The departure of Hatnell, who has been on the board since 2006, comes as Brisbane lawyer Chris Morton becomes managing director and McCullough Robertson partner, Brett Heading, chairman of the board.

Morton invested $1.3million for a 7 per cent stake in the company that is trying to retain control of its $800m funds management loan. Heading and Morton will be meeting with major shareholders and the Investors Advisory Board (IAB) this week to try and persuade them to abandon plans to put the funds to public tender. 

The IAB voted to remove Trinity as fund manager but a further vote is necessary before the public tender becomes inevitable. Hartell said he would remain a shareholder in the company and had no immediate plans to sell his shares because of the new leadership.