Australia’s superannuation funds have nearly the highest proportion of internal asset management in the world, but there’s plenty of questions hanging over the practice even as funds push into more expensive niche asset classes.
The retirement chief of the $335 billion AustralianSuper, who was “instrumental” in delivering a slew of member experience uplifts across a 17-year stint with the fund, will leave this month to establish a new venture.
Kalman leaving Equity Trustees for places unknown
Harvey Kalman, the global head of business development for fund services at Equity Trustees and key business driver for many years, has resigned, seeking a new yet-unknown challenge.
Kalman, 54, has been with Equity Trustees since January 2000 and for the past three years has expanded his role to include additional responsibilities as managing director for UK, Ireland and Europe, still based in Melbourne.
He said last Friday (March 19) that, given his fiduciary roles at the firm, whose name in some circles has become synonymous with his own, he wanted to do something different but didn’t want to look for new
roles while still at Equity Trustees. He leaves on July 2.
Very much the public face of Equity Trustees in the investments world, spanning institutional and wholesale sectors, Kalman is an economist and accountant who started his career as an analyst with the Ford Motor Credit Company in 1990. He followed this with several stints, including a year as policy adviser on environment and heritage for the Liberal Party, at ANZ and KPMG, before finding his feet at what used to be an independent but-sleepy trustee and executor company, founded in 1888.
Mick O’Brien, Equity Trustees managing director, said: “We warmly thank Harvey for just over two decades of incredible service building a successful Corporate Trustee Services (CTS) business, including taking the business into the UK and Ireland, and wish him all the best for the future.”
Russell Beasley, executive general manager of the Australian CTS business, would continue to lead the team of fund services specialists based in Melbourne and Sydney, and a growing client base of investment managers, O’Brien said. Arrangements for the overseas offices were currently being considered.
