Mercer has appointed Karen Chester to its alternatives boutique business arm as a partner who will provide specialist consulting in alternative investments.
Chester will be looking after both the Australian and New Zealand markets for Mercer and takes on her new role having most recently been a partner and director at Access Capital Advisers.
There Chester headed the Sydney office of Access Capital and Infrastructure Group Australasia, managing $1.5 billion in unlisted infrastructure investments.
She has also previously held the role of chief executive at Access Economics.
Public sector experience is another commodity Chester is bringing to Mercer following her employment stint with federal Treasury.
During this time she became the first woman to be promoted within Treasury to the senior executive service, where she was involved in the design and implementation of the goods and services tax as Ken Henry's executive deputy.
"Karen is clearly a high-calibre individual with a wealth of investment and economic experience and is greatly respected in the industry. Her understanding of the needs of institutional investors and insights into unlisted infrastructure investments will be highly valued by our clients," Mercer Investment Consulting business leader Graeme Mather said.
"We have increasingly seen our clients are looking for new and sophisticated approaches for generating superior returns for their members and investors, thus we have a continuing focus on building our specialist asset class teams.
"The addition of Karen to our alternatives boutique team reflects Mercer's ongoing commitment to meet the needs of institutional clients and also those in the wealth management industry by developing innovative, bespoke solutions across a range of asset classes."
