The $93 billion fund has appointed a senior financial services and superannuation expert to help home in on its strategic goals.
Rest has appointed Gideon Lipman to the newly created role of chief of staff to CEO Vicki Doyle.
Lipman brings more than two decades of experience in superannuation, product management, strategy, and transformation to the role.
Namely, he was most recently head of product at Insignia Financial and has previously held senior strategy, transformation, and product roles with Colonial First State.
According to Rest, Lipman, who will formally take up the role on 10 February, will work closely with Doyle and the rest of the fund’s executive team to “advance and unlock further opportunities to achieve the fund’s strategy”.
Commenting on the new appointment, Doyle said: “Gideon is a highly respected superannuation leader and I’m delighted he is joining Rest to support our critical mission to make the experience of superannuation simpler and easier for our 2 million members.
“Gideon’s strong member focus and commercial acumen will help Rest ensure we can continue to mobilise our strategy into action to help our members achieve their best- possible retirement outcomes.”
Rest has seen some movement within its executive team in recent months, having announced that Deborah Potts will step down as chief member officer in December.
It also announced the departure of its inaugural chief investment officer Andrew Lill late last year. At the time, the fund had also said a comprehensive search was underway for his successor.
In the interim, Simon Esposito, Rest’s head of private markets, and Kiran Singh, Rest’s head of listed assets, have been named co-chief investment officers.
Earlier this month, the fund revealed that it had delivered double-digit returns in its flagship Growth option last year and remains optimistic for 2025.
Rest has seen its second consecutive calendar year of positive returns for its MySuper Growth investment option, returning 11.19 per cent in 2024.
This, it said, was underpinned by the continued strong performance of listed sharemarkets and international equities in particular.
According to Rest, Growth has delivered long-term annual returns of 8.34 per cent since it began on 1 July 1988.
