Director steps down from Magellan AM board

Magellan Asset Management director, Kirsten Morton, has stepped down from the board, effective 3 July.

However, she will remain at the firm as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. 

A statement to the ASX said: “The company’s board thanks Morton for her contribution as a director and looks forward to continuing to work with her.”

Morton joined Magellan in June 2013 from Colonial First State Global Asset Management, where she was head of finance — property.

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As well as her role as CFO, she also held the role of interim chief executive following the departure of Brett Cairns until David George was appointed from the Future Fund in May 2022. 

The Magellan Asset Management board, which is separate to the board of Magellan Financial Group, now consists of:

• Robert Fraser, chairman and non-executive
• David Dixon, deputy chairman and non-executive
• David George, CEO
• John Eales, non-executive
• Colette Garnsey; non-executive
• Hamish McLennan, non-executive

The board formally had eight seats rather than six and it is understood Magellan is undergoing a board renewal process for both the asset management and Magellan Financial Group boards.

Magellan has seen a series of people moves recently, initiated by the departure of Cairns and later, chief investment officer Hamish Douglass taking a leave of absence and then returning in a consultancy role.

Since then, John Sevior, founder of Magellan subsidiary Airlie Funds Management, retired in March 2023 and general manager for distribution, Frank Casarotti, has announced he will depart in December 2023. 

The changes, combined with underperformance of its funds, have led funds under management to fall from more than $100 billion to $41.4 billion.

In May, George spoke to Money Management about how he is rebuilding the company and hoping to grow assets back to $100 billion. This includes by creating an environment that is collaborative and encourages staff to speak up. 

“We did make a few adjustments,” George said. “We made what was already there work better, rather than change what was there or change people. So, first and foremost, get as much focus as we could onto the existing strategies, making sure we had idea generation working well.

“Like a lot of businesses, particularly ones that had been as successful, you become bigger and you become more complicated. It’s just really simplifying that focus to make sure that it had less entrepreneurial attachments and more focus on really making sure that we got the core bread-and-butter, sticking-to-our-knitting work.”