Australian Retirement Trust appoints 3 execs

The Australian Retirement Trust has appointed a chief member officer, a chief of staff and an executive general manager of advice, guidance and education.

Lachlan East is now the chief member officer for the $240 billion asset owner, Julie Bingham will take on the chief of staff job with Anne Fuchs filling the advice, guidance and education position.

East has been with ART (previously Sunsuper) for more than ten years as chief risk officer and recently,chief of staff.

He has held senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse, Barclays Investment Bank and Linc Energy.

As chief member officer, East will be responsible for the fund's member operations portfolio, member service experience, and anticipating and advocating for future member needs.

Meantime, Bingham has spent the last six years at ART (previously QSuper), most recently as general manager of member engagement. 
Previous roles include with First State Super CitiStreet, MBF, Bupa, Mondial Assistance, and the Australian Tax Office.

Finally, Fuch will be responsible for championing financial advice across ART, seeking to influence and shape the advice industry and ensure financial advice is accessible to all members.

ART said the appointment signalled the firm's ongoing focus on financial advice and its power to materially change members' lives in the lead-up to and throughout retirement.

She held the role of head of advice, guidance and education at ART (previously Sunsuper) for the last eight years and sits on multiple boards and external advisory committees.

Before joining ART, she worked at the Association of Financial Advisers, Pinnacle Practice, ING Australia and Bankers Trust. 
Chief executive Bernard Reilly said these announcements come at an exciting time as it's been 18 months since the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper.

"As key members of the Fund's wider leadership team, these roles are integral to delivering on Australian Retirement Trust's ambition to empower our 2.2 million members across Australia to retire well with confidence," he said.

"These appointments are also evidence of the calibre of amazing internal talent we have at Australian Retirement Trust."

Following the executive restructure in March, ART will announce the newly-created chief of retirement role in the coming weeks.

The retirement role will focus on the execution of ART's retirement strategy and provide strategic leadership and guidance for all elements of the retirement offer, including product, investments, service model and advice.

The restructure saw the departure of Karin Muller as chief member officer.