Twenty years since the organisation’s founding, Fund Executives Association Ltd (FEAL) continues to empower its members to demonstrate and develop leadership in an industry undergoing rapid transformation. “FEAL was created in 1999 to equip the industry’s future leaders with the knowledge and networks necessary to ensure its continued professionalisation” explains Joanna Davison, FEAL’s CEO. “The industry was facing new frontiers then, and in many respects the pace of change has only increased, particularly in the wake of the Royal Commission and increased public scrutiny of the super and insurance sectors.”
The FEAL program
As a professional development body for super fund executives, FEAL holds monthly luncheons in Sydney and Melbourne that focus on topics impacting the industry. An annual conference also brings together key members of the super and financial services industries, as well as a line-up of speakers that includes fund executives, academics, and professional advisers.
For members who are fund executives working in these industries, FEAL has partnered with Melbourne Business School (MBS) to run a tailored postgraduate program. Participants who complete the program’s full twelve modules graduate with a Masters in Organisational Leadership. Four scholarships are made available each year (two for each module), and two of the program modules are delivered at renowned international institutions: London Business School, and INSEAD in Singapore.
Another key offering available to FEAL members is access to the FEAL Mentoring Initiative. Created in 2014 and sponsored by AIA Australia, the initiative pairs fund executives with CEOs and other senior executives working in the industry, creating a framework in which both mentors and mentees can benefit from a sharing of knowledge, insights and skills, and the building of business, financial and strategic acumen. The seniority of the mentors on the initiative is a unique component, encouraging a high level of influence and contribution to the participant’s fund, its members and the industry overall.
AIA Australia and the FEAL Mentoring Initiative
“Like FEAL, AIA Australia is passionate about supporting super funds to help their members achieve financial wellbeing in retirement, and we both recognise the important role that good leadership plays in that,” says Damien Mu, CEO and Managing Director of AIA Australia and NZ. “For us, sponsoring the FEAL Mentorship Initiative was a wonderful opportunity to embrace and embody shared value, enabling our current leaders to continually expand their knowledge-base and leadership skills, while at the same time contributing to the development of tomorrow’s leaders to make a difference in Australians’ lives.”
As sponsor of the mentoring initiative, AIA Australia is one of the organisations that regularly provides a mentor from their executive team. Over 40 mentors and mentees industry-wide have been involved in the initiative so far, with many crediting the program as having helped them to achieve their career objectives and gain a fresh perspective from professionals outside their usual circles.
FEAL membership is open to the executive management and staff of not-for-profit super funds. To find out more about the educational programs, networking potential and mentoring opportunities that come with a FEAL membership, click here.
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