WAM Alternative Assets Limited has appointed Torty Howard as an Independent Non-Executive Director. The listed investment company, which trades on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code WMA, announced the appointment on 12 October 2026, with effect from the sixteenth of October.
Howard joins alongside Bruce Tomlinson, who was appointed on the same terms and from the same date. Both will stand for election by shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.
A wealth management operator
Howard is Chief Operating Officer and a Partner at Escala Partners, the Australian private wealth firm. She has spent more than twenty years in financial services across wealth management, investment operations, business operations, risk and governance.
Her career began at UBS Wealth Management in the United Kingdom. She later moved to UBS in Australia, and went on to senior roles at Crestone Wealth Management, where she helped establish the Melbourne office, and at Koda Capital, where she became Head of Advice Services in Sydney. She rejoined the Escala Partners founders in 2023.
She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Bristol, an Investment Management Certificate and a Certificate in Paraplanning.
An orderly board change
The two appointments coincide with the resignation of Kym Evans, effective the same day. Evans chaired the Audit and Risk Committee. Michael Cottier, Independent Non-Executive Chair, said Evans's legal, risk and general management expertise, together with his leadership as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, had been greatly valued by the board. Of the incoming directors, Cottier said their complementary skills and experience would be valuable additions.
The company did not state which committee roles Howard will take, and did not say who succeeds Evans as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
The vehicle she joins
WAM Alternative Assets gives retail investors a diversified portfolio of alternative assets of a kind ordinarily available only to institutions, with an objective of consistent absolute returns from dividend yield and capital growth. Wilson Asset Management was appointed investment manager in October 2020, taking over the vehicle formerly known as the Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund.
As at the end of September the company reported assets of 239.2 million Australian dollars and pre-tax net tangible assets of 1.20 dollars per share. It has reported an investment portfolio return of 8.9 per cent a year since October 2020 before expenses, fees and tax, at a standard deviation of 3.0 per cent against 12.3 per cent for the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index, and a full-year dividend of 6.0 cents per share franked at 60 per cent.
The board now comprises Cottier as Independent Non-Executive Chair, Geoff Wilson AO and Adrian Siew as Non-Independent Directors, and John Baillie, Howard and Tomlinson as Independent Non-Executive Directors.
