“Reflecting on the conference, I am reminded of the power of community and the importance of staying ahead of the curve. The insights and learnings from this day will undoubtedly shape my strategies and initiatives as I move forward.”
Our one-day National Conference, was held at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne on Thursday 1 August, and involved speaker and panel sessions under the theme ‘Navigating the future’.
Professional futurist Mark Pesce opened the program reflecting on cultural and macroeconomic trends that will impact our industry over the next ten years. The remainder of the program – through a combination of speakers and panels, from within and external to the industry - delved into how leaders can navigate through these expected changes, including how investment strategies may need to change, member engagement strategies may be impacted by technology and even how we organise and engage with our own teams.
Recognising that emerging leaders in your funds are likely to be leading the industry in ten years’ time, we engaged this cohort in the discussion during the day and encouraged today’s leaders to bring along the emerging leaders in their teams.
At the Members’ Dinner following the Conference we will be announcing the winners of the FEAL Michael Dwyer Leadership Scholarship and MBS Masters Scholarship as well as the FEAL Fund Executive of the Year.
Guest speaker - Mark Pesce
Mark Pesce co-invented the technology for 3D on the Web - laying the foundations for the metaverse - has written nine books, including Augmented Reality: Unboxing Tech’s Next Big Thing, was for seven years a judge on the ABC's The New Inventors, founded postgraduate programs at USC and AFTRS, holds an honorary appointment at Sydney University, is a multiple-award-winning columnist for The Register, pens another column for COSMOS Weekly, and is professional futurist and public speaker. Pesce hosts both the award-winning 'The Next Billion Seconds' and 'This Week in Startups Australia’ podcasts. Pesce brings his skills as a futurist to diverse sectors of the economy, including business ranging from CBA, World Bank, Essential Energy and v2Food, while also mentoring startups working at technology’s bleeding edge.
Mark Pesce will speak to expectations over the next ~10 years around trends that will impact:
Investment of capital in the future, including impacts of energy transition, moving from net positive to net negative cashflows as a result of the move of membership into the retirement/pension phase
Ways of engaging/communicating
Changing nature of workforces/careers
Following the opening session we delved into the navigation of investment strategies in the context of the future trends. Brett Chatfield, CIO of Cbus Super, David Neal, Chief Executive of IFM Investors and Leilani Weier, Head of Responsible Investment & Sustainability, Rest Super spoke on the impact of climate change, energy transition and the move to retirement on funds’ investment strategies.
Panellist - Brett Chatfield, CIO Cbus Super
Brett is Chief Investment Officer at Cbus Super, an over $90 billion all profit-to-members industry super fund. He is responsible for overseeing the Public Markets, Private Markets, Asset Allocation, Quantitative Investments, Capital Markets and Execution, and responsible investing areas. Brett leads the internalisation programme with internally managed strategies across most asset classes, manages a large team, and undertakes broad stakeholder management, engagements with Governments, and participates in industry panels and working groups.
Brett has 24 years of experience, including extensive experience in manager research and portfolio construction, equity and debt transactions, asset allocation, strategy development and execution, team leadership, and stakeholder management.
Brett holds a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) with Distinction, Graduate Diploma of Science (Applied Statistics), and Master of Applied Finance. He was previously recognised in the CIO Magazine "Forty under Forty" global list and a couple of years later in its “NextGen” list of 25 investors. In addition, he was recognised in AFR’s “Super Six” investors.
Panellist - David Neal, Chief Executive IFM Investors
David is IFM Investors' Chief Executive, responsible for executing the firm's strategy and delivering strong results for IFM Investors' clients, shareholders and staff. David leads IFM's global business, with nine offices and four investment teams: Infrastructure, Debt Investments, Listed Equities and Private Equity.
David joined IFM Investors from the Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund, which he joined in 2007 as its inaugural Chief Investment Officer before becoming the Chief Executive Officer in 2014. At the Future Fund, he established the investment team and built and designed the Fund's investment model.
Prior to joining the Future Fund, David spent 15 years with Willis Towers Watson, where he started his career in the UK. He went on to establish and lead the firm's investment consulting business in Australia. As Head of Investment Consulting at Willis Towers Watson Australia, David led the team providing advisory services to the Future Fund when it was established in 2006.
Panellist - Leilani Weier, Head of Responsible Investment & Sustainability Rest Super
Since August 2019, Leilani has led the development of Rest’s Responsible Investment and Sustainability strategies and implementation, sitting on the Management Investment Committee.
She is an experienced Responsible Investment, ESG and Sustainability leader, having implemented successful ESG-related strategies and initiatives across sectors and geographies, and built and led high performing teams. Leilani is a strategic thinker and an organisational influencer and change maker.
Leilani’s professional motivation is to drive outcomes across teams; and manage ESG and climate-related factors to reduce risks and enhance investment performance for Rest members.
She has a degree in Environmental Science (Natural Resources) from the University of Queensland, holds the One Planet MBA from the University of Exeter (with Dean’s Commendation) is a graduate of the AIDC (GAICD), and is a Chartered Environmentalist.
After lunch we explored the future of member engagement, with Microsoft’s Director - Financial Services Industry, Rebecca Engel, leading the conversation on changes in member expectations and the pace of change and opportunities presented by Generative AI. Umberto Mecchi, Chief Member Officer at Hostplus, moderated a panel with Rebecca, Brendan Donoghue, Head of Digital & Customer Experience at UniSuper and Lisa Samuels, Chief Experience Officer at HESTA.
Guest speaker - Rebecca Engel, Director - Industry Advisor, Financial Services Microsoft Australia
Rebecca has over 24 years Financial Services experience and has held Leadership roles across Banking, Wealth Management and Insurance, which have included P&L, Operations and Risk Management.
Through her role at Microsoft, she strives make a to make a genuine contribution to the Financial Services industry through driving digital transformation and the creation of value within the industry.
Rebecca is also a Non-Executive Director of the RegTech Association, holds an MBA from MGSM and is a member of AICD.
Panellist - Brendan Donoghue, Head of Digital & Customer Experience UniSuper
Brendan Donoghue is a Digital and Customer Experience (CX) executive based in Melbourne.
Over a career spanning 20 years he has been as the forefront of the Human Centred Design (HCD) and Digital revolutions in corporate Australia. Utilising an approach that could be summarised as ‘relentless’ Brendan has repeatedly found himself at the forefront of the adoption of Innovation and Design led decision making into conservative, risk adverse cultures.
In the past 6 years Brendan has transformed UniSuper’s Digital offering to be a market leading, member first experience. With a particular focus on how creative leaders can build influence in large, complex organisations Brendan has been a driving force behind multiple high-impact improvements to the Member and Customer experiences at Optus, Telstra, NAB and UniSuper.
Panellist - Lisa Samuels, Chief Experience Officer HESTA
Lisa joined HESTA in July 2015 and holds the role of Chief Experience Officer. Lisa leads the team responsible for member experience, including the effective administration of products and services, advocating to advance fair financial outcomes for members, and continuing to strengthen our member-centric focus and brand.
Prior to joining HESTA, Lisa worked for a number of industry super funds and has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector. She is passionate about customer experience and building strong, sustainable brands that deliver on their promises to customers.
Lisa is a director of FEAL and Industry Super Australia.
Moderator -Umberto Mecchi, Chief Member Officer Hostplus
Umberto is Chief Member Officer at Hostplus, he is a seasoned Marketing and strategy professional with over 30 years’ experience in senior marketing and strategic roles. His simple but effective application of strategic marketing fundamentals has enabled Umberto to create breakthrough marketing programs and brand campaigns for leading brands in Australia.
Prior to joining Hostplus, Umberto worked with the ANZ Bank, National Mutual/AXA and Zurich Financial Services in marketing and strategy roles. In 1999, he joined direct marketing agency – trademarkDM as their Director of Strategy and worked on major campaigns for financial services brands including, AXA Australia, GE Capital, Members Equity Bank, American Insurance Group (AIG), and Australia Unity Funds Management. In May 2024, Umberto was also appointed as Chair of Industry Super Australia.
Umberto also holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from RMIT and a Graduate Diploma in Organisational Leadership from Melbourne Business School that included module placements at London Business School, INSEAD Singapore and Kellogg University. Umberto has also completed Squared Online (with honours) – a digital marketing leadership course developed with Google. In March 2021, he also completed and became a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course.
Organisational Psychologist and Head of Growth at Inventium, Charlotte Rush, lead a discussion in relation to the future of workforces and organisational design bringing insights from Inventium’s recent research on the future of work. Doug Talbot from 1886 Consulting moderated a panel session with Charlotte, joined by Jane Couchman, Chief Risk Officer at Aware Super, Robyn Judd, Chief People Officer at Spirit Super and Rebecca Engel, Director - Financial Services Industry at Microsoft.
Guest Speaker - Charlotte Rush, Head of Growth Inventium
Charlotte is an Organisational Psychologist and the Head of Growth at Inventium. Charlotte has worked with organisations such as Blackmores, Powerlink, Lendlease, Clayton Utz and WaterAid, shaping their organisation-wide innovation programs and supporting leaders to create great places to work. She has worked across Asia, the United States, and Australia and has written on the topic of innovation, the future of work and organisational psychology for B&T, CEO World and Smart Company.
Panellist - Jane Couchman, Chief Risk Officer and Group Executive Aware Super
Before joining Aware Super, Jane was the Executive General Manager, Compliance at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) where she was responsible for leading the bank’s Global Compliance Function, including the Conduct Program, Privacy Program and Conflicts of Interest Program. During this time, she also co-led CBA’s response to APRA's Prudential Inquiry into CBA; as well as the new Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) and was a key member of CBA’s Royal Commission Taskforce.
Prior to her time at CBA Jane was the Global COO, Compliance and Head of Enterprise Compliance at Macquarie Bank. She was part of the global executive leadership team for the Compliance Division and drove the strategy and programme of work for the Division globally. Prior to Macquarie, she was Chief Risk Officer at BT Financial Group, and before that General Counsel at Perpetual.
Robyn Judd - Chief People Officer Spirit Super
Robyn is Chief People Officer at Spirit Super. As a highly experienced executive leader, Robyn’s expertise lies in driving change and transformation within complex environments. She has more than 20 years’ experience, predominantly in the financial services, superannuation, hospitality and retail sectors.
While acknowledging that change is difficult, Robyn delights in the challenge of bringing a strategic vision to life. She believes that transformational cultural change is about stretching the whole organisation and bringing staff on the change journey and enabling collective ownership of that strategic vision.
Moderator - Doug Talbot, Managing Director & Founder 1886 Consulting
After a successful two-decade Investment Management career in various senior leadership roles with responsibilities across public & private markets both locally and internationally, Doug founded 1886 Consulting.
Combining his broad senior executive experience in asset management strategy, transformation program design, data and technology strategy, he now leads 1886’s curated team of specialist industry professionals.
Doug brings to clients’ a practical executive perspective leveraging his leadership skills, market insights and relationships to objectively help clients achieve their strategic challenges. As an example of this, the 1886 team recently strategically partnered with a large Australian Superannuation Fund with Doug as acting Chief Operating Officer, Investments helping them establish and build their end-to-end internal Investment capabilities, processes and systems.
BBus (Accounting) UTS, GAICD, Grad Cert Mgmt MGSM, CIMA
AICD Chair and former Chair of Spirit Super, Naomi Edwards, provided her insights on the industry and the future leadership role from the perspective of boards and other stakeholders. Naomi was interviewed by Ben Facer, Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy CEO of NGS Super and the 2024 winner of the FEAL AICD Scholarship.
Guest speaker - Naomi Edwards, AICD Chair
Naomi Edwards is a leading company Chair with a lifetime of experience working in the superannuation and life insurance sectors. She is the former Chair of Spirit Super, where she led the fund through four successful mergers. Prior to that she was the Chair of Australian Ethical, an Australian pioneer in ESG based investing and superannuation.
An actuary by training, Naomi is a former Partner of Deloitte and was President of the Actuaries Institute in 2023. She is currently a board member of TAL, Australia's largest life insurance company, where she Chairs the Risk Committee.
Naomi is the Chair of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), a role she commenced on 1 July.
Interviewer - Ben Facer, Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy CEO NGS Super
Ben was appointed to the Executive team on 29 August 2017. As Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy CEO, Ben is responsible for the maintenance and advancement of all strategy, product, finance and information security functions within the Fund. He oversees the operating framework and development of strategy that enables the Fund to continue its focus on providing valuable services for members.
Ben joined NGS following 5 years as Actuarial Consultant and Partner at Deloitte. Prior to his time with Deloitte, Ben spent almost 20 years with Mercer, initially as Actuarial Consultant, then International Retirement Consultant in London and finally Retirement Practice Leader, South Asia in Singapore. Ben holds a Bachelor of Economics (Actuarial Studies).
Closing the Conference program, Melbourne Business School’s Professor Geoff Martin lead a conversation on the navigation of strategy and purpose with graduates of the FEAL/MBS Emerging Leaders Program: Brandon Clark, Executive Manager – Marketing at Hostplus, Dileepa Diyagama, Business Intelligence Manager at Equip Super and Judy Wilson, Client Manager at Funds SA.
Guest speaker - Geoff Martin, Professor of Business Strategy Melbourne Business School
Geoff completed his PhD in Management at IE Business School (Madrid, Spain) specialising in Strategy, Finance and Risk Management before joining the Melbourne Business School in 2012, as an Associate Professor of Strategy.
Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Geoff held several Senior Executive corporate strategy, finance, accounting and operational risk positions at Deloitte (Sydney), GT Global (Dublin), TXU (London), IAMCO (London, Johannesburg), Egg Bank (London) and Credit Suisse (Singapore, London), where he was Vice President, Operational Risk. He has also worked in the non-profit sector with Rafael HIV Services in South Africa and Raleigh International in Chile.
As a strategy consultant and charted accountant, Geoff is actively involved in advising and consulting to Boards and Senior Management of numerous private and public institutions, in Australia and internationally, on issues ranging from strategic decision making, executive compensation, finance, risk and corporate governance.
Panellist - Brandon Clark, Executive Manager Marketing Hostplus
Brandon is the Executive Manager, Marketing at Hostplus. In this position, Brandon leads a talented marketing team, and his responsibilities include developing and executing multi-channel brand marketing and communication strategies that align with Hostplus’ strategic goals.
Brandon is a practised senior marketer with over 20 years of corporate and agency experience. He has successfully led and managed high-performing teams in creative and digital agencies, collaborating extensively with financial services institutions, including super funds, fund managers, banks and insurance companies. In 2024, Brandon also took part in the FEAL Emerging Leaders program.
Since joining Hostplus in 2019, Brandon’s marketing leadership has seen the Hostplus Brand recognised as one of Australia’s most trusted superannuation brands* with key brand health metrics reaching the highest point in the Fund’s history.
In 2023, Brandon accepted the Financial Standard Marketing Team of the Year award, and in 2024 was also honoured with the Financial Standard Marketing Campaign of the Year and the Financial Education Campaign of the Year awards.
Panellist- Dileepa Diyagama, Business Intelligence Manager Equip Super
Dileepa has over 20 years’ experience in business intelligence, advanced analytics, data and technology space in a variety of industries including biomedical science, sport and entertainment, consulting, financial services and superannuation. Dileepa is currently the Business Intelligence Manager at Equip Super in the Insights & Design team, where he is responsible for building a high-performing business intelligence function, robust analytics strategies, advanced analytics and reporting capabilities to help deliver business objectives and member outcomes through data-led solutions.
Dileepa has a Master of Applied Commerce and Marketing from the University of Melbourne. In 2023, Dileepa was awarded the FEAL scholarship to attend the Emerging Leaders Program at Melbourne Business School.
Panellist - Judy Wilson, Manager Corporate Engagement Funds SA
Judy commenced with Funds SA in January 2019, as Manager - Corporate Engagement. She has responsibility for relationship management of the Corporation's non-superannuation clients that includes insurance, endowment and investment orientated clients. In addition, her role covers various other activities encompassing corporate affairs, stakeholder engagement, marketing and communications.
She draws on 20 years of experience within the Asset Management sector, across both retail and institutional client roles. Prior to working at Funds SA, Judy held roles at Yarra Capital Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Morgan Stanley.
Over the Members’ Dinner we heard from Tristan Knowles AOM, captain of the Australian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team, before he heads off to his 6th Paralympics Games in Paris.
Tristan is the captain of the Australian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team and has won Paralympic Gold as well as back-to-back World Championships over the course of his 20 year international career. Tristan is set to go to his 6th Paralympic Games in Paris later this year where he is considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous and dynamic players.
Tristan became an above knee amputee as a result of childhood cancer. By surviving childhood cancer twice where his life hung in the balance, learning to accept his disability and letting go of dreams of an AFL career, he explores themes and high performance traits such as mindset and perspective, handling adversity and setbacks, goal setting and accountability, the importance of culture and how when combined, they can push people and teams to limits they never thought possible.
Tristan’s unique experiences and worldview has led him to take on life’s challenges with an acute sense of gratitude, purpose and sacrifice, which ultimately leads to his successes.
CONFERENCE (open to all)
DATE: Thursday 1st August
VENUE: Park Hyatt
ADDRESS: 1 Parliament Square, off Parliament Place, Melbourne
TIME: 9.30am (tea & coffee) for a 10.00am start - 6.00pm (AEST)
COST: FEAL Members $1,140, FEAL Sponsors & Non-members $1,420
MEMBERS' DINNER (FEAL Members & sponsors only)
DATE: Thursday 1st August
VENUE: Park Hyatt
ADDRESS: 1 Parliament Square, off Parliament Place, Melbourne
TIME: 6.00pm (pre-dinner drinks) for a 7.00pm start - 9.30pm (AEST)
COST: FEAL Members $310 & FEAL Sponsors $390
A discount is available for members & sponsors attending both events as set out below:
FEAL Members - Conference & Dinner: $1,310
FEAL Sponsors - Conference & Dinner: $1,630
*Prices above are GST inclusive
**Please note only FEAL members & sponsors are eligible to attend the dinner, the conference is open to all
Dress code for conference & dinner: business attire
Sponsored in partnership with
