Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has appointed Jody Fitzgerald to the recently-created role of head of investment resilience and planning.
She joins from Morningstar Investment Management where she was head of institutional portfolio management.
ART said Fitzgerald will be accountable for ensuring their investment portfolios “can consistently and effectively navigate and adapt to diverse investment landscapes resulting in optimal returns across market cycles”.
The fund said the new role will set the team up for continued success in guarding and growing the retirement savings of members.
“Australian Retirement Trust invests more than $260 billion on behalf of our more than 2.3 million members, which is a responsibility we take very seriously,” said ART’s chief investment officer, Ian Patrick.
“Jody brings to Australian Retirement Trust a wealth of capability and experience in investment management and business leadership roles, and we look forward to her contribution to deliver on our vision to be Australia’s most chosen and trusted retirement partner.”
Fitzgerald joined Morningstar Investment Management Australia in 2018, and prior to that was at Australian Unity Investments. She will start at ART in late January 2024.
There have been a series of senior people moves at the fund this year.
As announced in June, the fund will welcome Kathy Vincent from BT as its new chief of retirement at the end of the year.
As chief of retirement, her remit would include the execution of ART’s retirement strategy, providing strategic leadership and guidance across all elements of the Fund’s retirement offering, including product, service model and advice.
However, it has lost its chief executive, Bernard Reilly, who will depart in February 2024 and deputy chief investment officer, Charles Woodhouse, who left to join the Abu Dhabi Pension Scheme.
Reilly was appointed to lead ART in March 2021 and the fund was formed in February 2022 from the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper. Reilly was previously CEO of Sunsuper from 2019.
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