Prime Super refreshes executive lineup

After six months in the fund's top job, Raelene Seales has bolstered the executive leadership by hiring four new executives and promoting two staffers from within.

Having reshaped Prime Super's operations and structure, her immediate priority is to drive growth while reviewing the fund's member cohorts and services.

"It's important for us to remain a viable fund and be able to continue investing in improved member education and services," she said, speaking for the first time since taking the helm of the $7.5 billion super fund.

The revamp sees the retirement of two long-serving executives from distribution and finance.

The superannuation fund's distribution lead Mark Ashburn has left, as has long-serving operating and finance chief Remo Memmolo.

With Ashburn's departure, Prime Super brought its member administration, member servicing and market-facing teams under one umbrella to serve members more efficiently.

Former AMP head of retail sales and HESTA head of growth Tim Mitchell-Adams will lead this function as general manager of member growth and propositions.

Mitchell-Adams brings over 30 years' experience in superannuation, wealth management and investments in Australia and New Zealand.

The retirement of Memmolo has opened up two new roles.

Jeremy Johnson was appointed general manager of operations after joining Prime Super as a risk manager three years ago. He was promoted to head of operational risk and governance two years later.

Ning Yang has been promoted to general manager of finance. She arrived in 2018 as the finance manager and became a senior finance manager in just over three years.

As previously reported, Michael McQueen has come aboard to lead the investment team.

He brings over 17 years of experience in superannuation, wealth and funds management.

Two new appointments will round out the leadership team.

Prime Super will welcome two new executives - one to run legal and governance and the other to look after risk and compliance.

Luke Hooper has 20 years of experience in superannuation and investment law.

He has acted for several industry-based, government and corporate superannuation fund trustees as well as managed investment schemes and financial service providers.

He joins from EY and previously held roles with Holding Redlich and Mills Oakley.

Robert Babb joins as the general manager of risk and compliance.

He has long managed risk, compliance, and governance across several regulated industries, including large financial service institutions like IFM Investors and NAB.

"We've welcomed four new executives to the fund, with diverse experience inside and outside of superannuation, to ensure we have the right bench strength in our leadership to drive strategy into deliverable actions," Seales added.

"We have built our executive team with a focus on delivering on our growth strategy, uplifting our governance and risk culture, and ensuring we achieve the right cultural fit across the organisation."

The chief executive said a background in highly regulated industries and business-to-customer experience was critical for executive team members.

Seales, formerly Zurich's chief of business transformation, signed on with Prime Super in May.

She previously served as Zurich's chief distribution officer in Jakarta and as its chief operating officer in Sydney.

Before that, she was responsible for designing, developing, and leading the dealership services team as head of advice delivery at ANZ Bank, and also worked as general manager of advice services and head of products and marketing at National Australia Bank.