Welcome to The Conexus Institute

The Conexus Institute was established to be a catalyst for improved retirement outcomes for Australians. The Conexus Institute applies a “research-for-impact” model to produce high quality research which is used to showcase the benefits of change.

The Institute will look to join the dots between industry, academia, regulators and policymakers. The Institute promises to be a constructive critic that is prepared to challenge the status quo. We celebrate collaboration and informed decision-making.

The Conexus Institute adopts a not-for-profit model and is funded by Conexus Financial and the philanthropic activities of Conexus Financial chief executive Colin Tate, who as chair will support the Institute’s executive director, David Bell. Technically, The Conexus Institute is the operating name for Conexus Institute Limited, a not-for-profit entity which operates independently of the activities of Conexus Financial. The Conexus Institute is a limited liability company with three directors: Tate, Bell and William Vuong.

Advisory board

Colin Tate AM

Founder and adviser

Colin Tate AM

Founder and adviser, The Conexus Institute

Colin Tate AM is an Australian entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Colin is the founder, executive chair, and former chief executive of Conexus Financial, Australia’s largest independent financial media and events organisation. Each year the company hosts more than twenty high-profile business forums in Australia and overseas. Conexus produces three online publications, Top1000Funds.com, Professional Planner, and Investment Magazine.

Colin is also chair of Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), an independent, not-for-profit institute dedicated to preventing and curing disease and disability of the brain and nervous system through leadership and innovation in neuroscience research.

In addition, he has served as a board member and chair of fundraising at The Wayside Chapel (2005-2012). Colin and his husband Matt have been global investors in The Hunger Project since 2005. He has been a supporter and fundraiser for First Nations Foundation (FNF) and is a contributor to the Ripple of Hope awards, Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Human Rights Foundation in New York.

In 2021, Colin was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the community through charitable initiatives.

Fiona Reynolds

Chair

Fiona Reynolds

Chair, Conexus Financial

Fiona Reynolds is the CEO of Conexus Financial. She served as the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) for over nine years, stepping down at the beginning of 2022. As part of her role in the UK, she was on the board of a number of organisations including UN Global Compact, Climate Action 100+, the UK Green Finance Institute, the Greening the Belt and Road Global Committee, and the Asset Owners Net Zero Alliance.

Fiona has 25 years' experience in the financial services and pension sector. She joined the PRI from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), where she spent seven years as CEO.

Fiona was named one of the 20 most influential people in sustainability globally by Barron’s magazine and has twice been named one of Australia’s one hundred women of influence by the Australian Financial Review.

Fiona also serves on the Board of Frontier Investment Consulting, the investment committee of the Laudes Foundation and Advisory Boards of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, PWC, Affirmative Investment Management and BASF.

David Bell

Executive Director

David Bell

Executive Director, The Conexus Institute

David Bell is the executive director of The Conexus Institute and an active researcher (industry and academic) in the areas of retirement, superannuation, investment management and governance. David recently completed his PhD at UNSW, with a focus on asset allocation problems related to lifecycle modelling.

David’s industry career experiences include the role of CIO at Mine Super, founder and director of his own consulting firm (St Davids Rd Advisory) and 12 years at CFS GAM (now First Sentier), mainly leading the fund-of-hedge funds investment team. David led the development of MDUF (the Member’s Default Utility Function), was a co-founder of financial newsletter Cuffelinks, and developed and taught the hedge funds elective at Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre.

Hazel Bateman

Professor, School of Risk and Actuarial Studies, UNSW Sydney

Hazel Bateman is a Professor in the School of Risk & Actuarial Studies at UNSW Sydney and Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR). Her current research investigates the role of choice and information architecture, financial advice and financial literacy on superannuation decisions. She also works on design of and demand for retirement products including annuities, aged care insurance and reverse mortgages.

Hazel works closely with the financial services industry, super funds and policy makers in Australia and internationally and has consulted to international organisations including the World Bank and the OECD. She is a member of the Consultative Committee of UniSuper, the Netspar Scientific Committee, the Expert Reference Group of the Mercer Global Pension index, and the China Ageing Finance Forum. In 2019 she was appointed inaugural President of the International Pensions Research Association (IPRA).

Marisa Broome

Chair, Financial Planning Association; managing director of Wealthadvice

Marisa Broome has been chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) since November 2018 after being elected to the Board in 2014. Marisa is passionate about representing the profession of financial planning and actively supporting the members of the FPA in such challenging times. After more than 30 years in financial services, the last 23 running her own boutique financial planning practice in Sydney, she understands the challenges faced by the members in meeting the new standards whilst both trying to run a business and most importantly making a difference in the lives of their clients.

Marisa has been involved with the FPA since its inception in many roles with a focus on education, conferences and member engagement. In addition to her role as chair of the FPA, Marisa is also chair of the Remuneration and Governance Committee. While a director of the FPA, Marisa has been the chair of the Professional Standards and Conduct Committee, chair of the Policy and Regulations Committee, chair of Professional Designations, a member of the Code Monitoring Working Group, a member of the Board Audit and Risk Committee and the chair of the FASEA Working Group.

Marisa is the managing director of Wealthadvice, an FPA Professional Practice and a certified financial planner professional. Wealthadvice specialises in holistic financial planning advice for professionals and small business owners.

Gregory Cooper

Company director, NSW Treasury Corporation, Perpetual Limited, Colonial First State (Acting Chairman), Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Kincoppal Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart and OpenInvest Holdings Limited

Greg is the recently retired chief executive and director for Schroder Investment Management Australia, and held previous roles as head of distribution for South Asia and head of product strategy for Asia Pacific in a stretch spanning 18 years. Prior to that Greg was the former head of actuarial consulting for Towers Perrin in Asia, based in Hong Kong.

Greg is now director of NSW Treasury Corporation, Perpetual, Colonial First State (Acting Chairman), Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Kincoppal Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart and OpenInvest Holdings and a member of St Ignatius College Investment Committee.

Greg was formerly deputy chairman and director of the Financial Services Council for 10 years.

Jeremy Cooper

Chair, retirement income, Challenger

Jeremy Cooper is Chairman, Retirement Income at Challenger, a full-time executive role focusing on research, public policy issues and thought leadership.

Prior to joining Challenger, Jeremy chaired the ‘Cooper Review’ into the superannuation system, the recommendations of which have been substantially adopted. Before his review role, Jeremy was Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for five years from mid-2004. Prior to his term at ASIC, Jeremy was a partner of an Australian law firm, now part of global law firm, Ashurst.

Jeremy is a regular public speaker and media commentator on superannuation and retirement income-related issues.

Ian Fryer

General Manager, Chant West

Ian has been involved in the superannuation industry for about 25 years and an actuary and managing the research function at Chant West for the past 15 years. He is responsible for coordinating Chant West’s research program for super and pension funds, including analysis of the performance, portfolio structure and governance of their investment offerings.

Ian also has a strong focus on fee and insurance disclosure and leads an industry-wide group that is helping the industry implement ASIC’s new fee disclosure regime.

Pamela Hanrahan

Professor of commercial law and regulation, UNSW Business School

Dr Pamela Hanrahan is a lawyer, legal academic and author who specialises in corporate law, corporate governance, financial services regulation, data governance and business ethics.

She is Professor of Commercial Law and Regulation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Business School, a Senior Fellow of the Melbourne Law School, a member of the Centre for Law Markets and Regulation at UNSW, an associate of the Centre for Corporate Law at the University of Melbourne and founding director of the Cybersecurity and Data Governance Research Network at UNSW Sydney. She is also a member of the Society of Investment Law (USA), a Fellow of FINSIA and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

Pamela is a member of the Executive Board of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, a member of the National Corporate Governance Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a non-executive director of Landcom.

In 2010-11 she was the Queensland Regional Commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and in 2013-15 served as the Registrar of Community Housing for New South Wales. In 2016-17 Pamela was an appointed member of the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce and in 2018 she was an adviser to the Hayne Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

David Knox

Senior partner, senior actuary, Mercer

David is a senior partner at Mercer and senior actuary for Australia. He is the national leader for research and policy and the actuary to the Tasmanian and Western Australian public sector pension plans. He was the industry expert of the three-person team who conducted a review of Military Superannuation for the Australian Government and is the lead author of the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, now in its eleventh year.

Before joining Mercer in 2005, David was at PricewaterhouseCoopers and prior to that was the Foundation Professor of Actuarial Studies at The University of Melbourne. In his two decades in academia, he acted as a consultant to a range of financial organisations in both the private and public sectors, specialising in the superannuation and retirement incomes area. He has spoken and written widely in this area and has served on many Government and industry committees.

David was an independent board member of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority from 1998 to 2003 and President of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia in 2000. He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Doctorate (which focused on pensions) from Macquarie University, and is also a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute in Australia.

Xavier O'Halloran

Director, Super Consumers Australia

Xavier O'Halloran is the founding Director of Super Consumers Australia. The organisation was first funded in 2018 with the purpose of keeping industry and regulators accountable to consumer needs in super. Xavier works as a consumer advocate on behalf of low and middle income people on consumer finance issues, focusing on superannuation and group life insurance. Previously, he worked at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) as a Policy Officer working on telecommunications, consumer protection and competition policy.

He led the team responding to the Financial Services Royal Commission at CHOICE, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group. He has represented consumers on several advisory bodies, including the:
· Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Consumer Advisory Panel
· Insurance in Superannuation Working Group
· Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Consumer Consultative Committee
· Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Consumer Advisory Forum

Xavier has also developed an online ‘chat bot’ to help younger people engage with their super.

Kevin O'Sullivan

Chief executive, UniSuper Management

Kevin joined UniSuper in July 2013 and has more than 30 years experience in the superannuation and actuarial sectors. A qualified actuary, Kevin’s previous role was director, actuarial and benefits consulting at Russell Investments.

Kevin has a degree in Commerce, is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (FIAA), a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA) and a fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA).

As chief executive, Kevin is responsible for developing, leading and implementing corporate strategy and culture. He is also accountable for the overall services and operational management of UniSuper Management nationally.

Deborah Ralston

Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Payments System Board and Professorial Fellow at Monash University

Dr Deborah Ralston is an experienced company director in banking, mortgage broking, funds management, fintech, financial advice and education industries.

Current appointments include membership of the RBA’s Payments System Board and non-executive director roles with SuperEd, the SMSF Association and, Kaplan Business School and Kaplan Higher Education. Dr Ralston also contributes to the advisory boards of Household Capital and Allianz Retire+.

Dr Ralston has had a number of senior roles in Australian Universities. Most recently she was Professor of Finance at Monash University and Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies. Previous appointments included Pro Vice-Chancellor of Business, Law and Information Sciences at the University of Canberra, and Dean of Business at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her academic engagement continues in an honorary capacity as a Professorial Fellow with the Monash University Business School, where she sits on the Advisory Board of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index.

Dr Ralston’s expertise in public policy, innovation and retirement issues has been reflected in appointments to the Federal Government's Retirement Income Review Panel, the Comprehensive Income Products for Retirement Framework Advisory Committee, and ASIC's Digital Finance Advisory Board as inaugural Chair.

Dr Ralston has a Doctor of Philosophy in financial regulation, and a Master of Economics in small business finance. She is a Fellow of the AICD and the CPA.

Nicolette Rubinsztein

Company director, UniSuper, Zurich & OnePath Insurance, Class Limited, CBHS Health Fund, SuperEd and Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Nicolette is a non-executive director in the wealth management industry, with board positions in a number of leading companies including UniSuper, Zurich & OnePath Insurance, Class Limited, CBHS Health Fund, SuperEd and Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

She was president of the Actuaries Institute for 2019 and was a director of ASFA (Association of Super Funds of Australia) for eight years. Prior to her board career, Nicolette held senior roles at CBA/Colonial First State, BT Financial Group and Towers Perrin. Nicolette is a qualified actuary, holds an executive MBA from the AGSM and is a graduate of AICD.

She is author of the book 'Not Guilty', a guide for career mums. In 2014 she was named one of the top 10 'most powerful part-timers'.

Geoff Warren

Associate Professor, Australian National University

Geoff Warren is an Associate Professor at the Australian National University, where he is Fund Convenor of the ANU Student Managed Fund. He is an active researcher who focuses on investment-related areas with an applied emphasis, including: superannuation, funds management, portfolio construction, long-term investing, and the evaluation and taxation of investments.

Prior to pursuing an academic career, Geoff spent over 20 years in investment markets, including as the Director of Capital Markets Research at Russell Investments; as an analyst, Chief Strategist and Head of Research with investment bank Ord Minnett / JP Morgan Australia; and as an equity portfolio manager at AMP Capital.

He is currently a member of the Salvation Army Investment Advisory Board, the Atlas Infrastructure Investment Governance and Macro Advisory Boards, the ASIC Consultative Panel, the Super Consumers Australia Research Committee, and the Brandes Institute Asia-Pacific Advisory Board. Geoff has a PhD from the AGSM, and a BComm (Hons) with the University Medal from UNSW.

Amanda White

Director of institutional content, Top1000funds.com; Conexus Financial

Amanda White is director of institutional content for Conexus Financial which includes responsibility for the content across all the company's institutional media and events. She directs the bi-annual global Fiduciary Investors Symposium which challenges global investors on investment best practice and aims to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal and political contexts, as well as promote the long-term stability of markets and sustainable retirement incomes. She is the editor of
www.top1000funds.com - the online news and analysis site for the world's largest institutional investors.

Amanda has been an investment journalist for more than 25 years and has edited industry journals including Investment & Technology, Investor Weekly and MasterFunds Quarterly. She was previously editorial director of InvestorInfo and has worked as a freelance journalist for the Australian Financial Review, CFO, and Asia Asset Management.

She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Sydney University and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney. Amanda is a Fellow of the 2018 class of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.