About AMD Partners
Grant Blanchard
Director
HONESTY – INTEGRITY – EXPERIENCE
Leaving secondary education at age 16, Grant joined the RNZN where he furthered his education in a combination of classroom education in English and Mathematics and seamanship training. Grant transferred to communications and became a radio operator. His career in the Navy was cut short as a result of an injury sustained in an automobile accident. Discipline, when most needed in life, was obtained through his formative teenage years in the navy.
Grant returned to his hometown and his first employment upon recovering was a clerical position with the local daily newspaper. Within 3 months he was promoted to an Advertising Representative position. After a year as a representative, he was offered a job at a rival newspaper as the Manager of Advertising & Sales.
The opportunity presented itself to establish a new weekly newspaper in the city, so he did so at 22 years of age. With the newspaper established, Grant was approached by a group of 17 provincial newspapers where he was appointed as the Executive Office of NZ Provincial Press Limited.
In 1974 Grant left to establish his business offering advertising services, which operated throughout New Zealand and expanded to Australia in 1980.
In 1984 the operations of the business in Australia was separated from New Zealand. Grant transferred his ownership and continued with the growth in Australia. During the next 30 years, this business expanded with company-owned offices in Australia, USA, United Kingdom and Germany and Licensees in Malaysia, South Africa and Ireland. These businesses had a combined staff of 200 and a combined annual turnover of over AUD$20 million.
This business was sold in 2005 and after a few years of operating a boutique hotel in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Grant met Ashley Southon, a well experienced wealth management and mortgage planning executive and together they combined their experience and established AMD Partners, a Buyer’s Agency and Mortgage Planning business with a total focus on working and achieving the best outcome for the buyer.
Grant remarried in 1976 and lives with his wife Julie in Moss Vale. They have a blended family of two sons and two daughter and 6 grandchildren.
The next chapter of Grant’s life is about to be written.
Ashley Southon
Director
Having completed his Higher School Certificate at Knox Grammar school in 1984 Ashley commenced a Bachelor of Business degree Ku-ring-gai CAE. He then entered the financial services industry as an insurance broker specialising in personal and corporate group insurance.
In the late nineties he moved to New Zealand to take up a position as Marketing and sales manager for Amber Pacific, a NZ based import/export company.
On his return from New Zealand in 2001 he worked for James Hardie Industries as an account manager for their Construction and portable buildings divisions. From there he moved into project marketing and property investment sales. During this time, he also became a qualified mortgage broker.
In 2009 he established LIAISE Financial Services, a wealth creation and management business which was to ultimately become AMD Partners.
He has a diploma in financial services and is a licensed Buyers agent
His personal passions are Rugby union, having played 1st grade at leading Sydney clubs, and golf where he spends frustrating hours as a member of Bowral Golf Club. He lives in Bowral NSW and has two children.
James Litic
Partner
Having completed high school education at John XXIII College, James studied Politics and Economics at Murdoch University.
After spending time travelling and working in several jobs, he was asked to join an old school friend who had just started a fledgling mortgage broking company.
As the first broker to join Mortgage Australia Group in 2001, James was well-placed to develop his knowledge and skills in a fast growing industry, which at that time was still in its infancy. Since then, he has seen the ups and downs of various property market cycles and has arranged finance for clients in every state and territory of Australia as well as overseas.
James has specialist knowledge in all aspects of the residential lending market, having worked with some of Australia’s largest building companies, as well as many hundreds of first home buyers and investors. He joined with AMD Partners in 2019 and holds Certificate IV in Mortgage Broking and a Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking.
James enjoys keeping fit at the gym and playing squash and tennis as well as travelling and keeping up with current affairs and politics. He recently eloped to Cradle Mountain where he married Samantha and he also has a close family that he enjoys spending time with, especially his six nieces and nephews who get spoilt rotten.
Key Pages
Contact Info
- Level 1/18 Main Street, Mittagong NSW 2575 PO BOX 587
- 1300 866 015
- info@amdpartners.com.au