UBS Global Asset Management (UBSGAM) Australia’s deputy head Danielle Press has left the company to become industry fund Equipsuper’s chief executive officer.
Equipsuper chairman Andrew Fairley said a key consideration in Press’s appointment was her previous leadership experience in strategic planning.
“At a time when the superannuation industry is being encouraged to seek opportunities for collaboration between funds and even mergers, we consider this experience as an enormous asset in our strategic planning,” he said.
Press also joins the fund amid plans to further expand its advice business by introducing an intra-fund advice service to its members.
“Intra-fund advice will also allow us to tap into our younger members in the fund, introducing them to other financial planning services in the fund,” Equipsuper manager of employer services Joanne Caruana said at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds last week.
The fund currently has about five financial planners and has plans to double that number, Caruana said.
Press worked with the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 1990s before joining UBS.
Equipsuper’s former chief executive Robin Burns left in December 2009 to become managing director of financial services firm Equity Trustees.
Equipsuper manages over $4.3 billion for more than 45,000 members.
UBSGAM Australia head Paul Bolinowsky said UBSGAM was reviewing the optimal structure of its business in light of Press’s departure.
