Ms Norman has extensive leadership experience and has worked within the superannuation industry for over 15 years for a range of funds including UniSuper, Legalsuper, Cbus, and ESSSuper.  Across these roles Ms Norman has led the end-to-end member experience and engagement strategy with oversight and responsibility for Brand, Marketing, Experience, Digit

As CXO, Ms Norman will be responsible for Equip Super’s Retirement, Product, Marketing and Financial Planning functions. This key role will have responsibility for the end-to-end experience of the fund’s 140,000 members.

Speaking on the announcement, Scott Cameron, Equip Super CEO, said, ‘We are thrilled to welcome Carrie Norman as Equip Super’s new Chief Experience Officer to lead our recently established Member Experience business function. Carrie brings invaluable experience in the superannuation industry and will be instrumental in driving our commitment to delivering exceptional member experiences. We are confident that under her leadership, Equip Super will continue to set the standard for excellence in our industry and prepare our members for financial freedom in retirement.’

‘I am incredibly excited to take on the role of Chief Experience Officer at Equip Super. It’s an honour to join such a forward-thinking organisation that is dedicated to enhancing member experiences. I look forward to working with the team to build on the fantastic work already being done and contribute to the ongoing success of Equip Super,’ said Carrie Norman on her appointment.

Ms Norman will commence her role on 11 June 2024 and will be reporting into Scott Cameron, CEO.

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Anna Shelley

Equip and Catholic Super have defied the worst market downturn since the Global Financial Crisis, delivering positive returns to members invested in the joint trustee’s flagship balanced options.

In a financial year end that saw COVID-19 market jitters push most super funds into negative territory, Equip’s Balanced Growth option captured a 1.7% return and Catholic Super’s Balanced option +0.52%. Both funds’ returns are above 8% p.a. over 10 years – proving once again that long term gets the returns.

Anna Shelley, Chief Investment Officer, said that the funds deployed a number of strategies to protect members’ retirement savings as COVID-19 disrupted financial markets.

“Global markets fell significantly and very quickly as the coronavirus pandemic hit back in March. Despite the initial panic, markets have significantly rebounded since then,” she said.

“As markets bottomed through March, the funds bought $1 billion of equities and, after markets had recovered substantially, $1 billion of equities was steadily ‘sold off’. Many small, conservative actions were implemented to protect and add to our members’ retirement savings.

“Put another way, while markets are still a bit lower than their record February highs, they’re back to late 2019 numbers.

“Equip and Catholic Super’s investment team is closely watching the markets and resetting strategies as conditions change during the pandemic, positioning members’ retirement savings for long-term growth as markets and economies reset and recover for life after the crisis.

“Both funds are known for their track record of delivering for members, particularly in tough times, so we are very pleased to achieve these results, supporting our members’ retirement outcomes. Our long term results show that investments require time in the market. The key is consistently strong results over many years.”

Scott Cameron, Equip and Catholic Super Chief Executive Officer, said managing both risk and opportunities to grow members’ wealth is essential, particularly at a time when consumers are seeking to chase returns.

“Both funds have a long-term growth plan to deliver competitive fees and performance. The results for the 12 months to June and a longer 10 year period show that the funds are growing members’ retirement savings during both difficult and more optimistic times,” he said.

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Anna Shelley

Progress towards the ground-breaking joint venture between is continuing with the appointment of Anna Shelley as Chief Investment Officer for both funds.

Ms Shelley’s appointment follows last week’s announcement that Mr Scott Cameron, the former Chief Executive of Computershare in Australia and New Zealand, would head both funds and be CEO of the joint venture when it begins operating in October.  The opportunity to appoint a CIO for both funds was brought forward following the resignation of Equip’s current CIO, Troy Rieck last week.

Equip Super and Catholic Super are joining forces to create one of Australia’s largest profit-for-member superannuation funds.

Ms Shelley is currently CIO of Catholic Super. Equip Super Chairman Andrew Fairley AM, welcomed Ms Shelley’s appointment as another significant step towards a successful joint venture.

“This CIO appointment is an opportunity to align the two funds from an investment perspective and strongly position us for further growth,” Mr Fairley said. “It brings greater business continuity and enhances our capacity to continue to deliver for members, with scope for additional expansion.”

Mr Fairley also expressed his appreciation to outgoing Equip CIO Troy Rieck for his contribution to the fund.

Peter Haysey, Acting Chair of Catholic Super, said: “I’m delighted that Anna Shelley has been appointed as the joint CIO of both Catholic Super and Equip Super. Anna is an experienced leader with an extensive investment management and business strategy background and has been impressive during her time at Catholic Super.

“Both investment teams have begun working extensively to bring together the two existing investment portfolios. We look forward to Anna leading the teams through the joint venture operating model as we prepare for a full merger”.

Ms Shelley said she was looking forward to bringing both teams together, with a common vision and strategy to assist the joint venture.

“Both Equip Super and Catholic Super are high-performing industry leaders,” Ms Shelley said. “By aligning our strategies and portfolios we will deliver the best outcomes for our superannuation members.”

Ms Shelley was appointed CIO of the $10 billion Catholic Super fund in April 2018. She has held several senior positions across the financial services sector. Before joining Catholic Super, she was General Manager, Product and Strategy at Perpetual, an Australian investment manager with assets totalling $30 billion. Prior to Perpetual, she was head of investment product at MLC Investment Management, where she was responsible for developing NAB’s MySuper strategy.

Ms Shelley has recently been invited to join Bloomberg’s New Voices initiative, promoting the inclusion of leading women in commentary about the financial sector.

The Equip Super and Catholic Super joint venture has been hailed as a ground-breaking move towards consolidation in the industry. Subject to completion of final due diligence, the Memorandum of Understanding will establish a Joint Venture Trustee managing funds for about 150,000 members.

The joint venture’s unique structure maintains both superannuation brands. At completion, the joint venture will have a combined funds under management (FUM) of $26 billion, making it Australia’s tenth largest profit-for-member fund in market.

Under the structure, funds will share a single trustee which will be led by a new, merged trustee board. This Extended Public Offer (EPO) model enables participating funds to achieve economies of scale in administration and investments, without loss of brand identity or control of relationships with members, employers and other stakeholders.

Mr Fairley said the license, which enables it to partner with other funds while allowing their brands to be retained, should assist the new fund to build to around $50 billion in funds under management by 2025.

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