Cbus has swiftly promoted Leigh Gavin to chief investment officer only months after naming him deputy, as the fund works towards growing in size and bringing its investment expertise in-house.
Cbus’ recently appointed deputy chief investment officer (CIO) Gavin has been promoted to lead the fund’s investment team, with current CIO Brett Chatfield announcing his departure from Cbus.
Gavin’s appointment to deputy CIO was only announced in February, having first joined Cbus in 2023 as head of portfolio strategies.
Cbus confirmed in a statement on Monday that Chatfield, after completing the leadership transition, will be moving to a similar role at a large private family office.
Chatfield has been with the $100 billion fund since 2013, later being promoted to acting CIO in March 2023 and then as the fund’s permanent replacement in June that same year.
Announcing the leadership transition on Wednesday, Cbus said that the appointment comes as it aims to grow from $100 billion to $150 billion in size by the end of the decade.
According to CEO Kristian Fok, this goal will be pursued next to its ambitious target of directly managing half of members’ assets through the in-house investment team.
“We are pleased to welcome Leigh to the chief investment officer role. Leigh has a proven track record as an investment leader, delivering strong returns for members, shaping strategies, portfolios and teams,” Fok said.
“An industry veteran with more than 25 years’ experience, Leigh has the deep expertise and skills necessary to deliver the outstanding investment results our more than 920,000+ members deserve.
“Leigh’s previous CIO experience, and skills honed managing local and global portfolios will allow him to build on our already strong investment foundations.”
The CEO said that Gavin’s tenure begins as Cbus aims to deploy over $20 billion of its members’ savings in the next five years, comprising at least $5 billion for private markets and $10 billion for domestic investment.
The new CIO will also be overseeing the launch of Cbus’ active large-cap Core Australian equities strategies, alongside the growth of its internal global markets strategies.
Moreover, in what the fund has labelled a “differentiated hybrid” model, Gavin will also be tasked with helping attract the “best investment talent” in-house as it looks to drive down investment costs.
“It’s a tremendous honour to be appointed as the chief investment officer for the hard-working Cbus members and to lead an expert investment team of more than 100 people who are all committed to generating the best net returns to members we possibly can,” Gavin said on his promotion.
“I am passionate about making a contribution for our members, it is energising knowing every extra basis point our teams can earn goes directly to these hard-working Australians.
“We are focused on growing their savings and aim to seek new opportunities in infrastructure – including data centres which are the bricks and mortar of the AI revolution, looking for diverse opportunities in property and investing in the energy transition.”
Fok thanked Chatfield for his years of service to the fund, saying that the outgoing CIO “lived and breathed Cbus for over 12 years and members are undoubtedly much better off because of it”.
“Cbus has always had a strong focus on succession planning and having a strong depth of leaders,” Fok said.
“Brett has been a key driver of the fund’s strong long-term performance and successful build out of internal investment management. When Brett joined Cbus, funds under management were around $22 billion. Today, the portfolio is valued at around $100 billion.”
Chatfield said: “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such a dedicated, diverse, and talented team and the privilege of investing on behalf of more than 920,000 Cbus members.
“With Leigh at the helm, I have no doubt that the investment team will continue to drive strong returns for our members and steer the fund towards its ambitious goals. Congratulations to Leigh on this well-deserved appointment.”
Cbus confirmed that its investment team is now more than 100-strong, which the fund said is “central” to its investment strategy. Today, around 34 per cent of its investments are managed in-house, with the aim for this to grow to 50 per cent in the next three years.
The appointment of Matt Kempton to the role of head of equity strategies, who will begin in August, will play a part in this goal, it said.
Kempton, who will be reporting to Gavin later this year, was most recently the deputy CIO at Funds SA, where he has worked for the last seven years.
