About Tristan
Tristan Tan joined IFM Investors four years ago as a Commercial Associate in the Tax team in Melbourne. In this role, Tristan focuses on building tools and creating processes that ensure IFM delivers on its investment tax strategies.
Tristan is also an active advocate for responsible AI adoption at IFM, supporting the organisation’s global Copilot enablement, and sharing practical ways colleagues can build their AI Fluency safely and productively. Tristan had a lot of involvement in IFM’s first AI Awareness Month in February 2026.
“I’ve really valued the chance to contribute to IFM's practical AI uplift alongside the AI and Copilot team, sharing examples, running sessions, and engaging with my IFM colleagues around the globe to apply AI tools that can streamline their day-to-day workflows in a safe and useful way. Our recently held AI Awareness month was a great example of how you can improve your AI Fluency and better use the tools available to you to enhance your role, when used carefully and effectively.”
“Outside of IFM, I actively follow AI trends, having contributed to a published research paper by the Journal of Systems and Software on a proposed Agent Evaluation Framework and many online articles with Acuity (1, 2). I enjoy being at the AI frontier, building models in excel and deploying many AI assisted 'hobby' projects on specific topics such as stamp duty, transfer pricing and R&D. diagrams. This project allows professionals to draw structure diagrams online or on a mobile and has reached over 6,000 professionals worldwide on LinkedIn.”
Before IFM, Tristan worked at KPMG as an Executive in Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) tax for nearly four years and, before that, Transurban for two years as a Tax Manager. During this period, he was drawn to the complexity of global investment structures and wanted to eventually quantify the impact of how getting tax right can meaningfully improve net returns in the financial model. With his eventual move to IFM in 2022, Tristan’s focus shifted from one class of infrastructure investments in Australia to streamlining the underlying processes that scales investments from a tax perspective.
“The IFM role felt like a natural fit as it combined technical tax capabilities with many of the skills that I learnt throughout my career, such as financial modelling, accounting and technology systems to deliver tangible outcomes.”
When asked what he loves most about IFM, Tristan says:
“This organisation has given me opportunities to work with colleagues across the globe to solve complex, real-world problems together. I am determined to assist my colleagues in adopting new technology-driven mindsets and efficient processes, so we can move faster with confidence as the organisation grows. I’m enthusiastic about responsible adoption of AI and automation to increase productivity, improve quality, and materially change the way professionals collaborate and solve complex problems.”
Speaking about what Tristan is most excited about at IFM, he says:
“I’m excited about our continued growth and the way we scale impact while staying aligned to what matters for our owners and clients - to invest, protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people. Technological advancements in AI systems are growing at such a rapid rate, with releases occurring fortnightly by the major labs, that what was considered impossible six months ago is now becoming the norm. With this change, I am very excited to see the world move from prototype to production and increased adoption of Agentic AI systems into business processes. I cannot wait for the introduction of quality multimodal Agents to truly augment the way we interact with our clients and stakeholders”.
“As a global asset manager with an Australian heritage, we get to see large scale investment projects whilst maintaining our purpose and culture. Because of our clients and owners, we are also at the forefront when it comes to looking after our people, and I was able to benefit from this first-hand when I went on parental leave in October 2024. Being able to create life-long memories with my family is something I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have experienced, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without IFM’s competitive parental leave policy.”
When asked what Tristan does when he is not innovating, his answer is centred around health and family time.
“Outside my work, I love to spend time with family time and focus on my fitness goals. Last year, I made some amazing memories with my child, like running the Melbourne half marathon with them in the pram. An invaluable experience!
“With all that said, I hope to continue creating more amazing memories and record all these moments using the advanced technology we have at our disposal. But one thing it will never be able to replace, is the time spent with our loved ones.”