The Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) has seen a round of redundancies including chief policy officer Glen McCrea.
ASFA has been operating since 1962 and is the peak policy and research body for superannuation funds.
A statement from ASFA chair Gary Dransfield said: “Providing a research-backed evidence base for informing policy decisions is more critical than ever, as is the ability to bring the whole industry together to collaborate on the practical implementation of legislation and regulation across the superannuation ecosystem.
“Against the backdrop of our strong balance sheet and solid financial position, the changes we are making to our team will build on our strengths in research and the highly detailed and technical policy space as well as facilitating an increased level of collaboration, both within the organisation and with our members.”
The departures include McCrea, who is the association’s chief policy officer and deputy chief executive, leading the team on policy, research, government relations and advocacy.
He joined nine years ago as chief policy officer from Commonwealth Treasury, where he spent two years as a senior adviser on superannuation and insurance policy.
Earlier this year, the organisation also lost its CEO in Dr Martin Fahy, who left after seven years and went on to join consultancy Accenture as a managing director for strategy and consulting.
Chair Dransfield was initially appointed as interim CEO and the organisation later appointed Leeanne Turner, former CEO of AvSuper and Spirit Super. Like Dransfield, Turner is also carrying out the role on an interim basis, but ASFA said the search for a permanent replacement is “well advanced”.
“The board is particularly keen to have someone with Leeanne’s deep industry experience and knowledge of the sector to assist ASFA at such an important time,” Dransfield said.
“Leeanne’s unifying presence and ability to bring people together to collaborate on the numerous, complicated challenges facing our industry will bring tremendous energy and focus to the sector.”
