‘Ready for anything…’
The speakers and panels at the 2024 Forum enabled executives and leaders to be ‘ready for anything….’ including how to engage with boards, with regulators and with disruption.
“Amongst multiple conferences and events for the year, this was a stand out. Congratulations on organising such a fantastic day.”
The program commenced with a session led by Vanessa Bennett, CEO of Next Evolution Performance, who talked on how attendees can manage themselves, optimising the use of their cognitive energy to be ‘ready for anything’.
Vanessa Bennett - Next Evolution Performance
Vanessa is the CEO of Next Evolution Performance - a global high performance coaching business using neuroscience to help driven leaders and teams to optimise profitability, productivity and energy AND to decrease their effort, sickness, burnout and mental health problems. This ensures that success, and therefore profitability, is sustainable.
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For over 10 years, Vanessa has been helped hundreds of leading financial services companies, legal and accounting firms, construction companies and private schools, in over 10 countries, to:
Increase productivity by 25%
Increase profitability by 10-30%
Increase staff retention leading to salary savings of 2.5 times salaries
Save costs associated with sickness, burnout and mental ill-health
Vanessa also has over 20 years of experience in the financial services and health and fitness professions. She was the Head of Financial Adviser Distribution for Dimensional Fund Advisors for Australia and New Zealand, with assets under management growing from $1B to over $9B during her tenure of over 8 years. Prior to that she held senior sales roles as an Associate Director with Macquarie Bank.
Vanessa also qualified as a group fitness instructor whilst completing her undergraduate university studies and has always taught classes on top of her professional career. She has been with Fitness First for 20 years as a senior group fitness instructor and mentor.
She has a Master of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health - with Distinction, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.
We then addressed engaging with boards with a panel who talked from the perspectives of their roles as both board directors & chairs and CEO: Michael Dwyer AO, Chair of NSW TCorp and Life Member of FEAL and Chris Davies, CEO, TelstraSuper and FEAL Director.
Michael Dwyer AO
Michael has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry, having had multiple leadership positions, including as CEO of First State Super from 2004 to 2018, Fellow of the Australian Institure of Company Directors (AICD), Fellow of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), inaugural Chair and now life member of the Fund Executive Association Limited (FEAL) and former Chair and now Patron of Australia for United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (A4UNHCR). Michael holds multiple directorships including Chair NSW TCorp, director ASX listed Iress, and member of the ASIC Consultative Panel.
CHRIS DAVIES
Chris joined the FEAL board in November 2022. As Chief Executive Officer of TelstraSuper, Chris Davies is responsible for the strategic direction of the fund and overseeing its operational management to meet the needs of our members. Chris holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Law and started his career practicing law in national firms, before moving to the financial services sector.
Moving from engaging with boards to being ready in our engagement with regulators we heard from Helen Rowell and Danielle Press on their experiences in their former regulator roles with APRA and ASIC.
Helen Rowell
Helen is a non-executive director and was recently appointed as Chair of the independent panel undertaking a review of the General Insurance Code of Practice. Helen was the Deputy Chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) until 30 June 2023, having spent the prior 21 years lifting standards of practice and leading major reforms across the superannuation and insurance industries.
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Helen has represented APRA on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Executive Committee, as President of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors, on the Financial Security Board’s Supervisory Intensity and Effectiveness Group and as co-Chair of the Joint Forum Financial Conglomerates Committee. Prior to joining APRA in 2002, Helen was a partner at the international consulting firm Towers Perrin and President of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.
Danielle Press
Danielle is an experienced financial services executive and regulator. Most recently, Danielle was a Commissioner of ASIC. Prior to joining ASIC, Danielle held CEO roles at Myer Family Company and Equip Super. She also spent 17 years at UBS managing portfolios and clients. Danielle began her career with the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Josh Hodge from Melbourne Business School then lead a session focused on disrupted leadership and getting the most out of your team.
Josh Hodge - Melbourne Business school
Josh Hodge is a Senior Fellow in the Organisational Behaviour/Human Resource Management cluster and a member of the Power Status and Hierarchy At Work (PSHAW) lab. Josh has over a decade of executive coaching and facilitation experience, working with managers and business owners to improve their work life balance, efficiency, and effectiveness using positive psychology and a toolkit of performance hacks.
We then heard from and were able to quiz a panel of ‘disruptors in the room’, with Daniel Shrimski, Managing Director of Vanguard Australia and Adam Gee, Chief Strategy Officer, GROW talking to their decisions and experiences entering the superannuation and administration markets.
Daniel Shrimski, Vanguard
Daniel Shrimski is the Managing Director of Vanguard Australia. In this role, Daniel is responsible for all aspects of the management, distribution, and operation of Vanguard’s Australian business.
Daniel joined Vanguard Australia in 2011 as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He moved to the U.S. in January 2017 to become the divisional CFO of the U.S. Retail Investor Group, which comprises over $US2 trillion in AUM and more than 7 million retail investors. Most recently, he was CFO of Vanguard’s International business and a member of the International Leadership Team.
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Daniel has a wealth of financial services experience in both Australia and the U.S. Prior to Vanguard, he spent 11 years at GE across Australia, the U.S. and the Netherlands where, amongst other roles, he was a Finance Director within GE Capital Australia’s consumer finance division. Daniel has a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Adam Gee, Grow Inc.
Adam joined GROW Inc. as Head of Strategy in May 2019 and is now the Deputy CEO & Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to joining GROW Inc. he was the lead Partner in KPMG’s Superannuation Advisory practice. Adam has over 25 years’ experience in the superannuation industry and has a detailed understanding of superannuation legislation and industry standards as well as a detailed working knowledge of many of the superannuation funds and their service providers within the industry, having been the Chief Executive Officer of SuperRatings before moving to KPMG. Adam was appointed as a Director of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) in November 2021, representing the service provider sector of the industry.
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Adam has extensive experience working across all sectors of the superannuation industry, including funds management, international pension markets, insurance and administration. He has provided both legislative and strategic advice on a range of matters from risk management and governance to strategic industry changes.
At GROW, Adam is responsible for supporting the development and commercialisation of the DLTA Platform, which is a blockchain enabled superannuation registry platform that is changing the landscape of administration in the Australian market. Adam is also responsible for developing GROW’s strategy within the domestic market as well as pursuing opportunities globally, given the flexible nature of the DLTA Platform and its ability to be configured for any jurisdiction.
We end the formal part of the day with a panel session challenging the concept of being ready for anything in the investment space, including Craig Thorburn, Director of Research and Insights at the Future Fund, Alexandra Campbell, Deputy CIO of Cbus Super, Michael Weaver, Head of Global Real Assets at ART, and Matthew Kempton, Deputy CIO of Funds SA.
Craig Thorburn, Future Fund
Craig joined the Future Fund after 13 years working for both the Commonwealth Treasury and Australia’s sovereign debt manager, the Australian Office of Financial Management. Craig has been with the Future Fund since inception in 2006 and has held a variety of Director roles across different investment functions ranging from Portfolio Strategy, Emerging Markets, private Equity, the CIO Office and his current role, Director – Research and Insights. This new role has a focus on curating and coordinating our investment research agenda, as well as better harnessing investment insights into our investment process and across the Future Fund portfolio.
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Craig regularly represents the Future Fund at high level governmental and investment forums worldwide. Craig graduated from the Australian National University with both a Bachelor of Commerce degree and post graduate qualifications in Economics.
About the Future FundThe Future Fund is Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, investing for the benefit of future generations of Australians. Our role is to generate strong, risk-adjusted returns over the long term.
The largest fund we manage is the Future Fund itself. Established in 2006 to strengthen the Australian Government’s long-term financial position, the Future Fund is today valued at $211bn. At 31 December 2023 the Future Fund has delivered a 10-year return of 8.2% pa, exceeding its target return of 6.9%.
The organisation also invests $60bn across six additional public asset funds: the Medical Research Future Fund, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund, the Future Drought Fund, the Emergency Response Fund, the DisabilityCare Australia Fund and the Housing Australia Future Fund.
Further information about our organisation and the funds we manage is available at www.futurefund.gov.au.
Alexandra Campbell, Cbus Super
Alexandra is the Deputy CIO and Head of Private Markets for Cbus Super Fund, having oversight across the Investments team and supporting the CIO in managing a A$85 billion portfolio. Alexandra also leads the private markets team, with A$25 billion invested in infrastructure, property and private equity assets. Alexandra works closely with the CIO, senior investment team members and the investment committee to set and implement strategies to drive superior long-term returns for members, while also responding to both short term challenges and opportunities.
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Cbus invests through a range of structures, including directly, through pooled funds and bespoke arrangements. Alexandra has extensive experience in the private markets and has developed investment strategies for global funds and fund managers, undertaken and advised on major transactions, managed both public and private funds and represented the funds’ ownership interests in assets and on boards in North America, Europe and Australia.
Michael Weaver, Australian Retirement Trust
Michael joined Australian Retirement Trust, formerly Sunsuper, in 2006, and is the Head of Global Real Assets responsible for leading a team who manage the infrastructure and real estate portfolios which total over A$40b. Responsibilities include portfolio construction, research, investment selection and monitoring and reporting. Prior to the merger Michael was Head of Private Markets at Sunsuper and had responsibility for the infrastructure, real estate, private equity and private debt portfolios.
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Prior to joining Australian Retirement Trust he spent 9 years as a consultant at Mercer providing advice to large corporate clients. Michael has a Bachelor of Business (Finance & Accounting) from the University of Technology, Sydney, a Graduate Certificate of Management (International Business) from the University of New England, a Masters of Applied Finance & Investment from FINSIA and is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Matthew Kempton, Funds SA
Matthew was appointed to Director, Equities & Deputy CIO in 2018. He has more than 15 years’ experience at a senior level in superannuation and investment management roles.
Matthew leads the Equities and Portfolio Management teams. Prior to joining Funds SA, Matthew held the role of Head of Investments at ESSSuper where he was responsible for the development and implementation of the investment strategy for approximately $7bn in assets under management, he also held oversight responsibilities for approximately $40bn in defined benefit assets for the State of Victoria.
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Prior to this he held the title of Consultant at Frontier Consulting where he was part of the Capital Markets, Currency and Equities teams, and prior to this held the title of national Office Transactions Manager for the ISPT Core Fund which directly manages approximately $10bn in assets.
Matthew is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Honors in Economics, Bachelor of Property and Construction and Bachelor of Planning and Design, each from the University of Melbourne.
Forum Dinner guest speaker
Anything can happen – a crisis management perspective
During the Forum Dinner we heard from John Macpherson, Partner, Ashurst Risk Advisory, who recounted his experiences working with organisations, in Australia and internationally, to respond to cyber and other incidents.
John is currently the leader of Ashurst's cyber response team working with clients to prepare for, and respond to high impact cyber incidents. Throughout a 20 year career in international security, geo-political risk and crisis management, John has a wealth of experience in helping organisations to prepare for, respond to, and recover from high profile crises, including ransomware attacks and complex cyber breaches, corporate espionage, governance failures and misconduct. He has held leadership roles in China and South East Asia as well as Australia, and brings expertise in managing complex reputation, social, geo-political and regulatory risks. He is a leading expert in managing the risk of unlawful state-actor detention and regulatory interference in opaque nation states.
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Alongside the Ashurst risk and legal teams, he has advised on many of the recent high profile cyber-attacks across Australia and the United Kingdom. He regularly helps organisations build sustainable resilience frameworks and risk-led approaches to cyber and digital security, bridging expertise in crisis management and business continuity, stakeholder management and communication, customer remediation and complaints, data governance and privacy, third party risk management, and regulatory notifications and investigations.
During the Forum Dinner we award 4 of FEAL’s scholarships and celebrate the achievements of the participants of the FEAL/MBS Masters of Organisational Leadership.
Fund executive forum
DATE: Thursday 7th March 2024
TIME: 10.00Am (tea & coffee), 10.30am start - 6.00pm (AEDT)
VENUE: BETA Events
ADDRESS: Level 1/238 Castlereagh St, Sydney
COST: FEAL Members $1,000 & Sponsors $1,220
Forum dinner
DATE: Thursday 7th March 2024
TIME: 6.00pm (drinks & canapes), 7.00pm start - 9.30pm (AEDT)
VENUE: BETA Events
ADDRESS: Level 1/238 Castlereagh St, Sydney
COST: FEAL Members $280 & Sponsors $350
A discount is available for FEAL Members & Sponsors attending both events:
FEAL Members: Fund Executive Forum & Forum Dinner $1,150
FEAL Sponsors: Fund Executive Forum & Forum Dinner $1,400
Prices above are GST inclusive
DRESS CODE for both events: Business attire
Sponsored in partnership with
