Liquidator hits 5 decades in the industry

When Vouris began his insolvency career at Hamilton & Ferrier, he worked for two out of the six official liquidators in NSW.

Having 50 years of experience under his belt, Vouris is more than a professional within the industry and is regarded highly by his peers.

Vouris said Hamilton and Ferrier was where he learnt the ropes of insolvency, which has aided him in his 50 years of service.

“In the landscape of insolvency, a lot of people would work there and it was a nursery type thing,” he said.

“You worked there, you learned your trade, then you went out to other firms and then you became a liquidator yourself.”

Throughout his career, Vouris said the insolvency industry has changed “dramatically” in terms of how the industry operates and handles liquidations.

He also outlined how insolvency businesses have changed, disbanded and established themselves over the years and how he’s been around to see it all.

Since Hamilton and Ferrier, Vouris has worked in insolvency at several large firms in NSW and is now Partner at Hall Chadwick.

Vouris prides himself in his work as an insolvency practitioner and emphasises trust and honesty to be the most important qualities to have.

“To be a liquidator, first of all you need to be honest, trustworthy, diligent, transparent and you need to be lawful.”

Being a liquidator is hard work and requires a substantial amount of empathy for the job to be done properly.

“If someone was to say to me, well, what’s the hardest thing about being a liquidator? The hardest thing is always going out to a company’s premises and having a look at it and telling the employees and the director that their business is gone. There’s no more business,” he said.

“If you don’t have that empathy in you, you shouldn’t be doing the job.”

One of the many reasons Vouris is a well-respected and efficient liquidator is his ability to be empathetic and understanding towards the cause, as well as reinforcing that a job has to be done.

“You should be mindful that these people have got feelings and I don’t like doing it. But I have to do it. And I still do it myself. I don’t get my staff to do it”.

“So, if I’m going out on the job and we have to close the doors, even after we have done everything to keep it going, no one wants to say it’s an ugly baby.”

For the entirety of his career Vouris has worked alongside many liquidators, yet has always looked up to the work of Ian Ferrier and Brian Hunter.

“Ferrier was the go-to man you know, he was the best,” Vouris said.

“I like to say a lot that he is my hero. He really was the guru.”

Vouris said Brian Hunter was a man before his time, he made the job enjoyable without losing professionalism.

The largest job Vouris has worked on throughout his career was at a gold mine in Armidale where he successfully traded on a company as provisional liquidator.

He relisted it on the stock exchange and paid 100 to creditors and 20 cents in the dollar to shareholders.

“The idea of a liquidator is to investigate, get the assets, realise them as best as he or she can and distribute to creditors.”

Though not always positive, Vouris said there are still perks to the job in the diversity of characters and people he meets, as well as the industries he works with.

Throughout the years and various liquidations Vouris has had to conduct, he has learnt to stand his ground and keep his sense of humour intact.

Vouris vividly remembers jobs he has worked, including the liquidation of a panel beating company in St Peters. On a Friday afternoon, Vouris had to tell 20 staff members they were no longer employed and wouldn’t receive any employee entitlements.

“One fellow said to me, well that’s not good enough. I said to him, I know it’s not good enough, but I can’t change the law,” he recounted.

“The man said to me, tomorrow morning I’m going to throw a brick right through your window. And I said, you need to be a good shot, we’re on the 11th floor.”

This reduced the level of angst between the employees and Vouris.

Over the course of his career, Vouris has experienced it all. The good, the bad, the funny and the ugly.

At Hall Chadwick, Vouris now works alongside his daughter, Kathleen Vouris, who is also a partner and insolvency practitioner at the firm.

Kathleen said she never expected to be an insolvency practitioner like her father.

“I didn’t set out to do insolvency, I just fell into it and found that I really liked it,” she said.

Kathleen began working at Hall Chadwick long before John’s appointment to the company in 2017, which she said John refers to as “reverse nepotism.”

Kathleen said herself and her father often work together on jobs and are known as the only ‘Father Daughter’ liquidator duo in Australia.

Kathleen never would have thought she would be working alongside her father, but thoroughly enjoys that she does.

“From my perspective, he’s very well regarded amongst his peers. There’s certainly competition in this industry, and he’s very good at what he does,” she said.

Vouris also stated he enjoys working with his daughter and believes she shares and conducts the same values and processes he does, when it comes to their profession.

After 50 years in the industry, Vouris will continue operating as an insolvency practitioner and still finds joy in his role every day.

“It’s a fulfilling role. You get pleasure out of getting a deal done as such,” he said.

Vouris said he has seen every drastic change that has occurred in the insolvency industry since 1974.

At times he can’t believe the insolvency division would go to extreme lengths to distribute reports by photocopying the reports to creditors, labelling and weighing envelopes, to now simply sending an email.

Vouris advises young liquidators to be sensible, and efficient when conducting jobs.

“Don’t take risks, you don’t get paid any more by taking risks.”