The chief executive of $12 billion industry fund Cbus, Sandy Grant, will retire in December and a recruitment firm has begun scanning for a replacement.

Grant said that at 63 years of age, he wanted to finish full-time work but would be interested in remaining involved with the industry funds movement, as he has been since the early 1980s as a general manager at Jacques Martin (now Superpartners) and then managing director at IFS. The Cbus board under chair Ralph Willis has contracted recruitment firm Broydens to come up with a shortlist for the CEO role. Grant, who has run Cbus for three years, has agreed to stay on for a transition period alongside his successor. Several industry sources have identified Gabriel Szondy as a potential replacement for Grant. Szondy, who is stepping down as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers on June 30, is a chartered accountant who has advised super funds for 25 years and has sat on CARE Super’s board since 2001. Szondy said yesterday he was looking at several possible offers for both executive and board positions, and admitted the Cbus CEO role was of interest to him.