THE Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) chief executive officer Lynn Ralph has handed in her resignation after four-and-a-half years, with current deputy chief executive officer Richard Gilbert promoted to the top job.
Gilbert was chief executive officer of the Investment Funds Association for a year before it merged into IFSA in 1988, where he has been deputy chief executive officer since.
Ralph leaves the association to start up a new business in the corporate governance field and will officially hand over to Gilbert on August 9, following farewells at the IFSA annual conference earlier that month. The search for a new deputy chief executive officer will begin immediately.
“I am both pleased and comforted to be able to hand over the reins to Richard, who I know will lead IFSA to even greater achievements in the future,” Ralph says.
The association, which announced the approved merger with the Australian Retirement Income Streams Association (ARISA) last month, has also made four additions to the IFSA board of directors.
ING Australia chief executive officer John Wylie, William M Mercer chief executive officer Simon O’Regan, Deutsche Asset Management Asia Pacific Region chief executive officer Brian Scullen and AM Corporation chairman David Smith have joined the board, with Wylie and Smith joining as part of the ARISA merger.
The new recruits join the current IFSA board members led by IFSA chairman and AMP Financial Services managing director Andrew Mohl and IFSA deputy chairman and Colonial First State Investment Managers chief executive officer Chris Cuffe.
