AustralianSuper exec takes on chief executive role

AustralianSuper head of real assets Nick O'Neil has been named the incoming chief executive and managing director of Lendlease, effective 10 September 2026.

Lendlease chair John Gillam said O'Neil is a highly experienced executive with over 25 years' global experience across corporate and investment strategy, M&A, governance, capital markets and real asset management.

Gillam said his experience positions him strongly to lead a focused Lendlease into its next phase of growth and value creation.

With board and C-suite experience across public and private markets, including at AustralianSuper and internationally with Macquarie Group, O'Neil has a long track record of aligning strategy, capital and execution to drive performance improvement and deliver sustained value across complex, large-scale portfolios.

O'Neil is currently head of Australian real assets at AustralianSuper, overseeing a portfolio of investments that includes holdings in residential property, airports, toll roads, logistics projects, energy and telecommunications infrastructure, and data centres.

He has held director positions across several portfolio company boards, including Indara, Vantage Data Centres Europe and Sydney Airport.

Prior to returning to Australia, O'Neil spent 15 years in senior roles with Macquarie across the United States and Latin America. These included chief financial officer of then NYSE-listed Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation, as well as head of Americas real estate, head of Brazil, and head of Mexico for Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

"With our strategy reset, portfolio simplification and foundations firmly in place, Nick is ideally positioned to lead the next phase of revitalising and strengthening Lendlease. He brings deep real asset management experience, a strong track record in global investment and innovation in aligning capital to market opportunities, as well as the leadership experience needed to drive execution and growth," Gillam said.

"Nick is also strongly aligned with our focus on delivering great projects and outstanding investments, with clients at the centre of everything we do. His track record of simplifying complexity through decisive action to achieve strong results is exactly what Lendlease needs."

O'Neil said he was excited to join Lendlease at a "pivotal moment" in its transformation.

"It is a privilege to lead this storied company. The technical capability of Lendlease's people is broad, deep and unique. I am excited by the opportunity to work with that world-class capability to deliver the services and investment opportunities that our clients are looking for," he said.

"I look forward to working with John Gillam, the board, its highly regarded leadership team, and the people of Lendlease to create long-term value for our clients and shareholders."

Lendlease said now that it has named its next chief executive it has been "mutually agreed" that Tony Lombardo will now step down on 30 June 2026 or earlier as agreed.

In the meantime, the joint interim chief executives will be chief financial officer Andrew Nieland and chief investment officer Penny Ransom who will also support the transition to O'Neil when he commences in September.

"The board and I are deeply grateful to Tony for his significant contribution to Lendlease over nearly two decades," Gillam said.

"Most recently, he has led the embedding of the refreshed strategy, driven a major simplification of the group, and progressed the largest and most complex asset divestments. The foundations for the next phase of revitalising and strengthening Lendlease are in place."