Rice Warner founder and executive director, Michael Rice, has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia (General Division) for distinguished service to business and economics in the Actuarial profession, as part of Australia Day celebrations.
His noted achievements and extensive service included his promotion and advocating for higher superannuation payments to women, and public policy work that secured a framework for better retirement options for all Australians.
He had led submissions to the government on major financial services reviews, including the Henry Tax Review; the Cooper Superannuation Review and Financial System Inquiry; and the Treasury, Senate Committees and the Productivity Commission.
Introduced in 2013, Rice Warner’s ‘Valuing Females’ package offered women extra benefits including flexible work conditions, paid parental leave, and an additional 2% payment of their salary into their super fund.
He had taken the battle for better benefits for women to the Human Rights Commission having argued for positive discrimination in favour of Rice Warner’s women employees.
Rice was named Actuary of the Year in 2017 and chaired the Actuaries Institute’s Public Policy Committee for five years from 2014.
In his advisory capacity, Rice had been an honorary member of the Australian National University’s advisory board of the Collee of Business and Economics since 2014 and was a board member of State Plus from 2016-2019 and a committee member of QSuper from 2009-2016.
He had also advocated for better outcomes for young savers ‘wooed’ into higher-fee superannuation accounts for social media savvy marketers.
Elayne Grace, Actuaries Institute chief executive, said Rice had been a powerful and persuasive advocate for reform in the superannuation and retirement sectors.
“His thoughtful and incisive input is actively sought by policymakers in Canberra and by leading industry groups involved in the wealth management and retirement sectors,” Grace said.
