2023 Oceania Institutional Investor Forum

Steffan Berridge

Former Chief Investment Officer, Kiwi Wealth

Steffan Berridge was most recently Chief Investment Officer at Kiwi Wealth, responsible for largely in-house investment management across NZD 9b of client funds and having led the development of quantitative strategy, responsible investment, liquid alternatives and asset allocation.

Prior to joining Kiwi Wealth (then GMI) in 2013, Steffan worked for Man Group’s flagship AHL fund in London, holding various positions including Head of Portfolio Management and leading the development of AHL’s Evolution fund.

Steffan holds a Master in Financial Mathematics from Victoria University of Wellington, and a PhD in Mathematical Finance from Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

Tanya Branwhite

Head of Portfolio Construction, NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp)

Tanya Branwhite joined TCorp in December 2018 as the Head of Portfolio Construction. She oversees the team which develops robust investment strategies, using asset allocation and factor strategies to deliver client outcomes. This team is central to our investment management approach, fund design and implementation.

Tanya joined TCorp from the Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, where her final role was Director Market Insights and Portfolio implications. She was tasked with strengthening the Future Fund’s whole of portfolio investment approach through extracting return enhancing information and transforming this into cohesive insights around the economic cycle, investment markets’ return and risk dynamics in pursuit of better portfolio decision making.

Tanya has worked in financial markets and asset management including senior roles at Macquarie Group, Credit Suisse Asset Management, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup Global Asset management.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of NSW, a Master of Finance from the University of Technology Sydney and a Master in Finance and Management from INSEAD. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Andrew Fisher

Head of Investment Strategy, Australian Retirement Trust

Andrew joined Australian Retirement Trust, formerly Sunsuper, in 2010 and is responsible for managing investment strategy, asset allocation and investment risk for the investment options at Australian Retirement Trust. His recent experience has included roles with the Guardians of NZ Superannuation as an Investment Strategist and with Milliman as a Consultant.

Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, Australia.

Stephen Gilmore

Chief Investment Officer, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Stephen joined the Guardians in 2019. As Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for overseeing the Asset Allocation, Sustainable Investment, Investment Data & Analytics, External Investments & Partnerships, and Direct Investment teams.

Prior to this, Stephen was the Chief Investment Strategist at the Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund. In this role he was responsible for Investment Strategy, Investment Risk, Derivative Overlays and Investment (technology) Solutions. Earlier in his career Stephen held senior strategy roles in London and Hong Kong with AIG Financial Products and Morgan Stanley. He has also worked with the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

Stewart Hardie

Director, Alternatives, Future Fund

Stewart joined the Future Fund in 2011. Stewart is a member of the Alternatives team that is responsible for the strategy and implementation of the portfolio’s hedge fund program. Stewart is a member of the Investment Manager Review Committee. During his tenure at the Future Fund, Stewart has also been a member of the Listed Equities team.

Prior to joining the Future Fund, Stewart was at investment consulting firms Cardona (UK) and Frontier Advisors (Australia).

Stewart holds a Bachelor of Commerce & Economics from Monash University, Melbourne and a Master of Applied Finance, Macquarie University, Sydney.

Allison Hill

State CIO, QIC

Allison Hill joined QIC’s State Investments (SI) team in January 2018. The SI team is responsible for managing approximately $58B in assets on behalf of the State of Queensland.

Allison is the State Chief Investment Officer within the SI Team and she has direct responsibility for all the portfolios managed on behalf of the State of Queensland.

Allison has over 28 years’ experience in investment management and financial markets. Prior to joining QIC, Allison was the Chief Executive Officer at DMP Asset Management, where she oversaw the investment process and asset consulting practice. Prior to this, Allison spent 11 years at Frontier Advisors as a Senior Consultant. Allison was the lead consultant for several of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, was the Head of Debt and Alternatives Research and a member of Frontier’s investment and leadership committees.

Allison has a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University and holds several post graduate qualifications including a Graduate Diploma in Management from the AGSM and is a GAICD. Allison is also a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW).

Dr Charles Hyde

Head of Asset Allocation, Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians)

Charles is Head of Asset Allocation for the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians). The Asset Allocation team is responsible for designing the Reference Portfolio, allocating risk budget across the Fund’s active portfolio, determining the required return for active investments, monitoring the Fund’s portfolio flexibility, and using economic analysis to understand risks and opportunities from a total portfolio perspective.

Prior to joining the Guardians, Charles was the Head of Quantitative Research at MIR Investment Management and prior to that held positions at CBA (Head of Equities Research) and Deloitte (Principal Economist, Transfer Pricing).

Charles began his career in academia, holding positions at the University of British Columbia, the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney. Charles holds a PhD from the University of California – Berkeley, and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Western Australia.

Richard Johnston

Chairman, Asia, Albourne Partners (Asia) Ltd

Richard is the Chairman, Asia of Albourne Partners. He joined the firm in September 2004 to set up and head their Asian region providing both research on Asian based managers and consulting services to investors. Albourne Partners Limited is a leading UK based independent alternative investment advisory firm representing over 330 clients with an estimate of over $700bn allocated to alternatives. Albourne Partners Limited was established in 1994 and has over 600 employees in 11 offices around the world.

Richard spent the previous eleven years with UBS AG in Hong Kong and Singapore, in various senior positions managing equity proprietary trading, convertible bonds and prime brokerage in the region. Prior to this, he was with Baring Securities in London and Tokyo, specialising in arbitrage trading and risk management.

Richard graduated in Computer Science from Manchester University, UK in 1981 and was admitted as a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales in 1985.

Kamal Naqvi

Managing Director, Blackstone Alternative Asset Management

Kamal Naqvi is a Managing Director of Blackstone and leads Institutional Client Solutions for Australia and New Zealand. He also serves as an advisor to the Hedge Fund Solutions Group (BAAM), having previously been a portfolio manager primarily responsible for commodity investments.

Before joining Blackstone in London in 2015, Mr. Naqvi worked in a range of senior trading, sales and research roles for Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital and Macquarie Bank. He began his career at the Tasmanian State Government Department of Development and Resources.

Mr. Naqvi holds degrees in Law and in Economics (with honours) from the University of Tasmania.

Ben Samild

CIO, Future Fund

Ben Samild was appointed Chief Investment Officer of the Future Fund in August 2023, having previously served as DCIO, Portfolio Construction.

As CIO, Ben leads the Future Fund’s investment team investing A$250bn across all asset classes and geographies, with a particular focus on stewarding the Fund’s joined-up whole portfolio approach.

He joined the Future Fund in October 2013, as Director, Alternatives, following a 10 year career in the hedge fund industry, and 4 years as Head of Investment Strategy at LUCRF Super.

Ben is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.

Ben completed a 6 year undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne majoring in behavioural finance, psychology and history, and has a Masters of Applied Finance.

Rishab Sethi

Director, External Investments & Partnerships, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Rishab is Director, External Investments and Partnerships at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund with responsibilities for external investment manager selection, mandate design and opportunity evaluation.

He has previously worked in asset allocation and corporate strategy roles at the Fund. Prior to joining the Guardians, he was a research economist with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and has been a research fellow at the Bank for International Settlements.

Rishab has Bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of Auckland and the Australian National University, and Master’s degrees in public administration and finance, from the London School of Economics and Columbia University.

Lincoln Smith

Partner, Albourne Partners

Lincoln Smith is a Partner at Albourne having joined in 2007 and works as a Consultant at the firm. He helps clients construct customized hedge fund and private market portfolios that meet their Investment Guidelines and also works on the firm’s simulation and analytical tools. Mr. Smith’s clients spanned public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, and family offices. More recently his client focus has shifted from the US to Australasia.

Prior to Albourne, Mr. Smith started his career at a New Zealand fund manager.

Mr. Smith has a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance from Otago University (NZ) and a Degree in Economics also from Otago University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Matt Whineray

Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Matt was appointed Chief Executive Officer 1 July 2018. He joined the Guardians in May 2008 as General Manager, Private Markets. In 2014 Matt became Chief Investment Officer. Before joining the Guardians, Matt was at Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) where he was Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage for non-Japan Asia.

Prior to this, he was a Managing Director at First NZ Capital in New Zealand and a Vice President at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. Matt began his career as a Barrister and Solicitor with Russell McVeagh in Auckland. Matt is a Director of Netball New Zealand and of Toitu Tahua, the Centre for Sustainable Finance. Matt has previously served as Co-Chair of the Aotearoa Circle’s Sustainable Finance Forum, a member of the World Economic Forum General Agenda Council on the Future of Investing, and as Chair of the InZone Education Foundation.