Australian Ethical has appointed John Woods as head of asset allocation, as the ethical investment firm sets the goal to become one of Australia’s largest investment managers by 2030.
Woods would be responsible for the balanced fund and overall strategic asset allocation process, following the recent promotion of Mike Murray to head of domestic equities.
He joined from MLC where he held portfolio management responsibilities which included assisting in asset allocation for suites of multi-asset portfolios that covered the full spectrum of investor risk appetites.
The firm had also partnered with start-up asset management business, Alpha Vista, to conduct a review of its asset allocation governance framework.
The review would be spearheaded by investment consultant, Ashby Monk, and would help design a truly world-class, innovative approach to asset allocation.
Monk, who was a director of Alpha Vista, was also a research director of the Stanford Global Projects Center and had consulted to some of the larger pension plans around the world.
David Macri, chief investment officer (CIO), said the firm already had a long track record of producing above-market returns by specialising in responsible investment.
“Investing in future-focused talent and technology will help us to maintain this position and continue to keep us in good stead in achieving these stellar results,” Macri said.
“Alpha Vista are commercialising a deeply researched big-data, artificial intelligence technology platform that has been evolving for the past 10 years.
“Partnering with them will eventually allow us to have a single view of all our portfolios and more accurately manage risk, and will contribute to overall portfolio performance.”
