Owners Advisory founder and chief investment officer John O’Connell passed away suddenly last week at the age of 53.
O’Connell in March last year launched the Owners Advisory offering, an automated advice service aimed at SMSF trustees and self-directed investors, under Macquarie.
The company today said: “John was a warm and generous leader who provided thoughtful insights and an innovative perspective in an easily understood way. We all have fond memories of working with John and he will be greatly missed by all of us.
“We’re committed to continuing John’s legacy with automated and innovated investment advice.
“To fulfil John’s vision to support advisers in efficiently providing investment advice to more Australians, we will be integrating our automated advice offering into our leading wealth platform so advisers can incorporate robo-advice into their value proposition for clients.
“Given Owners Advisory was powered by John’s personal investment philosophy and insights, unfortunately we will no longer be able to provide advice to direct investors through our website.”
O’Connell had a long and successful career at Macquarie, starting as a senior analyst in the 1990s before becoming Macquarie’s global head of research, where he built a leading global research team.
“He was always at the cutting edge of new ideas and nothing demonstrated this more than his decision to establish Owners Advisory to make professional-grade, automated investment advice and services available online,” the company said.
