PensionsAugust 7, 2023

AustralianSuper Adds 6 Senior Staff to London Office

Carl Astorri will lead the A$300 billion pension fund’s UK investment team.

Reported by Michael Katz

The A$300 billion ($196.1 billion) AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest pension fund, has appointed six executives to investment, risk and corporate affairs roles at its London office.

The pension fund named Carl Astorri as head of investments, Europe. He will be responsible for building and leading the fund’s London-based investment team as it expands its public and private markets resources.

Astorri, who has been with AustralianSuper in Melbourne since 2015, is returning to London after having previously led the team responsible for asset allocation, equity strategy and macroeconomic research. He was also previously global head of economics and asset strategy at Coutts & Co., head of investment strategy at Barclays Wealth and an economist at the Bank of England.

John Normand, who was hired as head of investment strategy, will lead the asset allocation research team that drives investment strategy among all major asset classes. He will join AustralianSuper in late August after a 24-year career at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., where he was most recently head of cross-asset strategy. He was also J.P. Morgan’s head of research for foreign exchange, international bonds and commodities.

Sujay Shah has been named head of internal government portfolios and is tasked with managing the pension fund’s government bonds portfolios and team. Shah, who will split time between the U.K. and Australia, joins AustralianSuper from Tesco Pension Fund. He has nearly two decades of experience working in central banking, discretionary trading and active portfolio management. He previously held senior roles at The Bank of England, Goldman Sachs and BMO Global Asset Management.

The pension fund also named Deborah Gilshan to oversee its environmental, social and governance and stewardship programs in public and private markets in Europe. For the last four years, she has provided independent advisory services on investment stewardship, ESG integration and diversity to clients and is the founder of The 100% Club, a networking alliance dedicated to gender equality.

William Manfield has been named head of group risk, international, and will be responsible for the strategic direction of the risk and compliance function in the international offices. This includes the implementation and ongoing effectiveness of AustralianSuper’s risk management framework and ensuring adherence to local regulatory requirements. He joins AustralianSuper from BNP Paribas Asset Management and has previously held roles at Janus Henderson Investors, BlueBay Asset Management and Schroders.

Amanda Mitchell has been named head of European corporate affairs to provide strategic advice and support to AustralianSuper’s London and New York offices. She joins AustralianSuper after 16 years at Macquarie Group, where she was most recently head of corporate affairs for the firm’s global asset management business.

“We’re building a high-caliber and experienced team in London to ensure the Fund is strategically positioned in a market that will create many opportunities to generate excellent long-term returns for members,” AustralianSuper Deputy CIO Damian Moloney said in a release.