Australian Unity Property hires former AMP executive

Australian Unity's property arm has appointed Melissa Hillebrand as general manager of equity origination.

In the role, Hillebrand will be responsible for the equity and growth agendas of Australian Unity's portfolio of mortgages, commercial property, healthcare, and social infrastructure.

She joins Australian Unity from AMP Capital, where she spent eight years in senior institutional business development roles raising significant equity across a range of asset classes including real estate and infrastructure.

Before moving to AMP Capital, Hillebrand spent eight years in London as a business development executive with a hedge fund that operated in the UK institutional and local authority pension fund sector as well as with institutional asset consultants in the UK and Benelux.

She also did a stint at the Australian High Commission where she was responsible for foreign direct investment facilitation from the UK and Europe into Australia for the financial services sector.

Before going to London, she worked in investment banking at Macquarie Bank for 13 years across various businesses in capital raising and client-facing roles.

Mark Pratt, Australian Unity's executive property manager said Hillebrand's appointment comes at a time of growth for the business.

"Melissa is a highly experienced institutional business development leader, having held local and global positions for financial institutions and the Australian High Commission in London, and it is exciting to have attracted someone of her calibre to the team," he said.

"Her strong record of building excellent cross-functional relationships will be fundamental in sourcing capital and identifying appropriate equity opportunities to advance our strategic growth ambitions."

Hillebrand said she was attracted to Australian Unity's purpose as a well-being organisation, and the breadth of the property platform capabilities

She is on the Women In Super Board which advocates for better, fairer retirement outcomes for women.