The Review Panel
The Government announced the Super System Review on 29 May 2009.
The Review had broad Terms of Reference; it was charged with examining and analysing the governance, efficiency, structure and operation of Australia's superannuation system. The Review was focused on achieving an outcome that is in the best interests of members and which maximises retirement incomes for Australians.
The Chair of the Review was Jeremy Cooper, the former Deputy Chairman of ASIC. Jeremy was supported by a Panel of seven part-time members.
From Left:Mr Kevin Casey, Mrs Meg Heffron, Dr. David Gruen, Mr Jeremy Cooper (Chair), Mr Greg Evans, Mr Brian Wilson (seated), Mr Sandy Grant (seated).
Chair
Mr Jeremy Cooper – was formerly the Deputy Chairman of ASIC, having been appointed in July 2004 for a five‑year term. He was previously a partner with Australian law firm Blake Dawson, where he worked principally in the area of mergers and acquisitions and corporate advice for 20 years. Mr Cooper has been a member of the Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia since 1995 and is a regular speaker on corporate law and financial services issues. While at ASIC, Mr Cooper has had oversight responsibility across a range of ASIC's teams in the financial services sector, including superannuation, financial advisers and consumers and retail investors. Mr Cooper has worked closely in areas such as super fund choice, switching and other industry issues, financial services conflicts of interest, better disclosure and online disclosure, self‑managed super funds and issues affecting retail investors, better and simpler advice and financial literacy.
Panel Members
Mr Sandy Grant – has a superannuation and financial services industry background spanning more than 40 years, mainly, but not exclusively, in the not-for-profit superannuation fund sector. Positions held by Mr Grant include managing director of building industry fund CBus, managing director of Industry Fund Services and general manager of superannuation administrator Jacques Martin Industry (JMI). Prior to that, Mr Grant held various positions with the Colonial Mutual Group where he began his career. After retiring from fulltime work in 2008, Mr Grant served as chair of the policy committee of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) until his appointment to the Panel. He is presently a trustee of Caresuper, a director of Members Equity Bank (a full-service bank owned by industry super funds), chair of the Members Equity subsidiary Industry Fund Services Pty Ltd, a director of Superpartners Pty Ltd, a superannuation administrator, and a director of Master Builders Victoria Foundation Limited.
Mr Brian Wilson – a former Australian managing director of the global investment bank Lazard and a former vice‑chairman of Citigroup Australia, Mr Wilson has extensive financial services experience including involvement with both the funds management and investment management sectors. Mr Wilson retired in 2009 as a Managing Director of Lazard, after co‑founding the firm in Australia in 2004. His career as an investment banker specialising in corporate financial advice encompassed over 30 years. Prior to joining Lazard, he was a Vice Chairman and co‑Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Citigroup Australia (previously known as Salomon Smith Barney Australia) and previously a director and co‑Head of Investment Banking at Schroders Australia, a principal of Lloyds Corporate Advisory Services and a Director of Bank of America Australia. Mr Wilson is also Pro‑Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney. He has recently been made a non-executive director of Bell Financial Group.
Mr Kevin Casey – has had more than 40 years experience in the superannuation industry, mainly in the retail superannuation sector. Mr Casey spent 30 years at AMP where he variously managed corporate superannuation relationships, development of superannuation computer systems, superannuation administration procedures and superannuation and technical strategy for AMP's superannuation businesses. Mr Casey also served as Secretary and a director of AMP Superannuation Limited, AMP's public offer trustee and was also a member‑elected director of the then AMP Officers' Provident Fund. Mr Casey also sat on joint Government/department/industry committees on the development of superannuation legislation, was a member of the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) superannuation committee and the Association of Superannuation Funds (ASFA) post‑retirement committee and after he left AMP, was CEO of the Australian Retirement Income Streams Association (ARISA) before it merged with IFSA in 2002.
Mr Greg Evans – is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). Mr Evans is an economist with a background in both the private and public sector. His early career commenced in the banking sector where he specialised in project finance and the financial modelling of large scale infrastructure and resource related projects. Moving to the public sector, he worked for the Commonwealth Department of Finance and later joined the Commonwealth Treasury in the international economy division. Mr Evans has since held positions in various industry associations in the farming and energy sectors. He joined the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2004 and in addition to being Acting CEO (through to August 2009) he is the Director of Economics and Industry Policy. Mr Evans holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney and a Master of Commerce from the University of NSW.
Dr David Gruen – is Deputy Secretary and Executive Director, Macroeconomic Group at the Australian Treasury, which he joined in 2003. Prior to that, Dr Gruen was Head of the Economic Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia between 1998 and 2002. He worked at the Reserve Bank for thirteen years, in the Economic Analysis and Economic Research Departments. With financial support from a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr Gruen was visiting lecturer in the Economics Department and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University from 1991 and 1993. Before joining the Reserve Bank, Dr Gruen worked as a research scientist in the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University and holds PhD degrees in physiology from Cambridge University, England and in economics from the Australian National University.
Mr Ian Martin – has over 25 years' experience in the investment management, superannuation, investment banking and financial services sectors. He was former CEO of BT Australia, as well as inaugural chairman of the Investment and Financial Services Association.
Ms Meg Heffron – is a principal of Heffron Ltd, a firm which specialises in providing self-managed superannuation fund services. She is a well-known expert on self-managed superannuation fund issues and is a member of the Tax Office's National Tax Liaison Group (Superannuation).