Our People
Darin Tyson-Chan
Founder and publisher
Darin is the founder and publisher of Benchmark Media, an independent publishing house whose mastheads include selfmanagedsuper, smstrusteenews and financialobserver.
He has been covering the financial services space since 2004 and in this time he has worked for a variety of trade publications, including Money Management and IFA.
Darin has also written for the Money section published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Prior to starting Benchmark Media, he was responsible for the 2008 relaunch of SMSF under Morningstar Media, a pioneering publication in the fastest-growing sector of the superannuation industry and an initiative that made him the first journalist to be purely dedicated to the space. He was also managing editor of all of the Morningstar Media mastheads.
In 2013, he was the inaugural winner of the SMSF Association’s Trade Journalist of the Year award.
Jason Spits
SENIOR JOURNALIST
Jason is a senior journalist with Benchmark Media and writes for the selfmanagedsuper website and magazine and smstrusteenews website.
He has covered financial services since 1999 and has written about life insurance, superannuation, investment management and financial advice, in both a freelance and in-house capacity, and also did a brief stint as a media manager for an industry association.
Jason has been the editor of trade titles Money Management and Financial Standard, and prior to joining Benchmark Media he was senior journalist with life insurance title riskinfo.
Lara Caughey
JOURNALIST
Lara Caughey has worked as a journalist and feature writer for newspapers, radio and magazines for more than 20 years, covering courts, crime, breaking news, human interest stories and education, and working on special publications Australia-wide. In addition, Lara has worked in the media in Japan and England.
Taras Misko
Sub-editor
Taras Misko is Benchmark Media’s sub-editor, working across all the company’s titles: selfmanagedsuper, smstrusteenews and financialobserver.
Taras has 30 years’ experience in the media and communications industry. Prior to Benchmark Media, he worked at Morningstar Australasia, sub-editing a range of financial services publications, including InvestorDaily, IFA, Investor Weekly and SMSF.
From 2000 to 2005, he worked in corporate and financial services public relations at listed insurer IAG and Edelman Public Relations Worldwide.
He began his career as a journalist with Australian Associated Press in 1992. During his seven years at AAP, he worked in the Canberra press gallery, on the Sydney finance desk and was deputy bureau chief of the Sydney newsroom.
Cynthia O’Young
Head of events and corporate partnerships
Cynthia is head of events and corporate partnerships at Benchmark Media, responsible for events including SMSF Professionals Day and Trustee Empowerment Day.
Prior to starting at Benchmark Media in January 2013, she managed events and corporate relationships in the aged-care and tourism industries for peak bodies.
Cynthia has a Diploma of Event Management as well as a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics (Social Science) and Government from the University of Sydney.
Vicky Zhao
Events and marketing manager
Vicky is events and marketing manager at Benchmark Media. She completed a Master of Marketing degree at the University of Sydney in 2022.
Prior to undertaking her studies, she worked as an event project manager in China, providing services to many world-leading companies primarily in the pharmaceutical and automobile industries, including Merck, GM and Mercedes-Benz. Her responsibilities included leading and managing tasks and activities, such as planning, implementation and budgeting, in relation to events, conferences and exhibitions.