is a Chartered Accountant by profession with over 22 years’ experience across a range of industries. He has been with the Group for more than 7 years in various executive positions including CFO and COO and has in-depth knowledge of the company and logistics industry in Australia.

In his role as CEO of the Group, Simon has demonstrated leadership that has resulted in significant top line growth as well as bottom line profitability through the implementation of commercial programs of work through which the business has scaled. A big focus area was achievement of cultural alignment across the team that ensured a customer-centric approach was taken in all decision making.

Simon is fully committed to ensuring that the Group is successful in achieving its aspiration of true supply chain efficiency for its customers.

kenneth
Kenneth John Ryan AM

Non-Executive Chairman

paul
Paul Coutts

Non-Executive Director

Ken is an experienced senior corporate executive and non-executive Director. His areas of expertise include aviation, logistics and international relations. Ken served as a non-executive director for Toll Holdings Limited from 2013 until negotiation and successful sale to Japan Post in mid 2015. Between 2017 and 2020 he was Agent General to the United Kingdom and Commissioner to Europe and Israel for the State of Victoria. Over more than 20 years, he worked with Qantas Airways Limited across a range of roles including Worldwide Head of Marketing and Inflight Services (Sydney based) and Regional General Manager South East Asia, Qantas and British Airways (Singapore based). Ken was made Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for services to the community through roles with charitable organisations supporting children and youth; and to tourism and sport.

Paul has more than 25 years of experience in C-suite positions at major global logistics and postal companies. As CEO of Singapore Post Limited (SingPost), Paul provides overall leadership to the transformation of SingPost, integrates SingPost’s eCommerce logistics platforms and builds out a globally competitive business. Prior to joining SingPost, Paul was Group CEO of Toll Global Forwarding, one of the five divisions in the Toll Group, since February 2013 in a global role based in Singapore and previously spent 21 years with Deutsche Post/DHL. He has attended several executive programmes at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and London Business School.

paul

Paul Coutts

Non-Executive Director

richard
Richard Lai

Non-Executive Director

brittany

Brittany BrownE

Group Company Secretary

richard
Richard Lai

Non-Executive Director

brittany

Brittany BrownE

Group Company Secretary

Paul has more than 25 years of experience in C-suite positions at major global logistics and postal companies. As CEO of Singapore Post Limited (SingPost), Paul provides overall leadership to the transformation of SingPost, integrates SingPost’s eCommerce logistics platforms and builds out a globally competitive business. Prior to joining SingPost, Paul was Group CEO of Toll Global Forwarding, one of the five divisions in the Toll Group, since February 2013 in a global role based in Singapore and previously spent 21 years with Deutsche Post/DHL. He has attended several executive programmes at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and London Business School.

Mr Lai has more than 28 years of experience in the financial, property and banking industries; having held key roles in banking and finance, logistics, real estate investment and asset management, mergers and acquisitions, strategic and corporate planning and property development. He was appointed CFO of several SGX-listed entities before becoming Group Chief Financial Officer of Singapore Post. In his current role, Mr Lai oversees all financial and strategic investment matters of Singapore Post Limited, including financial reporting, taxation, risk management, treasury and investor relations functions. He is also in charge of the Property portfolio, driving the direction and profitability of this business segment. Mr Lai holds a Bachelor in Economics (Honours) with a major in Accounting and Finance from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Mr Lai is a member of Malaysian Mensa Society.

Brittany is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer with focus areas in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and negotiation of complex matters, including cross-border transactions. In her role as Company Secretary, Brittany guides the Board on corporate governance principles and on their statutory duties and responsibilities and provides support and advice to the Group in corporate transactions and projects. Prior to joining FMH Group, Brittany held various roles with leading national law firms Mills Oakley Lawyers and KHQ Lawyers, and, whilst based in Germany, advised German insurance company, ARAG SE on its expansion into Australia.

Leadership

simon
Simon Slagter

Group CEO
Executive Director

susan

Susan Beling

Group COO – 4PL
CEO, efm Logistics

keith
Keith Bawden

Group CTO
CEO, FLIP

bruce
Bruce Wilson

Group COO – Transport and Warehousing
CEO, Logistics Holdings Australia

simon
Simon Slagter

Group CEO
Executive Director

susan

Susan Beling

Group COO – 4PL
CEO, efm Logistics

Simon commenced his career as a trainee with Deloitte and is a Chartered Accountant by profession with over 22 years’ experience across a range of industries. He has been with the Group for over 7 years in various executive positions including CFO and COO and has in-depth knowledge of the company and logistics industry in Australia.

In his role as CEO of the Group, Simon has demonstrated leadership that has resulted in significant top line growth as well as bottom line profitability through the implementation of commercial programs of work through which the business has scaled. A big focus area was achievement of cultural alignment across the team that ensured a customer centric approach was taken in all decision making.

Simon is fully committed to ensuring that the Group is successful in achieving its aspiration of true supply ­­chain efficiency for its customers.

Susan is an experienced Executive with proven expertise in organisational development, strategic growth, enterprise relationships, and strong leadership capabilities. After studying teaching, she changed direction and has spent her career building businesses within the services sector and understands how to scale whilst still maintaining strong cultural alignment within a rapidly growing team. 

Susan has been employed at efm for nearly 8 years in both the Chief Commercial and Chief Operating Officer roles. She has also served as a Company Director. Prior to efm she was the Managing Director at Adecco Australia where she worked for 13 years. Susan’s strengths lie in her effective ability to deliver strong year on year top and bottom-line results through high team engagement and exceptional customer retention. Known for her ability to attract, develop and retain the best talent, her focus is always ‘people first’.

keith
Keith Bawden

Group CTO
CEO, FLIP

bruce
Bruce Wilson

Group COO – Transport and Warehousing
CEO, Logistics Holdings Australia

With a wealth of experience in both engineering and leadership, Keith is a senior technologist with unique insight into how to leverage technology to achieve real world goals. He has held various roles at Amazon across systems, software and data engineering and he has held the dual role of Executive General Manager and Chief Technology Officer at Groupon Japan, where he introduced Lean and Agile practices and dramatically modernized the engineering and product effort.

At FLIP, Keith leverages his deep logistics experience and works closely with a wide range of partners to help form strong visions and convert those into reality. His mission is to increase the engagement of other technologists into effective partnerships with their business counterparts and to deliver excellence consistently and repeatedly. 

Bruce is an advisor and senior executive with 30 years’ experience. During this time he has worked with Toll Holdings, Linfox and Mayne Nickless. Most recently, he was the Divisional Director and President of Toll Global Express, where he was responsible for the development and execution of the overall business strategy.

A respected leader in the industry, he is also advisor to the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (International Freight Assistance Mechanism – IFAM) and in recent times, the Victorian Government.

Bruce oversees the Group’s Transport and Warehousing Division, consisting of BagTrans, Niche Logistics and Warehousing. He is a collaborative, empowering and authentic leader and brings a comprehensive understanding of supply chains and scale to the role. 

integrated logicstics

Louise Dawson

FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR

During her career as a nurse and later working in Occupational Health and Safety, Louise identified a need in the community. She noticed that the existing transactional model of distributors selling defibrillators was insufficient to make a real difference.

Louise recognised that a holistic program of education, support and confidence-building would be required to effectively treat the thousands of Australians affected by sudden cardiac arrest each year.

With a warm heart, Louise plays a tremendous role in fostering a friendly and harmonious work environment. Louise’s drive to empower communities is reflected in her encouraging leadership style and energising spirit.

A dedicated mother with a passion for fitness, Louise spends her weekends enjoying Victoria’s countryside trails with her family.

Group Leadership

Name

JOB TITLE

Name

JOB TITLE

Name

JOB TITLE

Name

JOB TITLE