RHODES FINANCE TEAM
Meet Our Leadership & Credit Team
A seasoned team bringing decades of combined expertise across financial services, commercial lending, credit underwriting, venture capital, and legal governance.
Leadership – Decades of Experience
PEFA Consultancy – Robust Credit Assessment
Wally Djachenko
Wally is the Founder of the Rhodes Financial Group and brings a diverse business background, including corporate lending experience with a major Australian bank. Since establishing the Group, he has overseen lending, credit risk, compliance and governance functions, helping shape the lending and investment strategies that underpin strong outcomes for clients and investors.
Ian Chester-Master
Ian brings more than 40 years’ experience across the financial services industry, with extensive expertise in credit assessment, risk management, compliance and governance. As a longstanding member of the Credit Committee, he contributes valuable insight and oversight to the evaluation of lending opportunities and credit risk.
Javier Arango
Javier is a private credit and funds management specialist with more than 25 years’ experience across mortgage lending, property finance and alternative investments. He has extensive expertise in credit assessment, loan structuring, portfolio management and risk analysis, with a strong track record of delivering private credit solutions across residential, commercial and development lending. Javier has also played a key role in establishing and managing mortgage investment funds, helping deliver strong outcomes for both borrowers and investors.
Chris Wheatley
Non-Executive Director
Chris is a professional accountant, serves as a director of a growing accounting firm in Brisbane, and has worked in public practice for 19 years.
Andrew
Senior Property Finance specialist and Credit Committee member
Through PEFA’s independent advisory engagement with Rhodes Finance, Andrew brings more than 30 years’ experience across commercial finance, property finance and credit assessment. Having held senior roles with major Australian banks and private lenders, he contributes valuable expertise in credit analysis, transaction structuring, portfolio management and lending risk assessment, supported by extensive experience in commercial real estate and property development finance.
Rohan
Property Risk Expert and Credit Committee member
Through PEFA’s independent advisory engagement with Rhodes Finance, Rohan contributes more than 30 years of experience across construction, project delivery and property investment. A qualified Quantity Surveyor with postgraduate project management qualifications, he is also a registered Builder and Licensed Real Estate Agent. His practical commercial perspective assists the Rhodes Finance Credit Committee in assessing project feasibility, development risks and asset quality across a broad range of lending opportunities.
Emma Harbort
Business Development Manager
With over a decade of financial services experience across Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority and Heritage Bank, Emma brings deep expertise in credit assessment and commercial lending to help brokers and clients structure pragmatic funding solutions.
Stephen Croll
Business Development Manager
Stephen has 38 years of experience in finance, starting with commercial lending at Westpac for 8 years. He later held Business Development roles with mortgage managers and a large accounting firm.
Michael Riddiford
Business Development Manager
With extensive experience across Australian major banks and financial institutions, Michael brings deep expertise in commercial and residential mortgage lending to help brokers and clients structure pragmatic funding solutions.
External Advisory
Independent third-party credit policy audit and risk evaluation
Specialised guidance on complex restructuring and high-value loan facilities
Ensuring robust credit assessment and alignment with institutional credit benchmarks
