Damian Graham

Aware Super has announced an important update on its investment leadership team and succession planning to ensure the $190 billion Fund continues to deliver strong returns for its 1.2 million members.

After 12 years as Chief Investment Officer, Aware Super is pleased to announce that Damian Graham will transition into the role of Head of International, based in London, to further drive the Fund’s international growth ambitions across its key global markets.

This transition follows 12 months of succession planning discussions where Damian shared his intention to transition to retirement over the next few years.

A global search to appoint a new CIO is now underway to ensure a smooth transition for its investment leadership team, with Mr Graham to remain in his role as CIO before relocating to London at the end of the year.

Since opening its London headquarters in 2023, Aware Super has committed more than £2 billion, following a commitment to invest £5.25 billion in the UK and continental Europe over five years.

Aware Super CEO Deanne Stewart said: “Aware Super firstly recognises Damian for his outstanding contributions as CIO over the past decade, where he was instrumental to our strategy and to the Fund, delivering consistently strong results for the benefit of our members.

“We are absolutely delighted that Damian will stay with the Fund and has accepted this role as Head of International to lead our global activities based out of London, which will further elevate our international profile and performance as we actively pursue our strategy as a global asset owner.

“This carefully managed transition ensures Aware Super continues to benefit from Damian’s extensive investment experience as we continue to build our global presence and ensure we retain the Fund’s strong culture as we expand internationally.

“At the same time, Aware Super welcomes this opportunity to build upon our leadership team with a new CIO that will continue the growth of the Fund as we aspire to help our members plan and live their best retirement through delivering super returns and being super helpful when they need us.”

Aware Super Chief Investment Officer Damian Graham said: “I am proud of what we have achieved over the last decade for our members in helping to secure their retirement, the significant growth and top-tier performance of our fund as we have expanded globally, and the high calibre and experienced investment team we have developed. I thank Deanne and the Board for their tremendous support, and I am excited and invigorated by the opportunity to continue with the Fund and lead our global operations.”

Aware Super has consistently been a top performing superannuation fund during Mr Graham’s decade with the Fund, most recently being recognised as Super Ratings Fund of the Year and Platinum 2025 MyChoice Super of the year.# Across his broad portfolio, Mr Graham was also instrumental in launching Aware Super’s international expansion strategy including into the UK in 2023.

He has also constructed a strong diversified portfolio and built a 150-strong highly regarded investment team – both of which deliver outstanding returns, at lower fees for Aware Super members. In addition, Damian has future-proofed Aware Super’s investment leadership with Project Odin, a digital platform which will further empower the Fund’s industry-leading hybrid investment model and Total Portfolio Approach to investing.

Aware Super’s current Head of International Damien Webb will return to Sydney in late 2025 as previously planned.

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Yolanda Beattie

Future IM/Pact has announced four new partners of its program to improve diversity in Australian investing: the $105bn UniSuper, $150bn Aware Super, $83bn Pinnacle Investment Management and $2bn TDM Growth Partners.

The announcements means six of the top 10 Australian asset owners are now backing the program (ART, Aware Super, UniSuper, QIC, VFMC and HESTA).

Founded in 2018 by Yolanda Beattie, Future IM/Pact connects Australia’s leading investment houses with women at university and in their early career, and informs them about a career in investing. Events, mentoring and investment competitions inspire and engage young investors, creating a talent pool for partners’ intern, graduate and analyst roles.

Aware Super Chief Investment Officer Damian Graham said as one of the nation’s largest superannuation funds, Aware not only acknowledged the link between diversity and stronger investment outcomes, but was committed to redressing the gender super gap through a holistic diversity strategy.

“To address imbalances such as Australia’s 14.1% gender pay gap and its resulting erosion of women’s retirement security, we recognise the need for a wide range of experience and perspectives to make the best investment decisions for our more than 1.1 million members.

“Currently we have around four times as many men as women apply for investment roles, and we are actively championing initiatives so our industry focuses on attracting women to front-line investment roles.

“It’s also why we are committed to working with our peers through Future IM/Pact.”

Better diversity, better outcomes

UniSuper CIO John Pearce said the fund’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was a key component of its talent management strategy.

“Different perspectives, experiences and skills are key to high performing teams. With a significant amount of funds managed in house, we have a lot of scope to develop exceptional talent, which in turn ensures we best deliver for our members. ” Mr Pearce said.

Pinnacle Founder and Managing Director Ian Macoun said building a groundswell of female talent at the grassroots level had to be part of the investment industry’s approach to addressing its lack of gender diversity.

“Pinnacle has been supporting and inspiring great female talent for several years through scholarships and internships. There are so many exciting pathways a career in finance can take and the highly diverse nature of our global multi-affiliate business provides great opportunity for young professionals.

We have a responsibility to promote these pathways, particularly to up and coming female talent, and ensure students and graduates have the support they need for a long and successful career in finance. Our partnership with Future IM/Pact will help achieve this and ultimately promote greater gender diversity in Finance.”

Head of TDM Growth Partners Foundation, Roly Clifton-Bligh, said people and culture was a critical element of the fund’s investment process and joining Future IM/Pact was consistent with that philosophy.

“We only invest in companies that have a proven track record in attracting great people and building a strong culture that supports people to do their best work. We know DEI is a key ingredient of that recipe. Future IM/Pact helps us walk that talk by deepening the talent pool of great women working across our industry,” he said.

Future IM/Pact Founder Yolanda Beattie said momentum was clearly growing across the sector. “We’re seeing more superfunds and investment management firms recognise the importance of working across industry to build the pipeline of female investors,” she said.

“Having 20 industry partners on board gives us more opportunities to share with our growing pool of female talent, more mentors to support their career journey and more funding to inspire a passion among more women about a career in this hugely influential industry.”

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Damian Graham

The ability to influence the long-term sustainability of food supply chains and support the health of the planet, has driven First State Super’s interest the food and agricultural sector, according to Chief Investment Officer Damian Graham.

Speaking this week in Sydney, Mr Graham said issues relating to production, utilisation and wastage would become increasingly critical as global food demand was predicted to grow by more than 10 per cent each decade over the next 30 years.

First State Super has approximately A$1 billion invested in the agriculture sector. Some of the more recent investments include the sale and leaseback of land for almond production along the Murray River and the ownership of facilities to support poultry production on a rent by area basis.

To date, much of the focus on food investments has been based on the growth of the Asian middle class and subsequent increased demand, but Mr Graham said this needed to be complemented by the long-term supply-side considerations such as environmental impact and sustainability.

“When we’re thinking about our job as a responsible investor, we’re really thinking about having a positive impact on society and the communities in which our members retire,” Mr Graham said.

Mr Graham outlined four key issues impacting the future of food:

• Food utilisation: if we waste less we can produce less – this would have significant global benefits from an environmental and resource perspective.
• Food production: using technology to improve productivity and make processes more efficient, environmentally friendly and faster. For example, the potential for technology to be used to optimise seed, water and fertiliser usage.
• Food substitution: developing more sustainably grown substitutes such as plant protein-based meat substitutes right through to the ‘clean meats’ grown in labs.
• Food distribution and storage: the food supply chain currently uses significant refrigerants, a cause of climate emissions. Also, there are significant inefficiencies in logistics across countries which drive significant wastage.

“Addressing these issues are important for investment decisions and for the future of food supplies across the globe,” Mr Graham said. “Innovations such as ‘clean meats’, ‘just in time’ food delivery and ‘super glass houses’ will be important developments driven by investment in technology.”

“Through our investments in food and agriculture, we are seeking to continue to optimise the efficiency of production around energy, water and other inputs to help meet increased global demand in a more sustainable way; while continuing to meet our obligation to provide our members with the best possible investment returns.”

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