MEET OUR TEAM
“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”
Woodrow Wilson
Co-Founder
David Johnstone: Co-Founder
With over 40 years of diverse business experience, David Johnstone excels in leadership, driving growth, and navigating complexities. He has held key roles in various sectors, including technology, finance, and sports, as director, chair, and advisor for both public and private enterprises. With a background in financial services and emerging technologies, he has facilitated sales, mergers, acquisitions, and funding arrangements, leading to successful listings on The Australian and London stock exchanges. David's passion lies in empowering CEOs and business owners, evident through his initiative, the Lonely Leaders Platform, where he shares invaluable insights to facilitate their success.
Co-Founder
Nick Palmer: Co-Founder
Nick Palmer is a deeply experienced business leader. He is a former CEO of three substantial businesses and chair or director of multiple companies spanning sectors including asset management, consumer finance, retail, property and media. He also currently chairs two significant families' advisory boards and investment committees. Nick was a partner and financial services leader at global consulting firm Bain & Company and a principal at the Boston Consulting Group. He has a particular passion for supporting entrepreneurial founders grow and professionalise their business and manage their own succession. He brings a pragmatic, down to earth approach to each situation, supported by strong communications skills, and an outstanding academic pedigree.
Co-Founder
Nim de Swardt: Associate
Nim is a trusted adviser to significant families and one of Australia’s foremost experts in next generation development, leadership, and legacy. She has spent ~20 years working closely with complex family systems, including as Chief Next Generation Officer for the multi-generational Bacardi family, helping strengthen the human infrastructure that underpins enduring wealth—identity, purpose, belonging, and trust.
Nim supports rising generation members to
step into ownership with clarity and confidence, translating inheritance into agency. Her work spans governance readiness, leadership development, and intergenerational communication, with a strong focus on values-led contribution and stewardship.
She brings a thoughtful, practical approach grounded in narrative identity, enabling clients to make better decisions, communicate more effectively, and engage more constructively across generations.
Co-Founder
Barton White: Associate
Bart is a strategic adviser to business leaders and entrepreneurial families, helping them navigate complexity, manage transitions, and align decisions across business, wealth, and legacy. He partners closely with clients to bring structure, clarity, and informed perspective to their most important decisions—whether succession, next generation readiness, or long-term wealth continuity.
With a strong focus on both financial and human dynamics, Bart helps turn success into intentional outcomes, balancing performance with purpose. He is a trusted sounding board, known for translating complexity into clear, actionable plans and guiding clients with calm and focus.
His work enables better decisions, stronger alignment across stakeholders, and greater confidence to lead through change and into the future.