MSC Trustees add to the board

Experienced fund and financial services lawyer Ruth McClelland and governance and compliance specialist Steven O'Connell have joined the MSC Trustees board.

McClelland has over fifteen years of working in senior legal, risk and governance roles for Australian and global fund managers, including Qualitas, K2 Asset Management The Future Fund and IFM Investors.

Her previous positions have included general counsel, company secretary and head of risk and Compliance for various listed and unlisted trustees, servicing  wholesale and retail clients.

O'Connell has held board positions at numerous asset management companies, including BNY Mellon and currently chairs compliance committees for several Australian asset managers.

The MSC Trustees board now carries the majority of independent directors required for the new corporate collective investment vehicle regime and potential roles as a corporate director.

The new regime officially commenced in Australia last month.

The appointments also bring MSC Trustees in line with considerations as to board composition as per ASIC findings in their review of responsible entity governance released in January.  The board will now take over activities previously delegated to a separate compliance Committee.

MSC Group Managing Director Matthew Fletcher said the firm looks forward to becoming one of the first market recipients of ASIC's new CCIV licence authority.

"Steve O'Connell has been such a great contributor on our trustee compliance committee since incorporation and was a natural choice for expanding our trustee board. He knows our business well and brings so much experience from a larger variety of compliance and governance appointments across the industry," he said.

"We are also delighted to welcome Ruth McClelland who brings extensive experience specific to the trustee space and funds management industry. The MSC Trustees book is diverse in terms of mandate, structures and assets, and I know the board and our in-house legal team will benefit greatly from that experience."

Fletcher also acknowledged the contribution of Clifford Clayton, who has retired from the firm and his long-standing position on our compliance committee, from inception.

"Cliff brought extensive experience from the senior ranks of Perpetual Trustees and we are very grateful for the experience and credentials he brought from the very early days of MSC," he said.

McClelland expressed delight at joining the "modern, commercial and rigorous" MSC trustee board.

"I hope to bring my experience to contribute to the ongoing growth and success of MSC as an agile and responsible provider of trustee and financial services," she said.

For his part, O'Connell said he was "thrilled" to continue his association with MSC Trustees.

"Matt and his team have been tremendous over the past ten years in building a strong culture within the business that offers clients great governance and considerable scope of services within an extremely competitive industry, he added.

He noted that ASIC is yet to grant any CCIV authorities.

Connell and McClelland join  Michael Fleming, Shelley Brown and Fletcher on the board.