$100 billion Cbus Super appoints Deputy Chief Investment Officer
25 February 2025
MEDIA RELEASE
$100 billion industry fund Cbus Super is pleased to announce the promotion of Leigh Gavin to the role of Deputy Chief Investment Officer. The Fund recently passed the $100 billion funds under management mark, and is in the top five best performing funds over the last 10, 15, and 20 years* (to 31 January 2025). Mr Gavin’s appointment will play a pivotal role within the investment leadership team for the next phase of growth of the Fund’s internal investment model.
Cbus Super Chief Investment Officer Brett Chatfield said that the key appointment reflected the fund’s growth ambitions to build out internal strategies, “I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Leigh Gavin to the role of Deputy CIO. Leigh has been an integral part of the Investment Leadership Team since 2023, and brings a strong depth of senior experience including at CIO and senior investment advisory levels. In addition to his impressive experience, Gavin’s strong knowledge of the Fund and connection to investing for our members dates back to the early 2000s as an advisor.
“Leigh has done an exceptional job continuing the build out of internal equity strategies, and enhanced key strategic portfolio initiatives and business management activities. We are very well placed to continue the successful build out of our internal capabilities under Leigh. We are forecasting that our internal investment capabilities will grow to about 50% of the portfolio within three years**. Leigh will continue to look at ways we can bring further strategies in-house as part of Cbus’ five-year investment strategy.”
Mr Gavin joined the Fund in 2023 as Head of Portfolio Strategies, to drive Cbus Super’s strategy to internalise more than half its assets under management, while also enhancing global partnerships for greater access to new investment. Members of Cbus continue to benefit from this internalisation program which has delivered strong results for members, including overall investment fee and cost savings of more than $1 billion since 2018***.
“Cbus is entering a ‘Goldilocks period’ where we are small enough to take advantage of a range of opportunities and large enough to be achieving real economies of scale for members. I’m determined to make sure we extract every ounce of value for our 900,000+ members as we further roll out our investment strategy,” Mr Gavin said.
“We see plenty of scope to roll out new internal strategies, our portfolio construction and DAA programs are really taking shape and we are well placed to take advantage of private markets opportunities. I’m excited to be assisting Brett to deliver on our current strategy and turning an eye to what the next ten or twenty years will look like.”
As well as Mr Gavin’s new appointment to the role of Deputy CIO, the Fund’s investment team has seen several high profile appointments over the last two years including industry veteran Justin Pascoe (Head of Portfolio Construction) who has worked at AustralianSuper, Goldman Sachs, State Street, and spent eight years as the CIO at VFMC, Jordan Kraiten who was promoted to Head of Private Markets & Infrastructure in 2024 and previously spent over 12 years at HostPlus, property expert Nikki Panagopoulos (Senior Investment Director, Property) who joined from Australian Unity, and global equities expert Xia Wu who joined the fund after holding roles at AustralianSuper, Bell Asset Management and Ellerston Capital.
Mr Chatfield said, “Our number one priority is delivering strong investment returns so our members can enjoy the retirement they deserve. We have an exceptional investment team in place to drive internalisation and seek top-quality investment opportunities for our members both domestically and globally.”
Leigh Gavin bio
Leigh Gavin has been Head of Portfolio Strategies at Cbus Super since 2023. Prior to joining the fund, he was Head of Investment Model Design at AustralianSuper, after joining the Fund’s Total Portfolio Management team in April 2021. Mr Gavin joined AustralianSuper from LUCRF Super, where he was Chief Investment Officer from May 2016 to April 2021. Mr Gavin joined LUCRF Super from Frontier Advisors, where he was a Senior (Principal) Consultant from 2007 until 2016, after joining as an Analyst in 2002. Prior to joining Frontier he worked in assurance and business advisory at Arthur Andersen. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of Finsia and has completed a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investments, and a Masters of Applied Finance and Investments, both through Finsia.
Media enquiries: media@cbussuper.com.au or +61 3 9100 4930
*Taken from the SuperRatings FCRS SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index (January 2025). The default Growth (MySuper) investment option obtained a top 5 performance ranking over 10, 15 and 20 years for the period ending 31 January 2025. SuperRatings is a rating agency that collects information from super funds to enable performance comparisons – visit www.superratings.com.au for details of its rating criteria. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
**As at 30 June 2024. Approximately 34% of our assets in-house, including hybrid strategies.
***The cumulative savings are estimated for each financial year from FY18 to FY24 and summed. The approach employed is to multiply the annual average size of the Growth option by the reduction in investment fees for each year relative to FY17.
This information is about Cbus Super and doesn’t take into account your specific needs. You should look at your own financial position, objectives and requirements before making any financial decisions. Refer to Cbus Product Disclosure Statement, Target Market Determination and Financial Services Guide for more information. Call 1300 361 784 or visit cbussuper.com.au for a copy.
Cbus Super is the leading Industry Super Fund representing those that help build and maintain Australia. As one of Australia’s largest super funds, we provide superannuation and income stream accounts to more than 920,000 members (as at 31 December 2024) and we manage more than $100 billion of our members’ money (as at 31 December 2024). Our members include workers and retirees, their families and employers. As of April 2022, Cbus merged with Media Super and offers Media Super products. In May 2023 Cbus Super successfully completed its merger with EISS Super, welcoming 17,000 new members and establishing itself as the leading fund for energy and electrical workers in Australia.
Issued 25 February 2025, United Super Pty Ltd ABN 46 006 261 623 AFSL 233792 as trustee for Construction and Building Unions Superannuation Fund (Cbus and/or Cbus Super) ABN 75 493 363 262.