Media Enquiries

Group Executive Financial Services and Chief Spokesperson

Steve Mickenbecker is a member of the company’s executive team and is a key financial commentator for the Canstar brand. He is active in all media as a commentator and educator across the finance range.
Steve joined Canstar in 2008, managing the ongoing operations and developing future direction for the business, and leading the ratings, PR and editorial teams in providing valuable financial insights and commentary. Today, he retains a role in the design of Canstar’s financial expert ratings and the group’s strategy development.

Armed with an Economics degree from the University of Queensland, Steve started his finance career with NAB. He spent more than 20 years working his way through many business disciplines including branch management, corporate advisory, strategy, credit, regional and district management and as head of business. During his tenure, Steve undertook a number of strategic projects, working with consultants, including McKinsey and Corporate Value Associates, and completed his MBA at Melbourne University.

Steve’s next career move saw him join Suncorp in 1997, where he worked in Group Strategy before taking on roles heading up small business and customer segmentation.

Steve has worked through stagflation, interest rates at 18% and the recession we had to have. Banking was not yet fully computerised when he joined up, there was no internet for delivery and the cloud was sci-fi. The digital revolution has opened a brave new world for fintech to play in, and he suspects that finance of the future will be barely recognisable through our early 2000s eyes, but better for customers and more exciting for providers.

Editor-at-Large and financial commentator

Effie Zahos is the Editor-at-Large for Canstar, Australia’s biggest financial comparison site. This role sees her leverage the brand’s digital platform in pursuit of improving Australians’ understanding of their personal finances and helping more people confidently make money decisions.

Effie is one of Australia’s leading personal finance commentators and is now part of the lineup of esteemed financial spokespeople at Canstar.com.au, commenting on a wide range of finance topics that matter to Australians. She is known for her no-nonsense approach and has a knack for making money matters simple.

Best known for her former role as the editor of Money magazine, having helped establish it in 1999, Effie started out as a graduate trainee for one of Australia’s major banks, gaining insights across both business and retail banking. She moved to TV in 1997, kickstarting her career in finance journalism as head researcher of Channel Nine’s Money Show.

Effie is also the author of a children’s financial literacy book, The Great $20 Adventure, and A Real Girl’s Guide to Money: From Converse to Louboutins.

Passionate about financial literacy, Effie sits on the board of directors for Ecstra, a not-for-profit organisation committed to building the financial capability of all Australians within a fair financial system.

Effie holds a Bachelor of Economics Degree from the University of Queensland.

Group Manager, Research and Ratings

Mitch Watson is the Group Manager for Research and Ratings, with responsibility for Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings and Awards program. Mitch’s role at Canstar sees him deliver compelling insights that help consumers make informed decisions about their personal finances and help businesses develop more customer-centric products.

Mitch is also a company spokesperson, and prides himself on providing balanced views on the latest news in the marketplace to paint a clear picture for consumers.

Joining Canstar in 2007, Mitch has held various roles within the business, beginning as a Relationship Manager, which boosted his industry and product knowledge, before moving to the Research team as a Research Analyst. During this time Mitch was responsible for a range of lending and insurance portfolios including Home Loans and Health Insurance.

Mitch has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management from Griffith University.

Group Manager, Corporate Affairs 

Belinda Williamson is Group Manager, Corporate Affairs for Australia’s biggest financial comparison site and research house Canstar.com.au. She oversees the company’s external communications strategy and media relations activity.

A finance enthusiast who has worked in the financial services industry for more than a decade, Belinda joins an esteemed line-up of commentators at Canstar who are leading the conversation on the finance topics that matter today.

Belinda returned to Australia to join Canstar following a stint in North America where she developed media relations, influencer marketing, social media and digital PR strategy for clients of Western Canada’s largest independent public relations firm. She headed up efforts for international clients including Rio Tinto, Dun & Bradstreet’s Cloud Innovation Centre, Cogeco Peer1 and the International Car Sharing Association, as well as some of North America’s most talked about startups.

Prior to this, Belinda was the Head of Corporate Affairs and company spokesperson at one of Australia’s largest, and publicly-listed franchised mortgage brokers where she was responsible for the company’s internal, corporate, media, industry, government and investor communications.

Belinda’s finance exposure and enthusiasm started early on in her career when she picked up a finance brand as one of her very first agency clients. Since then her career has included local and international in-house and agency roles across a wide range of industries including financial services, fintech, real estate, franchising, sport, health and FMCG.

Over the years, Belinda has made appearances on television and radio, and in a multitude of print and online media articles. What she enjoys most about working at Canstar is her role as a finance educator with the goal of helping more Australians confidently choose the right financial product for them.

Belinda is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and holds a Bachelor of Communication, Public Relations degree from Western Sydney University.

Ratings Manager

Josh Sale is responsible for the continued methodology development and delivery of Canstar’s flagship Star Ratings. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, he gets a kick out of helping Australians find better financial products by transforming millions of rows of calculations into a consumer-friendly star rating designed to help consumers.

One of Canstar’s company spokespeople, Josh is known for his ability to simplify complex products and technical information. Josh developed his passion for education while at university, where he facilitated peer assisted study sessions for economics and represented the business school on Griffith University’s academic committee.

Joining Canstar’s research team in 2016, Josh has analysed a number of consumer markets across banking, insurance and wealth, with keen interest in the collection and redemption of credit card reward points, the dynamic nature of the health insurance market and the way Australians interact with their superannuation fund.

Josh believes that knowledge is the first step towards empowerment and is passionate about helping Australians learn and engage with the financial products that they use and rely on every day.