IFSA appoints Pearce to board of directors

ColonialFirst State(CFS) chief executive John Pearce has become the latest addition to theInvestment and Financial Services Association(IFSA) board of directors.

Pearce steps into the position vacated by previous CFS chief executive Chris Cuffe, who had been on the board since 1998. Cuffe, who stepped down earlier this year, was the last of the association’s inaugural directors.

IFSA chief executive Richard Gilbert says Cuffe originally stepped down when he joinedChallenger International in January, which at the time was not an IFSA member.

Gilbert says the board has a policy to represent the various constituencies making up its membership, ranging from wholesale to retail and life insurance.

“When we lost Chris Cuffe, the board did not have that balance as it did previously,” Gilbert says.

“However, when a company loses a board member, it is not an automatic right to nominate somebody else and have them elected.”

Gilbert says the board has a nominations committee, which considers the quality of experience and standing of the individual being nominated.

IFSA chairman Doug McTaggart says Pearce brings to the board not only specialist investment skills but invaluable input from a multi-faceted wealth management organisation.

Prior to officially becoming chief executive of CFS earlier this year, Pearce was general manager of investments at CFS, where he had overall responsibility for management of the group’s investment function across all asset classes. Pearce is also chairman of the CFS investment committee.

Pearce joins the 13 other industry notables on the IFSA board of directors, among whom areBT Financial Groupchief executive David Clarke,AMP Financial Servicesmanaging director Craig Dunn, Sealcorp chief executive Ian Knox andING Australiachief executive John Wylie.

The board also includes representatives fromDeutsche Asset Management,Vanguard Investments Australia,Mercer Human Resource Consulting,Merrill Lynch Investment Managers,AXA Australia,Morgan Stanley Investment Managementand the National Australia Bank.