Mark Leigh Bouris is an Australian businessman who is best known as the founder and chairman of 'Wizard Home Loans', Australia's second largest non-bank mortgage lender behind Aussie Home Loans. He is now the chairman of Yellow Brick Road, a business which he founded in 2007.
Video Mark Bouris
Background
Mark Bouris was born in Punchbowl to a Greek-born father and an Irish-Catholic mother; and lived in Punchbowl until the age of 18. Bouris attended the University of New South Wales.
Maps Mark Bouris
Business career
Wizard Home Loans was founded by Bouris in 1996 and was sold to GE Money in 2004 for $500 million. Subsequently Wizard was sold by GE to competitor, Aussie Home Loans, for a fraction of the $500 million during the midst of the Global Financial Crisis in December 2008. However, thousands of mortgage holders were left locked into a loan with a GE Money subsidiary that refused to pass on interest reductions but did increase interest rates in line with RBA increases.
Current business
On 18 June 2009, Bouris became the chairman of TZ Limited. Bouris wrote "I am a true believer in TZ, its technology, its people and now its working rhythms. I am excited about the future and I am privileged to be involved in what I consider to be an extraordinarily bright future for this company."
He currently is the chairman of Yellow Brick Road which is involved in finance planning, finance advice, wealth management and home loans. He is a board member and supporter of the Sydney Roosters rugby league team, in the Australian National Rugby League.
In August 2011, Bouris was appointed as non-executive chairman of Anteo Diagnostics, an Australian biotechnology company that provides innovative medical diagnostic technologies. He is also a Non-Executive Chairman of Serena Resources Limited, an Australian public resources company focused on developing copper opportunities in Chile.
Awards
Bouris first entered the BRW Rich 200 list in 2005 and in 2007 he was included on the list for the second time.
At the 2015 Australia Day Honours, Bouris was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the finance industry, particularly the home loan mortgage sector, to education, and to charitable organisations.
Media personality
Bouris has been well known by Australians for his personal appearance in Wizard Home Loan commercials during the late 1990s and early 21st century. He has also been well known by the Greek community because he has Greek heritage. Based on his high media profile, on 8 June 2009, Bouris was named as the host of the Australian version of The Apprentice to air on the Nine Network, the series aired in 2009 but only remained on air for one season. Bouris remained as host when the spin-off series The Celebrity Apprentice Australia premiered in October 2011. The Celebrity Apprentice was a huge success, and often rated within the top 5 television programs of the day. In November 2011, the Nine Network announced that they had renewed the series for a second season, which began airing in April 2012 and featured imported celebrity David Hasselhoff.
As well as regular media appearances, Bouris hosts The Mentor, a weekly podcast produced and distributed through the PodcastOne network.
References
External links
- Australian Economic Outlook on Property Club Conference
Source of article : Wikipedia
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