The $180 billion Aware Super has appointed experienced company director Christine McLoughlin as its new independent chair, replacing Sam Mostyn who resigned to become Australia’s Governor-General earlier this year.
McLoughlin is currently the chair of ASX-listed insurer Suncorp Group and a director of hearing implant company Cochlear. She will keep both positions after joining Aware Super officially on 1 October.
The mega-fund said it appointed McLoughlin after engaging an independent search firm to “identify candidates with financial services, regulatory and governance experience”.
Aware Super CEO Deanne Stewart said McLoughlin’s experience in the insurance industry, where companies rapidly evolve to meet customers’ “key life moments”, will bring benefits to a superannuation fund.
“As Aware Super continues to shape the best possible retirement for members, insights from other sectors will strengthen the fund’s board,” Stewart said in a media release.
“Aware Super is fortunate it will have the benefit of Christine’s strategic and governance experience in large, complex and heavily regulated sectors, combined with her international business background and aligned values.”
Outside of financial services, McLoughlin was previously the chancellor of the University of Wollongong and chair of tourism body Destination NSW, as well as holding directorships in not-for-profit organisations including the McGrath Foundation and the Smith Family.
Her appointment comes at a time when profit-to-member funds’ governance model is under the spotlight, in particular the role of an independent chair.
McLoughlin said she recognises it is a “critical time” for industry funds and Aware Super is a “best in class” fund.
“Ageing populations mean retirement is one of the greatest challenges faced by developed economies the world over, and I’m proud to be joining Aware Super at a time when they are already thinking and acting on how to best serve and deliver value for not only their members but the broader community,” she said.
In replacing Mostyn, McLoughlin joins a rare group. Of the ten biggest profit-to-members funds (according to APRA data as at the end of FY23 and counting CareSuper/Spirit Super as a single fund), only three have female chairs.
But there is a mix of public and private sector experience, as a fund’s chair increasingly needs to help executives navigate through both fund operational and political processes.
A modern-day chair needs to be well-versed in managing the delicate task of “being apolitical, and be seen to be apolitical”, according to executive recruitment expert Michael Swinsburg at Alexander Hughes, as industry funds can no longer count on “air cover from one side of politics”.
This is in addition to the retirement expertise that regulators are increasingly demanding, as ASIC recently made it clear that boards must be a bigger part of the solution to the decumulation challenge.
“ASIC is not going to tell you who to have on your board, but whoever you do have must deliver to the standards that members expect in a way that is measurable and meaningful,” ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said at the recent Conexus Retirement Conference.
“Boards of trustees need the right skills and the right reporting structures to oversee and deliver retirement income strategies as well as the consistent and fair delivery of member services more broadly.”
