Diana Santibanez joins Mercer as a Senior Sustainable Investment Analyst

April 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Diana Santibanez on her appointment as Senior Sustainable Investment Analyst at Mercer Australia.

Mercer is an established investment multi-manager in Australia and globally, with a strong history of partnering with institutional asset owners, financial advisers, endowments, foundations, and family offices.

Diana has more than 12 years of experience in investments. Before joining Mercer, Diana was a Senior Investment Analyst at Jana Investment Advisors (JANA), within their Sustainability team. She also sat on the Corporate Responsibility Committee at JANA.

Diana is passionate about empowering migrant women in Australia and is a Partner and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Professional Migrant Women (PMW).

We wish Diana all the best in her new role and continued success to the team at Mercer.

Stephen Gilmore appointed Chief Investment Officer of CalPERS

April 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Stephen Gilmore on his appointment as the Chief Investment Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS).

CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the United States, with US$462.8 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023, managing pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families.

Before joining CalPERS, Stephen was the Chief Investment Officer at NZ Super since 2019, New Zealands’s sovereign wealth fund. Prior to that, Stephen was the Chief Investment Strategist at the Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund.

We wish Stephen all the best in his new role and continued success to the team at CalPERS.

Spotlight on Natalie Garcia, Managing Director, Head of Underwriting, Deerpath Capital

Natalie is a Managing Director and a permanent member of the Investment Committee at Deerpath Capital. Her primary responsibilities include overseeing the underwriting component in Deerpath’s broader investment process.

Natalie asserts that inflationary pressures remain a persistent theme across most parts of the Western world and that central banks’ pursuit of contractionary monetary policy have constrained, but not yet slain the inflationary dragon.

Natalie also questions whether structurally higher interest rates are translating into a material slowdown in underlying economies. Although higher funding costs will ultimately adversely impact corporate profitability and household balance sheets, in the short term, higher reference rates continue to be a relative positive for the direct lending market, as loans issued are almost exclusively floating rate in nature, translating into higher returns to investors, albeit at a lag.

Natalie will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Private Credit Investment Forum, taking place on Thursday, 2 May 2024 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria.

Register your interest in attending here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.

Désirée Lucchese appointed Sustainability Manager at MLC Life Insurance

April 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Désirée Lucchese on her appointment as Sustainability Manager at MLC Life Insurance.

MLC Life Insurance is a leading life insurance provider in Australia, committed to helping individuals and families protect their future. The company prides itself on its innovative solutions and personalised approach to insurance, ensuring that each policy is tailored to the unique circumstances of the policyholder.

We wish Désirée all the best in her new role and continued success to the team at MLC Life Insurance.

Paul Murray appointed Chief Investment Officer, legalsuper

April 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Paul Murray on his appointment as the Chief Investment Officer of legalsuper.

Legalsuper manages the retirement wealth of the legal community, representing more than 41,000 members and with more than A$5 billion in assets under management.

We wish Paul all the best in his new role and continued success to the legalsuper team.

Jo Townsend appointed Chief Executive of NZ Super

April 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Jo Townsend on her appointment as the Chief Executive of the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, the Crown entity that manages the NZ$70 billion NZ Super Fund.

Jo is a highly experienced CEO with a 30-year career in the Australian investment sector and most recently held the CEO role at Funds SA, a A$40 billion institutional investor of public sector funds, during her tenure from 2015 to 2023. Prior to Funds SA, Jo held various roles at REST, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, including as General Manager, Investments and Acting Chief Operating Officer. Earlier in her career she held investment roles at NGS Super, Retirement Benefits Fund, Value Capital Management and Rothschild Australia Asset Management.

We wish Jo all the best in her new role and continued success to the team at NZ Super Fund.

UniSuper appoints Head of Fixed Interest

March 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Mathew McCrum on his appointment as the Head of Fixed Interest at UniSuper.

UniSuper is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds and is run solely for the benefit of its members. Although it recently (2021) opened the fund to all Australians, for more than 40 years it has been managing super on behalf of people employed in the higher education and research sector. It currently manages more than A$130 billion in assets on behalf of more than 634,000 members (as at 31 December 2023).

We wish Mathew all the best in his new role and continued success to the UniSuper team.

Dini Soulio appointed Chief Executive of Super SA

March 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Dini Soulio on his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of Super SA.

Super SA is a superannuation fund for South Australian public sector workers with A$37 billion in assets under management.

We wish Dini all the best in his new role and continued success to the Super SA team.

Spotlight on Jennifer Anderson, Global Head of Sustainable Investment & ESG, Lazard Asset Management

Jennifer is a Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investment and ESG at Lazard Asset Management Limited (London) and oversees the firm’s Sustainable Investment and ESG integration strategy.

According to Jennifer, in the current environment there are a number of key developments unfolding that any climate committed investor ought to be thinking about:

· Global tensions and upcoming elections may impact how governments seek to implement climate and sustainability policies. This presents opportunities for active investors that can actively assess the impact these dynamics have on companies, and their supply chains.

· Higher stakes from physical risks, such as rising temperatures, increased heat, wild fire and flooding are not yet priced in but present material risks for both corporates and sovereigns.

· ESG views are increasingly becoming polarised with divergent ESG expectations, regulation and standard between clients and regions. Asset owners must therefore fully understand the medium to long-term implications of their own net zero goals and the practical path towards implementation.

Jennifer will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Net Zero Investment Forum, taking place on Wednesday, 27 March 2024 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria.

To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan.kapetanovic@globalii.com.au.

Spotlight on Nico Aspinall, Sustainability Advocate, Newton Investment Management

Nico is a Sustainability Advocate at Newton Investment Management, responsible for promoting their sustainable investment proposition, with a particular focus on climate change.

“Addressing greenhouse-gas emissions is an urgent and critical task. Investment is needed to accelerate the shift towards a ‘greener’ world to protect our economy, society and environment from climate change, and we need to do it at pace.

That means investors investing in the companies that are already part of the future energy and technology mix, as well as those that are part of the current mix but earnestly planning to be a part of the future one. It also means investing in the regions where the vast majority of future emissions will originate – emerging markets.”

Nico will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Net Zero Investment Forum, taking place on Wednesday, 27 March 2024 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria.

To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan.kapetanovic@globalii.com.au.

Spotlight on Amanda O’Toole, Partner & Portfolio Manager, Clean Economy Strategy & Biodiversity Strategy, Redwheel

Amanda is a partner at Redwheel and leads the team responsible for the Redwheel Biodiversity and Clean Economy strategies. Her primary focus is the management of these two strategies, both of which are actively managed portfolios of listed equities, offering products and services that contribute to the protection of biodiversity and the transition to a cleaner future.

“The transition in natural capital and biodiversity protection will impact activities throughout our economic system and it will impact all portfolios. Sophisticated investors must first seek to understand their exposure to physical, transition, and reputational risk.”

Amanda will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Net Zero Investment Forum, taking place on Wednesday, 27 March 2024 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria.

To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan.kapetanovic@globalii.com.au.

Guy Shearman joins Mercer as Senior Sustainable Investment Analyst

March 2024

Global Investment Institute congratulates Guy Shearman on joining Mercer as a Senior Sustainable Investment Analyst, in their Melbourne office.

Mercer is the world’s largest investment consulting firm, with US$15.5 trillion in assets under advisement, as well as US$380 billion in assets under management. In Australia, the Mercer Super Trust is one of the largest superannuation funds with approximately A$66 billion in assets under management.

We wish Guy all the best in his new role and continued success to the Mercer team.

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