国标麻豆视频APP Alumnus Matthew Leibowitz (OKC 1997) has many heartwarming school memories. Not only did he make lifelong friends during his time at Carmel he discovered a love for Maths which ultimately led to a successful career in finance. Matthew is the now the founder of the successful financial services company, Stake and we recently caught up with him to find out more about his journey since graduation.

What did you enjoy most about attending Carmel?听

I was at Carmel from Kindy until Year 5, then returned half-way through Year 10. I loved coming back 鈥� Carmel was so much fun.听 Being back with my childhood friends from when I started school and then being able to finish with them was a blessing.听 I鈥檓 lucky enough that a good chunk of them still play such a big part in my life, and we regularly catch up in person or by phone to check in and talk about nothing or everything!

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What are you most proud of from your school experience?

I think playing Mr. Klup at the Purim concert, wearing an ice cream container under a bald cap was probably my proudest moment both during and after school.听 Getting married and having three amazing children is a close second.

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What skills, knowledge, subjects or people from Carmel helped you in your life or career?

I really enjoyed Maths, and ultimately, it ended up being my career.听 Mrs. Morrison and Mr. Klup took the two classes for Year 12. Our Geometry and Trigonometry class had around eight of us, but we had a lot of fun. I was pushed to a new level by having much smarter kids around me.听

Looking back, I don鈥檛 think I would have gotten to where I did in my TEE (now ATAR) without the teachers and classmates pushing one another across all the classes. I really believe the competitiveness and drive within the year group pushed a lot of us to great heights. Just to be clear, it was a very healthy type of competitiveness!

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Tell us about your journey since graduation. Past roles, achievements, personal and professional highlights.

After Year 12, I went to Israel for a few months and then moved to Sydney for university in 1998. I studied Law and Finance, did the usual travelling including an exchange year, and ultimately ended up at a large law firm in Sydney.听

I was a lawyer for a few years, but ultimately followed my love for Maths and moved into options trading, at a high frequency trading firm called Optiver.听 That was a great experience, and I got to put all the Math lessons Mrs. Morrison and Mr. Klup taught me to good use.听

My wife (Jane) and I ended up moving to Chicago for my work with Optiver after we got married in 2009.听 We lived there for nearly 4 years before coming back to Sydney to have our first child. That was an amazing experience in a fantastic city鈥 still get very emotional watching The Bear on Disney.

All in all, I was at Optiver for a decade and absolutely loved it. I learnt so much, getting to travel all over the world and work with some of the brightest people in finance.

I always had an itch to start my own business and see what I was truly capable of. In 2017 I founded Stake, which gave ambitious Australians direct access to the US stock market. It鈥檚 grown since then with lots of different products, and Stake is now the 3rd largest online broker in Australia, with only 2 banks ahead of us!

There鈥檚 been lots of ups and downs (just like the market) building the business, so it鈥檚 been quite a ride 鈥� but I鈥檓 very proud of what the team have achieved so far and the impact we鈥檝e had on our customers.听 We even sponsored the Eagles for a few years, although unfortunately we didn鈥檛 have any impact on their results!

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Can you describe your current role?

I鈥檓 the founder of the business and was the CEO for the first seven years. Stake鈥檚 now big enough that we were able to bring in a professional CEO, which happened at the beginning of this year.听听

I鈥檓 now focused less on the operational day-to-day and more on the future state of the biz and our product 鈥� i.e. getting back closer to customers, understanding their needs and making sure we鈥檙e building the right things for the years ahead.听

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What do you enjoy most about your current role?

I love being able to work with our team to get them excited about building great outcomes for our customers. We鈥檙e still at the very beginning of the Stake journey and now I have the energy and headspace to keep driving us forward without getting stuck in the weeds.

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What are you most proud of achieving in your life so far?

I can鈥檛 put my finger on one thing really. There is still so much to do and learn, so maybe ask me in another 44 years!

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Are there any long-term goals you hope to achieve?

I鈥檓 not much of a goal setter 鈥� I try to focus on the little things & habits I do every day and see where that takes me. If you work consistently to get incrementally better, the outcomes generally take care of themselves.

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What advice do you have for our current Carmel students who are preparing for their future after graduation?

Try not to stress too much about it now. Have fun, as life only gets more complicated as you get older! Also, something I have learnt over the journey is that you鈥檒l be able to change your path and direction if you need to (just like I did 3 times!). So, what you choose to do first isn鈥檛 the be all and end all.

Alumni