The $36 billion Brighter Super has appointed an interim chief investment officer after Mark Rider stepped down from the fund. 

Investment Magazine can reveal that the Brisbane-headquartered fund has appointed head of diversified portfolios David O’Donnell to head up the investment operations until a permanent replacement for Rider is found.  

“As a leader within Brighter Super’s investments team, Mr O’Donnell has helped drive the strong investment outcomes across the fund’s suite of superannuation investment options,” a Brighter Super spokesperson said, confirming the interim appointment.  

O’Donnell has over two decades of experience in financial services and has worked with Brighter Super since 2017. In his current role, which he started in April 2022, O’Donnell oversaw the development and optimisation of investment options, balancing fees, risk, liquidity and sustainability factors. 

Prior to working in superannuation, he was a portfolio manager at Whitehaven Private Portfolios, a Brisbane-based private wealth management firm. 

Rider announced his intention to transition out of full-time work in September, with plans to take on consulting and investment committee works.  

During his time at Brighter Super, he set the investment direction for the fund following the Energy Super and LGIAsuper mergers, as well as the later absorption of Suncorp Super in 2022. These integrations have put Brighter Super at a sweet spot in terms of scale and have given it options around how to invest its assets.  

“One of the things that drove me to join Brighter Super was that it was trying to be a bit different in that its ambitions have not been to be a megafund,” he told Investment Magazine in September. 

“Its ambition has been to be closer to the members and provide – as the predecessor funds did – more of a personalised service.” 

“Superannuation never stays still. Things are always changing.” 

Brighter Super has been finetuning its investment portfolio to deal with the greater risks that come with inflationary pressures and volatile geopolitical environment. It has its sights set on the resilience of real assets as it builds out its infrastructure allocation and is seeking opportunistic investments in the beaten-down property market.  

This includes a $100 million mandate handed to Barings to acquire real estate assets – particularly in the industrial sector – across Queensland last year, as a part of Brighter Super’s $500 million investment strategy focused on investing more in the Sunshine State. In listed equities the fund has also shifted close to $3 billion from passive to active mandates. 

The fund’s MySuper option returned 10.89 per cent (10-year return of 7.23 per cent), while its growth and balanced options returned 11.65 per cent (seven year return of 9.54 per cent) and 10.54 per cent (seven-year 8.29 per cent) respectively, according to its annual results in July.