NZ Super CEO tipped to be non-Kiwi

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund will announce its new CEO next week with the successful candidate expected to be an overseas applicant.

The NZ$10 billion fund has been searching for a new head since Paul Costello resigned in August to become CEO of Australia’s Future Fund. Costello remained in the New Zealand role until November with the Fund’s chief investment officer, Paul Dyer, taking up the position as acting CEO since that time. It is understood the New Zealand Super Fund board went through the final stages of selecting its new chief at a meeting held yesterday. No details of potential candidates have been released but it was reported earlier that the Fund was concentrating its recruitment search offshore. Last week the New Zealand Super Fund appointed Anne-Maree O’Connor to a new position as head of responsible investment. In October the Fund was criticised for investing in companies which mined uranium. O’Connor, a New Zealander who has spent the last two decades in Europe, was previously managing director of CoreRatings, a European ratings agency that provides investment analysis of corporate responsibility risks. She has also held a number of senior corporate governance roles including as associate director of SRI Morley Fund Management, and head of SRI research at Henderson Global Investors. In a statement released last week the New Zealand Super Fund said O’Connor “will focus on identifying the best strategies for achieving the Fund’s objective of implementing and reinforcing its responsible investing mandate”. The Fund is a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment and also recently engaged International Shareholder Services to guides its decisions on proxy voting.