HESTA has appointed Dianne Sandoval as its head of portfolio design, effective from 2 October.
Ms Sandoval brings more than three decades of investment management experience to the role, having worked with financial institutions across the Middle East, the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
Most recently, she spent the last two years leading the markets, asset classes, and portfolio strategy team at the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Saudi Arabia.
Here, Ms Sandoval was responsible for designing and implementing the sovereign wealth fund’s asset allocation processes.
Before joining PIF, she spent more than 12 years in a range of senior positions at America’s largest public pension fund, CalPERS, and has also been a part of investment teams at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and GE Capital.
According to HESTA, Ms Sandoval will be responsible for leading the funds research and asset allocation process to enhance the probability of achieving investment objectives, overseeing the rebalancing and currency overlays, portfolio risk management, and evaluating portfolio performance.
Commenting on the appointment, HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey noted that Ms Sandoval’s experience makes her a good fit for the role.
“Throughout her career, Dianne has played an important role in creating and implementing innovative investment strategies alongside robust policies and compliance measures that have helped achieve impressive results,” Ms Blakey said.
“With her deep knowledge, strategic thinking, and results-driven approach, Dianne is positioned as a trusted leader in the investment management industry, and we’re delighted to welcome her expertise to the team.”
Also speaking on her appointment, Ms Sandoval expressed her enthusiasm in joining the industry super fund.
“I am delighted to be joining HESTA and having the opportunity to help grow its members’ long-term super balances while supporting them to face the future with confidence,” she said.
“I look forward to supporting HESTA’s deep commitment to diversity and inclusion in the industry and leveraging my experience and expertise to drive innovative investment strategies and deliver exceptional outcomes for HESTA’s members.”
Moreover, Ms Sandoval has a master of business administration from the University of Navarra, in addition to a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
She also holds the designation of a chartered financial analyst from the CFA Institute, is a 2023 Fellow of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship, and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
