Qualitas appoints Director of External Affairs for retail expansion

Real estate investment manager, Qualitas, has appointed Belinda White as director of external affairs as part of the firm's plan to expand its offering to a retail investor base via ASX listed markets.

White has 17 years of experience as a communications consultant to financial services firms, working for agencies including Honner, WE Buchan and Weber Shandwick. Most recently, she was the external communications manager for Yellow Brick Road.

She is joined at Qualitas by fellow new-recruit, Kathleen Tepana, who has been appointed as director of marketing and direct sales.

Commenting on both appointments, Qualitas' group managing director, Andrew Schwartz, said: "Kathleen Tepana has an outstanding track record in marketing listed investment products, while Belinda White has deep experience in thought leadership and media relations for fund managers. We believe this is a powerful combination of expertise to build our distribution capability."

White added that the role will be a "great professional challenge to educate the retail investor market about a globally established asset class that hasn't had a lot of exposure in Australia."