MTAA Super gains award and fourth female director

THE Motor Traders Association of Australia’s $8.5 billion dollar superannuation fund, MTAA Super, has won the prestigious Fund of the Year-Medium award at the Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards – and in the same week announced its fourth female director.

It is a massive turnaround for the fund that was heavily hit by the global financial crisis, but has stuck to its guns on astute restructuring – including a drive for more involvement for women in its executive teams and board – to produce a strong financial and cultural outcome in just four years. 

At the black tie awards ceremony in Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom, chief executive officer Leeanne Turner said it was a great honour to receive the award and paid tribute to the staff and the fund’s board of directors.

“This award means a great deal to us,” Ms Turner said. “It recognises the hard work and dedication of a passionate team, who have committed to putting the wellbeing of our 260,000 members first.”

MTAA Super chairman, John Brumby said, “It’s been quite a journey for MTAA. When I became chair four years ago we had come through a big dip post-GFC and we needed to make a lot of changes.

“We restructured the strategic asset allocation, management of the organisation and introduced a new board governance model, composed of equal representation from employers, employees and independents. The new board structure received much attention within the industry as a best practice example of board diversity and independence.”

MTAA Super also announced the appointment of Rhonda O’Donnell as its fourth female representative director.

With Ms O’Donnell’s appointment, Mr Brumby said MTAA Super is further driving gender diversity in the boardroom, achieving 44 percent female representation in the largely male dominated finance and super industry.

He quoted the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s most recent data, which showed only 19.4 percent of board member positions in the finance and insurance services sector were held by women. He said the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) reported that just 20.4 percent of ASX 200 boards are comprised of women.

Mr Brumby said Ms O’Donnell has an impressive background as a successful executive and board member in both the private and public sectors. She has a background of extensive experience in international and local industries including telecommunications, information technology, education, government and utilities.

Ms Turner said she was proud of the achievements MTAA Super had made in recent years, proving its resilience during a time of rapid change in both the superannuation as well as motor trades industries where a large portion of its membership is based.

The awards were created by Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine, to encourage superannuation funds to raise the bar in all aspects of their operations for the benefit of all super members and consumers.

www.mtaasuper.com.au

Ends