Welcome to The Conexus Institute

The Conexus Institute was established to be a catalyst for improved retirement outcomes for Australian consumers. 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 aims to be a constructive critic that is prepared to challenge the status quo. We celebrate collaboration and informed decision-making.

The Conexus Institute is independent and operates on a not-for-profit basis. It strives to ensure that its research and outputs are free of conflicts of interest with a focus on better outcomes for consumers.

Independent

The independence of The Conexus Institute is underpinned by the following:

The Conexus Institute is a standalone entity and not part of the Conexus Financial group.
The Conexus Institute is funded philanthropically by Conexus Financial and Colin Tate and does not receive any other payment or benefit from any other person or entity.
The Conexus Institute’s advisory board has an independent chair and serves on a voluntary basis.
Conexus Institute staff may assist Conexus Financial (or other groups) with activities, such as events, where Conexus Institute identifies an opportunity for positive impact.

The Conexus Institute is the operating name for Conexus Institute Limited. The Conexus Institute is a limited liability company with two directors: Colin Tate and David Bell.

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.

Jeremy Cooper

Chair of advisory board

Jeremy Cooper

Chair of advisory board

Jeremy Cooper was Chairman, Retirement Income at Challenger Limited, a listed fund manager/life insurance company, from late 2010 to mid-2022.

Prior to joining Challenger, Jeremy was appointed by the Rudd Government in 2009 to chair a wide-ranging review of the superannuation system, known as the ‘Cooper Review’.

Before his review role, Jeremy was appointed by The Treasurer, The Hon Peter Costello MP, as the deputy chairman of ASIC for five years from mid-2004. While at ASIC, Jeremy had oversight responsibility across a range of ASIC's teams in the financial services sector.
Prior to his term at ASIC, Jeremy was a partner of Australian law firm, now Ashurst Australia, where he practised principally in mergers and acquisitions and corporate advice for over 20 years.

Jeremy is a regular public speaker and media commentator on superannuation and retirement income-related issues. Jeremy has a wide network of relationships with business leaders, politicians and finance industry experts, both in Australia and overseas.

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

Managing director, Wealthadvice

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.

Marisa has been running Wealthadvice for 24 years, providing experience-based insights into the challenges faced by financial advisers in meeting new standards whilst both trying to run a business and most importantly making a difference in the lives of their clients.

Marisa Broome was chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) from November 2018 through to May 2022, after being elected to the Board in 2014.

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 also chaired of the Remuneration and Governance Committee. While a director of the FPA, Marisa served as 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.

Aleks Vickovich

Editor-in-chief, Conexus Financial

Aleks is editor-in-chief at Conexus Financial and the company’s representative on The Conexus Institute Advisory Board. An award-winning journalist and author, he was previously Wealth Editor at The Australian Financial Review, leading the newspaper’s coverage of the superannuation, investment management and financial advice industries.

Aleks has more than 15 years’ experience as a news reporter, commentator and editor, specialising in the business and regulation of financial services. Aleks has also worked as a Congressional Intern in the US House of Representatives and a strategic communications adviser to institutional investors and fintech start-ups. He holds a Master of Media Practice and Bachelor of Economics (Social Sciences) from the University of Sydney and has completed coursework in political campaign management from the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia. His first book, USA G’DAY: An Aussie take on the American Dream in a Blockbuster Election Cycle, was published in 2017.

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

Former chief executive, UniSuper Management

Kevin was chief executive of UniSuper from July 2013 to September 2021. Kevin 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 was responsible for developing, leading and implementing corporate strategy and culture. He was 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

Deb is an experienced Company Director in banking, mortgage broking, superannuation, funds management, fintech, financial advice and education industries.

Current appointments include the Future Fund Board of Governors, and the RBA’s Payments System Board. Non-executive director roles are held with the SMSF Association, SuperEd, an innovative digital advice company, and Chair of the Household Capital Advisory Board.

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

In an executive capacity Deb has had a number of senior roles in Australian universities, most recently as Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and Professor of Finance at Monash University. 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. Deb’s 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.

Deb has a Doctor of Philosophy in finance (financial regulation) and Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Economics. 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

Research director, The Conexus Institute; associate professor, Australian National University

Dr Geoff Warren is a Research Director at The Conexus Institute, an Associate Professor at the Australian National University, and a member of various investment and research advisory boards, including for Atlas Infrastructure, ASIC Consultative Panel, Brandes Center, Conexus Institute, Salvation Army and Super Consumers Australia.

Geoff is an active researcher who focuses on investment-related areas with an applied emphasis, including: superannuation, retirement, fund management, portfolio construction, long-term investing, and evaluation and taxation of investments.

Prior to pursuing an academic career, he spent over 20 years in investment markets, with groups including Russell Investments, Ord Minnett / JP Morgan Australia, and AMP Capital.

Geoff has a PhD from the AGSM, and a BComm (Hons) with the University Medal from UNSW.