Janet Torney has resigned as chief executive of the 75-year old, $6 billion, 33,000-member Qantas Superannuation Ltd.

Torney, CEO of the fund since August 2007, left Qantas Superannuation on August 26. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Andrew Spence, the fund’s chief investment officer.

“Andrew is passionate about investing. He will be acting CEO,” says Anne Ward, Qantas Superannuation’s chairman. “The CEO we will be looking for will have knowledge about technical and practical knowledge of superannuation, preferably with defined benefit experience. The successful candidate will have the necessary communication and leadership skills.”

Ward will be executive chairman while the CEO search takes place. She has been non-executive chairman since 2005.

Ward says Torney had signalled her departure from Qantas Superannuation when she returned from vacation last month.

“Janet decided it was time to move on to the next stage of her career,” says Ward.

Torney says she wants to spend more time contemplating what she will do next.

“I absolutely love the industry,” she says.

Torney says she is proud of her achievements at Qantas Super.

“We’ve focused on delivering superb investment returns through a very difficult environment along with the best governance and risk framework,” says Torney.

Qantas Superannuation’s default fund had a 10.2 per cent return for the year to June 2011, and 8.8 per cent in the year to June 2010, she says.