Ross Barry, Chief Investment Officer, Spirit Super

Ross Barry joined Spirit Super in 2020 as Chief Investment Officer. Ross has over 25 years’ experience as an institutional investor and has worked with several of Australia’s largest Super Funds.

For the past 10 years, Ross was one of the senior investment leaders at First State Super and led the build-out of that Fund’s internal investment team capabilities. Prior to that he was Head of Portfolio Construction for Watson Wyatt Australia, a Principle of Sovereign Investment Research and a Proprietary trader for Bankers Trust Australia.

Ross is widely recognised as a pioneer of Universal Ownership, Impact Investing and investing in private markets, including private equity, property and infrastructure. From 2010-2017, Ross was an Independent Director of the Palisade Diversified Infrastructure Fund.

Ross has a PhD in Applied Finance from Macquarie University and has published several journal articles on hedge funds and other alternative investments. In June 2014, Ross published the book, Crisis and Complexity, which provides an alternative perspective on financial markets crises through the lens of Complexity Theory.

Prof. Michael Drew, Professor of Finance, Griffith University

Michael E. Drew is a Professor of Finance at Griffith University. He is a financial economist specialising in the areas of investment governance, pension plan design, and outcome-oriented investing.

Professor Drew’s research has been published in leading practitioner journals, including the Financial Analysts Journal and the Journal of Portfolio Management. With his colleague, Dr Adam Walk, Professor Drew co-authored the monograph Investment Governance for Fiduciaries, released by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. He has been invited to make submissions and to testify before numerous committees, including the US Department of Labor and the SEC joint hearing on target-date funds.

Professor Drew serves as a trustee director and member of the Investment Committee at QSuper, a member of the Investment Advisory Board of the Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste (East Timor), and a trustee of Mary Aikenhead Ministries.

He received his PhD in economics from the University of Queensland, is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst®, and is a Life Member of FINSIA.

Kate Farrar, Chief Executive Officer, LGIAsuper

Kate Farrar was appointed as LGIAsuper’s Chief Executive Officer in April 2018. Kate was appointed to lead the merged fund of LGIAsuper and Energy Super, continuing her role as Chief Executive Officer from 1 July 2021.

Kate is responsible for delivering exceptional experiences and outcomes to LGIAsuper’s members, as well as leading the ongoing change and transformation required to build on our success over the last 54 years.

Kate has 30 years’ experience in leadership roles across the finance and energy sectors. Her previous roles include Managing Director of QEnergy, Chief Operating Officer at Ergon Energy Retail, and senior positions at Morgans Stockbroking, Barclays de Zoete Wedd, and Suncorp Investment Management. Prior to joining LGIAsuper, she was a Junior Partner (equivalent) at McKinsey & Company.

Kate holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) Degree and a Masters Degree in Econometrics and Finance. She is also a graduate of INSEAD’s Advanced Management Programme.

On 1 July 2021 LGIAsuper merged with Energy Super and now have $22B in FUM and 120,000 members.

Michael McQueen, Chief Investment Officer, Media Super

Michael McQueen is the Chief Investment Officer of Media Super, the industry fund for print, media, entertainment, arts and the broader creative industries. In this role, he is responsible for advising the Board on all investment-related matters and formulating the Fund’s investment strategy. Run only to benefit members, Media Super manages over $6bn in retirement savings for more than 70,000 members.

Prior to joining Media Super, Michael held positions including Head of Investment Strategy at LUCRF Super and Manager, Investment at Kinetic Super where he oversaw investment strategy and implementation during the merger with Sunsuper. Before joining the superannuation industry, he specialized in domestic funds management and worked for several different firms across the financial services sector.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Mathematical Physics, from the University of Melbourne.