Australia’s Future Fund has appointed its chief investment officer to the role of chief executive officer, filling a position that had been vacated earlier this year.
Raphael Arndt, who has served as Future Fund’s CIO since 2014, will become CEO in July, the sovereign wealth fund announced Thursday.
“Raphael is an effective leader who has proved his ability to build high performing teams and organizations,” Peter Costello, the fund’s chairman, said in the statement. “He has been integral to developing the way the organization works as well as driving the development and implementation of its investment strategy.”
The news comes after Future Fund announced in February that its former CEO, David Neal, was leaving for a new career opportunity. Neal, who had served as chief executive since 2014, is now the CEO at IFM Investors, an Australian investment management firm, his LinkedIn profile shows.
Like Arndt, Neal was first CIO for the fund, then was promoted to the role of CEO, his resignation announcement shows.
Arndt won’t begin working in the role until July 1, which, according to the announcement, will allow him to focus fully on investment “during this challenging time.” Cameron Price, the fund’s general counsel and chief risk officer, had been serving as the interim CEO since Neal stepped down.
“I am honored to have this opportunity,” Arndt said in the statement on his promotion. “Investing for the benefit of future generations of Australians, the way we strengthen the government’s long-term financial position and the support our investment activity provides to areas such as medical research have never been more important.”
Arndt started working at the fund in 2008 as the head of infrastructure and timberland, according to the announcement. Prior to joining the fund, he was an investment director for Hastings Fund Management and held infrastructure policy positions in the private sector and at Australia’s Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance.
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The Future Fund said an appointment for a replacement CIO will begin “in due course.”
At the end of March, the Future Fund had AUD$205.4 billion (about $133 billion) of assets under management, according to the announcement. A spokesperson for the fund did not return an email seeking comment on its new CEO.
