legalsuper has appointed HESTA chief operating officer Stephen Reilly as its new chief executive and former Qantas Super deputy chief investment officer Chris Grogan as chief investment officer, filling the two vacancies left when its CEO and CIO departed at the end of the financial year.

The appointments follow the departure of chief executive Luke Symons, who left to take up the CEO role at Equip Super, and interim CIO Andrew Lill, who joined Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation as CIO. Chief financial officer Michael Gogorosis has been serving as interim chief executive during the transition.

Reilly has been COO at HESTA since 2015, and previously spent more than a decade in management consulting and senior strategy roles. He has also been a director of the Mother’s Day Classic since 2018.

legalsuper chair Kirsten Mander said the board was impressed by Reilly’s interest in “working with a smaller, specialised and high-performing fund” and its alignment with his focus on organisational strategy and operating model differentiation.

Reilly said the fund’s specialisation was part of the appeal.

“Through my own research and experience during the recruitment process, I’ve appreciated legalsuper’s firm commitment to excelling as Australia’s only fund specialising in the legal sector,” Reilly said.

“In addition to demonstrably strong investment performance and member engagement practices, legalsuper continues to challenge more conventional views that ‘bigger is better’ within Australia’s superannuation discourse.”

Grogan spent 13 years at Qantas Super, most recently as deputy CIO, following more than a decade in senior public sector investment roles. He was most recently deputy CIO at Cambooya.

“Chris brings valuable profit-to-member superannuation fund experience from his 13 years at QANTAS Super, most recently as deputy chief investment Officer,” Mander said. “Prior to this Chris spent more than 10 years in senior public sector organisation investment roles, having begun his career with private chartered accounting practice, Herbert Partners,”