Cbus chief investment officer resigns

Cbus chief investment officer Brett Chatfield will leave the $100 billion fund to take on an opportunity outside of industry superannuation, as his replacement is named.

Chatfield will exit the fund he's been with for more than a decade to commence as chief investment officer of a large family office, after completing a transition to incoming chief investment officer Leigh Gavin.

Cbus chief executive Kristian Fok thanked Chatfield for his many years of service in delivering strong returns for members.

"Brett has spent the last few years bolstering the investment senior leadership team, hiring exceptional investment professionals with whole-of-fund experience - like his successor Leigh Gavin. Cbus has always had a strong focus on succession planning and having a strong depth of leaders," Fok said.

"Brett's commitment to members and his determination to deliver them the best investment returns, and retirement outcomes, is unquestionable. He has lived and breathed Cbus for over 12 years and members are undoubtably much better off because of it."

Gavin has been deputy chief investment officer since February, having replaced Alexandra Campbell. He joined the fund as head of portfolio strategies in October 2023.

Prior to that he was head of investment model design at AustralianSuper and chief investment officer for LUCRF Super.

Fok congratulated Gavin on his appointment to the role, saying the fund aims to grow from $100 billion to $150 billion in the coming years. Fok added the fund is looking to directly manage half of members' assets through the in-house investment team.

"Leigh has a proven track record as an investment leader, delivering strong returns for members, shaping strategies, portfolios and teams," Fok said.

"An industry veteran with more than 25 years' experience, Leigh has the deep expertise and skills necessary to deliver the outstanding investment results our more than 920,000 members deserve."

Fok said Cbus is preparing to deploy more than $20 billion in members' savings over the next five years, with at least $5 billion into private markets and $10 billion in domestic investment.

"Leigh's previous CIO experience, and skills honed managing local and global portfolios will allow him to build on our already strong investment foundations," Fok said.

Gavin will oversee the launch of Cbus' active large-cap Core Australian equities strategy and continue to grow the fund's internal global markets strategies.

"It's a tremendous honour to be appointed as the chief investment officer for the hard-working Cbus members and to lead an expert investment team of more than 100 people who are all committed to generating the best net returns to members we possibly can," Gavin said.

"I am passionate about making a contribution for our members, it is energising knowing every extra basis point our teams can earn goes directly to these hard-working Australians."

Gavin said the investment team will be looking for new opportunities in infrastructure - with a focus on data centres - diverse opportunities in property and the energy transition.

"Cbus is a fund with a well-earned reputation for strong long-term returns that also makes a difference for members and the wider economy through our expertise in the built environment and job creation for members," Gavin said.

"It is a privilege to lead the investment team in the next phase of its growth, to implement new strategies and build on the strong platform developed by Brett and Kristian."

Gavin was selected for the role following an evaluation of the external market led by Fok with input from Cbus chair Wayne Swan and chair of the board's investment committee Stephen Dunne.

This comes after a few changes to the investment team over the last two and a half years, including the appointments of Justin Pascoe as head of portfolio construction, who has worked at AustralianSuper, Goldman Sachs, State Street, and spent eight years as the chief investment officer at VFMC; and Jordan Kraiten who was promoted to head of private markets and infrastructure in 2024 and previously spent over 12 years at Hostplus.