Industry super giant nabs new CEO from London
The country’s second-biggest superannuation fund, Australian Retirement Trust, has tapped industry veteran David Anderson to succeed outgoing CEO Bern Reilly from March, heralding his global experience as crucial to its growth plans.
David Anderson will move to Brisbane to lead ART.
Mr Reilly resigned from ART in September, two years after he oversaw the creation of the $260 billion fund following a mammoth merger between Sunsuper and QSuper.
The move is a jump across the retail versus industry superannuation divide for Mr Anderson, who has worked at retail giant Mercer for the past 25 years after more than a decade at AMP.
ART chairman Andrew Fraser said Mr Anderson’s appointment came as the fund moved into “the next phase” of its plans to be Australia’s most chosen super fund.
While the super fund has focused on mergers and acquisitions as its primary expansion vehicle for the past two years, absorbing a slew of smaller funds and corporate pension schemes, it now needs to expand its focus on organic growth to compete with industry gorilla AustralianSuper.
“With a changing superannuation landscape, this an exciting time for Australian Retirement Trust ... and we believe David’s experience and capabilities, global as well as local perspective, leadership style and values will enable him to be an outstanding CEO,” Mr Fraser said.
Mr Anderson will relocate to ART’s headquarters in Brisbane from London, where he is currently Mercer’s global chief commercial officer.
He spent the past nine years in the US and the UK with Mercer in various executive roles, with his move to ART coming as the super fund ramps up its exposure to these markets. As part of this work, he had responsibility for all of Mercer’s clients and teams in 42 countries and led teams in the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin American, European, US and UK markets.
Mr Anderson said he was “excited to bring [his] global experience to the table” at ART as it “put members’ money to work both locally and globally”.
ART is opening a London office in the coming months, with its staff there set to focus on private equity, property and infrastructure assets. Rival AustralianSuper already has offices in London and New York, with roughly 70 per cent of money entering the superannuation system currently pegged for overseas investments as the $3.5 trillion sector outgrows local markets.
Mr Reilly said when he resigned that he would be looking for new opportunities in financial services, but that it was the right time to leave ART because of the risk to companies of leaders staying too long.
Mr Reilly was an active voice within the industry super movement during his time as CEO, spearheading the creation of mega lobby group, the Super Members Council, alongside AustralianSuper in October and taking ART’s spot on its inaugural board.
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