Excuse us for a second - proud parent moment incoming.
We’re beyond chuffed to have had 22 of our very own Squirrels recognised among NZ Adviser’s 94 Top Advisers for 2025.
Here they are, repping our team across the country:
- #3 Nathan Miglani
- #4 Matt Evans
- #11 Ollie Mellsop
- #13 John Bolton
- #15 Adam Clark
- #22 Oliver Keogh
- #29 Basil Frank
- #38 Brad Luiten
- #45 Peimin Huang
- #46 Emma Wallace
- #53 Aatish Balsara
- #56 Kat McInnes
- #60 Nelson Ford
- #61 Carley Brunning
- #66 Jessica Carr
- #68 Stevie Wallace
- #72 Tina Liu
- #74 Nick Virtue
- #75 Bernie Upton
- #80 Kyle Moritz
- #85 Sudam Salunke
- #89 Jordan Mitchell
It’s a huge honour, and a fitting testament to the hard work our advisers put in each and every day, helping Kiwi on their homeownership journey.
Supporting our team to do what they do best is our #1 priority here at Squirrel
It’s why, over the years, we’ve invested heavily into building a culture—and all the wraparound systems, processes and technologies—that helps and enables our advisers to be top performers.
We chatted with a few of our winners to get their take on what it’s like being part of the team at Squirrel.
Here’s what they had to say:
John Bolton – Founder:
“From the outset, we’ve always been hyper-focused on investing into technologies, systems and processes that help our advisers succeed. A big part of that is about productivity—making things as quick and easy as possible, both for our team and our clients—but equally, it’s about building a strong and reputable brand to help attract business and feed the team’s pipeline. We’re also the only brokerage in New Zealand with a largely salaried advisory team. It’s higher-risk, and higher-cost, but it’s a deliberate choice we’ve made to support a high-performance culture.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved—and having 22 Squirrel advisers recognised on the Top Performers list this year is awesome. But it’s taken 17 years of consistency to get us here. There’s no silver bullet.”
Carley Brunning – Manager of Advisory, Wellington & Lower North Island:
“Underpinning everything at Squirrel is this shared understanding that all we’re out to make a difference in the industry, and to build something special. That focus on just doing the best we can for our customers creates a real culture of trust, and helps to attract awesome people.
“Our technology and systems make it easy for us to do our jobs, but the power of the Squirrel team—and the knowledge-sharing that goes on—is truly massive. Between us, there’s not a lot we haven’t seen, so you know that if you’re ever dealing with something tricky or unusual, there’s someone you can lean on to figure out a way.
“It also means you’re sharing the load when it comes to staying across bank policy changes, so you know what can and can’t be done, and how to make it happen. And in amongst all that, there’s always room for good times and to have a bit of a laugh together.”
Nathan Miglani – Managing Adviser, Christchurch & South Island:
“Our technology is market-leading. It’s very adviser-friendly, which is so different to a lot of systems I’ve come across in my time, which are more geared towards the banks and compliance. Having access to the wider team—including both our network of advisers and the saving and investing side of the business—lets you tap into this amazing depth of knowledge and experience. Between our investment products and unique loan solutions, it means you’re able to offer so much more to your clients than just residential mortgages.”
Emma Wallace – Mortgage Adviser (Auckland):
“We’re empowered to be really honest and straight-up in the advice we give, and just keep it as simple as possible, and I think clients really value that. It builds trust and strong relationships, which helps with generating repeat business and means people are happy to recommend you to family and friends. Having access to lots of forward-thinking technology and systems and the backing of a strong brand helps, too. As does being surrounded by an awesome team—that’s what’s really at the heart of our culture.”
Adam Clark – Mortgage Adviser (Auckland):
“Squirrel has struck this unique balance where we’ve got a high-performance sales culture, without the dirty sales side to it.
“We’re very ‘people first’, so we’re not competing with each other, and we’re not incentivised to go with one lender over another. We’re just here to do what’s best for our clients. Coming at things from that perspective—where it’s not just transactional or about chasing a target—makes you want to go out and help as many clients as possible.
“There’s a whole lot of collaboration which naturally comes from that, too. A client might only be dealing with one adviser, but they’re benefitting from the expertise of the 40-odd others on the team who are always happy to answer questions and give input.”