Fund People Updates
/New Appointments
FSC appoints new board member
Former AMP Australia acting chief executive Blair Vernon is the latest addition to the Financial Services Council board.
Statewide Super welcomes chief technology officer
David Cook is the new chief tech officer at Statewide Super, moving across from the Public Trustee of Queensland as executive director of digital and technology.
Rest appoints three investment board committee members
Rest has appointed three new board members to the investment committee:
Michael Bargholz - Former Pendal Group CEO, MD of Fidelity International and CEO at Alliance Bernstein
Deep Kapur - professor of practice at Monash Business School, member of School Executive Committee and director of the Monash Centre for Financial Studies
Anne Anderson - Former MD and head of fixed income at UBS Asset Management, 35 years+ experience
UN PRI appoints head of Australia and New Zealand
The global organisation that represents over 3,000 pension funds and fund managers, the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has appointed a head of Australia and New Zealand, Sheela Veerappan. Veerappan moves into the role from a role within PRI as a relationship manager responsible for Australasia. A replacement is being sought.
Departures
Australian Ethical loses head of people and culture
Fiona Horan is leaving Australian Ethical after seven years, returning home to Ireland after 25 years in Australia. Horan joined Australian Ethical in 2013 and has held the same role. The people and culture department now reports directly to chief strategy and innovation officer, Marion Enander.
Meat super CEO retires
Bill McRobert is retiring from his role as CEO at the Meat Industry Employees’ Superannuation Fund as of March 2021. McRobert has been at the fund since 2013. A replacement has not been announced.
QSuper chief leaves after reorganisation of advice arm
Kim Hughes is leaving QSuper after the financial advice arm was reorganised. Hughes has been with QSuper for over five years. The reorganisation means the advice teams across the group will combine. Hughes has not announced her next role.
IOOF loses fund operations head
After two decades at the firm, Steven Sorraghan is leaving IOOF as head of fund operations. Sorraghan joined IOOF in 1995 as a fund accounting officer, before holding the role of fund accounting manager for 18 years, then moving into a senior management role in fund operations. Sorraghan is moving into a new role at Milestone Group.
IFM Investors farewell executive director
Nicki Ashton has left IFM Investors after a year in a newly-created role of head of Australia, global relations. The team will now report to Valentina Abbott, the global head of the global relationship group, until a replacement is found.
Awards
Forrester Research 2020 Australia Superannuation Customer Experience Index awards
Australian superannuation funds have been scored by Forrester Research, with over 2,800 super fund members surveyed across seven funds during the pandemic from May to July. Results are as follows:
Colonial First State
Sunsuper
BT Financial Group
Rest Super
AustralianSuper
MLC
AMP
