After 17 years with CMSF, the last five as chief executive of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, Fiona Reynolds will leave the organisation in January.
She is moving to London to take up a new position as managing director of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment in February.
James Gifford will remain executive director of UNPRI, responsible for academic research and policy, and both Gifford and Reynolds will report to the board.
Reynolds cites the increase in the superannuation guarantee from 9 to 12 per cent as one of AIST’s greatest accomplishments under her helm.
“We lobbied hard for that,” she says. “We have also worked hard on getting a better deal for low-income workers, particularly women, and that will continue to be a challenge.”
She says that the continuous stream of industry reviews and enquiries, including the latest “son of Wallis” was a concern.
Reynolds oversaw the merger of CMSF, part of IFS and AIST and has grown the organisation from a staff of eight at that time, to now more than 40 employees.
AIST, which will conduct an external search for a new chief executive, is two years into a three-year strategic plan and the next year will focus on the rollout of a trustee education framework that aims to position the organisation as a world leader.
She says the new chief executive will also be tasked with expanding the governance capability, seeing through the reforms and protecting and defending the trustee system which “is constantly under attack”.
AIST president, Cate Wood, congratulated Reynolds on her appointment and paid tribute to her leadership role at AIST and long-term contribution to the not-for-profit superannuation sector.
“Fiona has been an articulate and compelling advocate for our national superannuation system, security in retirement and the representative trustee system. She is widely respected across all parts of the industry and will be sadly missed,” Wood says.
