Christian Super hires former Mercer executive

Christian Super has hired industry heavyweight David Stuart as investment chief, replacing Mark Rider who last month resigned to take up a similar role in the newly merged LGIAsuper and Energy Super.

Stuart joins Christian Super following his most recent appointment with Tasplan, where he served as a transition investment head for 18 months through Tasplan's merger talks with MTAA Super.

Before that, he worked for Mercer, where he ran the asset consultant's dynamic asset allocation business for more than 14 years.

Earlier in his career, Stuart held senior roles with HSBC Asset Management, Victorian Funds Management Corporation, and Prudential Portfolio Managers.

He also did a stint as the investment manager for the British Gas pension fund in London before emigrating to Australia in 1994.

Christian Super chief Ross Piper said he was delighted to welcome Stuart to the investment team at a critical time for the fund, particularly noting the current work on assessing future merger partners and related business transformation initiatives.

"David brings deep investment leadership and fund transition experience that will ensure we can continue to navigate these changes well, ensuring strong outcomes for our members throughout," he said.

Stuart will commence as chief investment officer towards the end of January.

As for Rider's departure, Piper highlighted the strong positive contribution the executive has made to the fund during his tenure. 
He pointed to a material strengthening of overall benchmark relative investment performance over all recent periods.

Christian Super was in the top five MySuper funds in the past 12 months while Rider ran the portfolio.

Piper confirmed that the assessment of potential merger partners is ongoing.

Commenting on his decision to depart, Rider said he had enjoyed his time at Christian Super but noted that the fund had failed the inaugural performance test and that the prudential regulator has directed the super fund to merge.

"As a result, there was a degree of longer-term uncertainty about my role going forward," he said.

"LGIAsuper is in a different situation since its merger with Energy Super and the upcoming acquisition of Suncorp's superannuation business at the end of March.

"It is looking to provide an alternative to the big mega-funds by really connecting with members and engaging with them on a personal basis," he continued, adding that as head of investment at ANZ Wealth, he had overseen the investment team through to the completion of the IOOF transaction.

Rider replaces Troy Rieck, whose departure was confirmed in November as chief executive Kate Farrar moved to restructure the investment team.

At the time, Farrar said it had become clear that APRA's performance test meant funds needed to structure investment teams differently.
"With a long history of delivering performance within complexity, Mark will lead the renewed investment strategy as we finalise our next stage of transformation in 2022," she said.

Before his seven years at ANZ Wealth, Rider held key investment roles at UBS and the central bank.