Super SA chief executive, Dascia Bennett, has stepped from the role after five years.
She took over the role in December 2017 from a role as head of customer at NGS Super and had also held roles at Rest and AustralianSuper.
Patrick McAvaney has stepped in as acting CEO while the fund seeks a new CEO.
Bennett had already extended her time at the fund in order to embed Fund Selection in November 2022 that allows South Australian public sector workers to choose if they want to direct their South Australian government employer contributions.
She said: “I have made a difficult personal decision to step down from my role as CE at Super SA, as I felt it was time for me to return to Sydney to be in the same state as my partner who has been incredibly supportive of me in my tenure at Super SA.
“I extended my time with the fund to ensure we had successfully embedded Fund Selection, which was critical for staff and members and I am pleased to leave the organisation in the best possible position having just entered a competitive environment.”
During Bennett’s tenure, the fund was subject to a report by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in September 2022 of its practices, policies, and procedures.
No allegations or evidence of corruption were uncovered, but ICAC felt there were a “number of risks which, if left unaddressed, might enable corruption to occur”.
These included internal corruption risks where staff were unaware of the value of the information they held, insufficient controls to detect information misuse, and a lack of staff intranet for policies and procedures.
As a result, ICAC made 24 recommendations to allow the fund to address these risks arising from human resources, contracts, projects, and information.
“For more than five years, the board and I have focused on modernising the fund, ensuring a robust governance approach, delivering the ICAC recommendations and uplifting its technology capabilities,” Bennett said.
