Dean Gillespie was the Founding Chair of IFIA – creating an association to unite efforts in Australia to support the Australian Islamic economy.

Dean is the driving force towards the creation of Australia’s first Islamic bank.  As the CEO of Islamic Money Australia, he has worked tirelessly for ten years to create Australia’s first Islamic banking institution that will allow Australians to bank without interest for the first time. 

Dean has passionately advocated for Muslims across Australia, including writing to all of Australia’s state and territory premiers calling for stamp duty reform.  Off the back of these letters, multiple states and territories have now changed legislation to reduce double-taxation on Islamic products.

Dean is also the Chair of the UK’s international medical service, Lia’s Wings.

Dean has previously been in charge of home loan distribution at Commonwealth Bank, and head of mortgages at Bankwest where he doubled the business’ size within three years. He also ran the retail bank at CBA’s Vietnam International Bank in Hanoi across 160 branches nationwide, where he built the bank’s first mobile banking app.

Dean has a history of founding startups, including SparkleVote, an innovative online election company. He is a former Councillor on Hurstville City Council.