================================================================ LIFE WITHOUT DEBT · PROFESSIONAL-HISTORY BRIEF · LAURENCE HUGO ================================================================ Reply inline. Type your answer on the ANSWER: line under each question. If a question doesn't apply, write N/A. If you'd rather discuss on a call, write CALL. If a question has legal- sensitivity you'd want Deen's eye on before answering in writing, write FLAG FOR DEEN. When done, reply-all to this email with the completed form. Estimated time: 60 minutes in one sitting. Parts 3 and 5 are the heaviest, take extra care there. ================================================================ PART 1 · YOUR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ================================================================ Q1.1 In what year did you commence practising as a specialist debt negotiator / mediator? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ Q1.2 In what year was Credit Mediation Services Pty Ltd incorporated, and when did you first hold Australian Credit Licence 387398 (or its predecessor authorisations)? ANSWER: CMS incorporated : ___________________________________ ACL 387398 held from: _________________________________ Q1.3 Which best describes CMS's practice model? Tick all that apply. [ ] Personal debt negotiation (consumer credit cards, personal loans) [ ] Business / small-business debt negotiation [ ] Commercial debt restructuring [ ] Debt-collection defence [ ] Financial hardship / vulnerability advocacy [ ] Bankruptcy alternatives / pre-insolvency advisory [ ] Regulatory / compliance advocacy on behalf of debtors [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ Q1.4 Give me ONE SCALE MARKER we can quote, a number a sophisticated donor, board colleague, or journalist would recognise as evidence of practice depth. Examples of the FORM only: · "negotiated $X of consumer debt over N years" · "handled N cases across the practice's lifetime" · "oldest specialist AU practice of its kind (N years)" · "X% average reduction on qualifying cases" ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q1.5 What CREDENTIALS, MEMBERSHIPS OR AUTHORISATIONS do you hold personally (as distinct from CMS-the-entity)? (e.g. ACL responsible-manager status, AFCA membership, industry-body memberships, formal qualifications.) ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q1.6 SECTOR RECOGNITION, the site references "As seen on..." with SMH and other outlets. Which specific coverage would you want catalogued as citable on LWD? Any coverage you'd prefer NOT to reference? ANSWER: Include: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Exclude: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Q1.7 Are there SPECIFIC HISTORICAL PRACTICE STATISTICS (waiver percentages, reduction ranges, resolution timeframes) you'd be comfortable being quoted by LWD as "in the CEO's 30 years of practice, typical outcomes for qualifying cases fell in the range X to Y%"? Or is this a bright-line-no for regulatory / ASIC reasons? Genuine question, flag for Deen if unclear. [ ] Yes, the following statistics are safe to quote: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ [ ] No, practice statistics stay in the practice [ ] Flag for Deen [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ ================================================================ PART 2 · CREDITOR-SIDE RELATIONSHIPS & INDUSTRY STANDING ================================================================ Your 30 years puts you on first-name terms with a generation of AU bank hardship teams, AFCA staff, ASIC contacts, and industry-body figures. Some of that relational depth is publishable; some is not. This maps what LWD can and can't lean on. Q2.1 Which do you have DIRECT PROFESSIONAL STANDING with in AU right now? "Standing with" means they'd take your call. [ ] Major bank consumer-hardship teams (Big Four + Macquarie / Bendigo / ING etc.) [ ] Non-bank consumer lenders / BNPL providers [ ] Debt-purchaser / debt-collector legal counsel [ ] AFCA (case-management level) [ ] ASIC (licensing / policy staff, at any level) [ ] Financial Counselling Australia / member counsellors [ ] Consumer-credit legal-aid / community legal centres [ ] Financial Rights Legal Centre [ ] Industry bodies (CIO / MFAA / AFIA / others): _________________________________________________ [ ] Financial-hardship academic / policy researchers [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ Q2.2 Of those ticked, which relationships would you ACTIVELY BE WILLING TO DEPLOY on behalf of LWD in Y1, for referral pathways, policy conversations, or credibility endorsements? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q2.3 Which relationships would you SPECIFICALLY WANT TO KEEP OUT of LWD-facing communications? No explanation needed. Could be a competitive-conflict, an active AFCA matter, or a relationship you preserve carefully for CMS operations. ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q2.4 Any specific INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS, CONFERENCES OR FORUMS you'd want LWD visible in and where you have the professional standing to open the door? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q2.5 MEDIA POSITIONING, how much of your practitioner authority do you want to lean into on behalf of LWD? Tick ONE. [ ] Actively, position me as an on-the-record spokesperson for consumer-credit reform in palliative-care contexts [ ] Selectively, I'll speak on record for stories LWD has vetted, not generally [ ] Reactively only, LWD spokesperson is Corrina/Lisa; I'm named-founder-not-media-face [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ ================================================================ PART 3 · YOUR LWD ROLES, AND THE CMS RELATIONSHIP ================================================================ You wear two director hats, LWD Founding Director & CEO, and sole director of Credit Mediation Services Pty Ltd. Every question here has related-party-transaction weight. Deen and Carla will care about the answers. Q3.1 Which label do you want as your PRIMARY PUBLIC TITLE on the LWD site? Tick ONE. [ ] Founding Director & CEO [ ] Co-founder & CEO [ ] Founding CEO, holder of ACL 387398 via Credit Mediation Services Pty Ltd [ ] Something else: ____________________________________ Q3.2 How should the CMS ↔ LWD RELATIONSHIP be described publicly? Tick the option closest to your intended position. [ ] WIND-DOWN, CMS ceases new-client acceptance on LWD launch; existing matters run out; LWD is the going-forward vehicle [ ] PARALLEL + ARM'S-LENGTH, CMS continues as separate commercial entity; LWD contracts CMS for licensed-practitioner services under Board-approved service agreement [ ] PARALLEL + DECLINING, CMS keeps non-palliative caseload; palliative and hardship-vulnerable cases move to LWD referral over time [ ] NOT YET DECIDED, want to discuss with Board / Deen / Carla first [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ Q3.3 Regardless of Q3.2, do you want the site to EXPLICITLY DISCLOSE the CMS directorship and two-entity structure, or keep it in the constitutional / governance layer only? Tick ONE. [ ] EXPLICIT, front-and-centre in every founder bio [ ] STANDARD, /governance-public and /faq only, not on marketing pages [ ] CONSTITUTIONAL-LAYER ONLY, disclosed in the constitution and register-of-interests; not featured elsewhere [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ Q3.4 REMUNERATION POSITIONING, Y1 budget indicates CEO salary ~$165K (authorised range $150K to $180K). Framed publicly as? Tick ONE. [ ] Named amount + benchmarked-to-sector language [ ] Range-only + benchmarked-to-sector language [ ] "Board-approved market-rate salary, per constitutional clause 23", no figure disclosed [ ] Deferred discussion until board is formalised [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ ================================================================ PART 4 · YOUR PRACTITIONER WITNESS ================================================================ Not asking for founder-voice launch copy. Asking for what 30 years of practice has you SPECIFICALLY ABLE TO TESTIFY TO, in ways nobody without that practice can. Short, direct answers. Bullets fine. Q4.1 In 30 years negotiating consumer debt on behalf of individuals, WHAT HAVE YOU SPECIFICALLY WITNESSED about how creditors treat debtors who are terminally ill, life-limited, or in serious health crisis? What do you know that someone reading a policy report doesn't? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q4.2 In your professional judgement, WHERE DOES THE CURRENT SYSTEM MOST SERIOUSLY FAIL these debtors? Multiple bullets fine. ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q4.3 Why CONVERT TO A CHARITABLE VEHICLE NOW, after 30 years running a commercial licensed practice? What professional reason, not personal, took you to the CLG-as-vehicle decision? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q4.4 If you could get ONE POLICY OR INDUSTRY-PRACTICE CHANGE made in Australian consumer credit as it applies to terminally / seriously ill debtors, what would it be? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q4.5 If a journalist called from a broadsheet financial-affairs desk and asked "what makes LWD credible when there are already financial counsellors, community legal centres, and the National Debt Helpline?", what's your ONE-SENTENCE ANSWER that only a 30-year licensed practitioner could give? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q4.6 WHICH CREDENTIAL OF YOURS should be in the FIRST LINE of your bio on the LWD site? What matters most for donor, board, media, and referrer scrutiny? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ================================================================ PART 5 · WHAT YOU WANT NOT-SAID ================================================================ Highest legal-sensitivity section. Flag any question you want Deen's review on before finalising. Q5.1 Anything about SPECIFIC PAST CASES, PAST CLIENTS, OR PAST OUTCOMES you'd want firmly kept out of LWD publications? (This is about incidents that shouldn't even be COMPOSITED from.) ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q5.2 Anything about SPECIFIC CREDITORS, BANKS, OR INDUSTRY PLAYERS you'd want kept out of LWD-branded material? (Active AFCA matter, settled dispute, confidentiality obligations, preserved relationship, etc.) ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q5.3 Any FRAMING OF THE CMS ↔ LWD STORY you'd actively steer clear of? Examples of the FORM (none of these are true; question is what you don't want inferred by a hostile reader): · "failed commercial venture pivots to charity" · "for-profit-cleaning-up-in-a-halo" · "founder can't retire so builds a charity" ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q5.4 Any REGULATORY-RELATIONSHIP CONSIDERATIONS that constrain what LWD can say about the consumer-credit sector? Some things you can privately assert as a practitioner that would strain the ACL relationship if LWD said them publicly. ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q5.5 PERSONAL-HISTORY MATERIAL, your family, health, reasons at the level of personal experience, how much comfortable being in donor / media materials? Tick ONE. [ ] Not at all, professional practice speaks for itself [ ] Only in materials I've personally reviewed and signed off, case-by-case [ ] Comfortable with modest personal-story framing if it's true and I've reviewed it [ ] Full personal story is fine, at my initiative ================================================================ PART 6 · GOVERNANCE, ADVISORS & BOARD ================================================================ Q6.1 DEEN SANDERS as Board-Appointed Legal Advisor is his appointment formally resolved, in-progress, or scoped-to-resolve-on-incorporation? What can the site say about him today? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q6.2 CARLA OLIVER as Board-Appointed CFO Advisor same question. What can the site say about her today? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q6.3 REMAINING BOARD SEATS (independent directors) current state: actively recruiting, shortlisted, deferred until incorporation? How much should the site say publicly? ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Q6.4 Do you want the /BOARD-ADVISOR-CHARTER artefact (public-facing document naming Deen and Carla explicitly and explaining the advisor-scaffolded governance model as deliberate design) to proceed to draft-for-your-review? [ ] Yes, proceed to draft [ ] Yes, but only after Deen has cleared his section [ ] Not yet, hold until board is fully formed [ ] No [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ ================================================================ PART 7 · LOGISTICS ================================================================ Q7.1 Do you want to REVIEW the final /founders-professional- witness page before it's published, even in draft-not- linked state? [ ] Yes [ ] No, trust the process [ ] Yes and I want Deen/Carla to see my review Q7.2 Would you like a 30-MINUTE CALL to walk through any of the above rather than answering by email? (Longer than Lisa's 15 min because Parts 3 and 5 have governance weight and might benefit from voice.) [ ] No, email is fine [ ] Yes, best times this week: _________________________________________________ Q7.3 Do you want DEEN TO SEE THIS BRIEF and your answers BEFORE they go into /founders-professional-witness.html? [ ] Yes, for the whole brief [ ] Yes, for Parts 5 and 6 only [ ] No, send once, I'll flag anything to Deen myself [ ] Other: ______________________________________________ Q7.4 BY WHEN could you have this back? A realistic date, not aspirational. If it's 2 weeks because you need to draft carefully, that's fine. ANSWER: _______________________________________________________ ================================================================ END OF BRIEF · Thank you Laurence. ================================================================ The site currently references your 30 years in about a dozen places, none sourced from a proper professional-history statement from you. Your answers here become the authoritative reference every downstream page has to quote from. Heaviest sections are Part 3 (two-entity relationship) and Part 5 (what to keep out). First-draft honest answers marked "to refine with Deen" are more useful than polished answers that took a fortnight. A parallel brief has gone to Lisa. The two documents together become LWD's professional-witness foundation. - [Your name] ================================================================