Mark Delaney, Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of AustralianSuper, will step down after 25 years with the national retirement fund. He will remain in his role through the end of June, during which time the superannuation fund will conduct a global search for his replacement.
“It’s been an honor every day from the day I started, but I've decided it's time to go,” Delaney said in a statement, adding: “Until I call time with the fund in June, I will work my hardest to get members the returns they deserve.”
The fund has grown from around A$20 billion when it was established in 2006 to more than A$400 billion in retirement assets for 3.6 million members. Half that growth was due to around A$190 billion in investment returns achieved under Delaney’s tenure, according to AustralianSuper CEO Paul Schroder.
“By building and leading a high-performing global team, Mark has made more money for more Australians than any super fund chief investment officer in the country,” Schroder said.
Delaney has been CIO and deputy CEO since AustralianSuper was formed in 2006. He was previously CEO of the Superannuation Trust of Australia for three years before it merged with Australia Retirement Fund to form AustralianSuper. Before that, he spent 14 years at National Mutual/AXA after serving as an economist in Australia’s Federal Department of Treasury. He is also currently a director on the IFM Investor Advisory Board.
At the fund, Delaney introduced portfolio holdings disclosure before it became a regulatory requirement and brought more investment management in house (most of AustralianSuper’s assets are now managed internally).
“We transformed superannuation investing in Australia by becoming an active investor in a range of asset classes and building a globally diversified portfolio so every member can now invest in world-class opportunities at scale,” Delaney said.
The fund’s balanced portfolio (where the bulk of participants hold their accounts) returned 9.52 percent for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, underperforming its peers like the A$140 billion Hostplus and the A$158 billion UniSuper, which saw double-digit returns. Its five- and 10-year annualized returns were 8.53 percent and 7.94 percent, respectively.
