Australian Retirement Trust deputy CIO lands new role

Australian Retirement Trust deputy chief investment officer Charles Woodhouse has resigned to take up a senior role at the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund.

Woodhouse's resignation follows chief executive Bernard Reilly's notice to quit a fortnight ago.

ART confirmed that Woodhouse has resigned to take up another opportunity.

"Over his 15 years at QSuper and Australian Retirement Trust, Charles has been a valued leader who has demonstrated a clear commitment to our members," said investment chief Ian Patrick

"We wish Charles all the best with his next role."

It is understood the deputy CIO will leave at the end of the month.

Woodhouse is the sixth local investment specialist to move to an offshore sovereign wealth fund and the third to join the fast-growing Abu Dhabi Pension Fund.

After spending over four years at AustralianSuper, Daniel Pool took up a role in the fast-growing Abu Dhabi Pension fund. He joined Philip Cheong, who moved from Russell Investments.

Former LGIASuper investment chief Troy Rieck joined Emirates Investment Authority as chief investment officer and longstanding AMP Capital executive Nader Naeimi was appointed a managing director at Singapore's GIC.

Last week, Lidia Slaven accepted a role as investment manager of infrastructure portfolio strategy and research at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

As for Woodhouse, he was was appointed chief investment officer of QSuper in September 2019 after being head of funds management for 11 years.

Before QSuper, he was the director of alpha investments at the Queensland Investment Corporation.

Earlier,  he spent 11 years with Stonebridge Capital Management in Los Angeles where he served as managing director and research director.

Woodhouse succeeded Brad Holzberger who famously changed the fund's investment strategy after the global financial crisis by slashing equities and bolstering the fund's exposure to high-duration bonds.

His focus on achieving CPI plus returns - rather than being consumed by peer relative returns - made QSuper an outlier in the local superannuation industry.

QSuper's strategy to invest in long-term bonds and infrastructure had delivered returns with less volatility than other funds for many years.

After the merger of Sunsuper and QSuper, Ian Patrick was appointed investment chief of the combined fund, while Woodhouse, QSuper's chief investment officer, became his deputy.