Australia’s QIC has appointed a new chief investment officer as its current investment head, Jim Christensen, is planning to retire.
Allison Hill, who had been the deputy CIO, will succeed Christensen, taking responsibility for managing QIC’s state investments team and about A$58 billion (US$42.8 billion) in assets for the state of Queensland, according to a Wednesday announcement.
“QIC State Investments is fortunate to have Allison, an investment professional of high caliber and experience, to manage the investments of the state,” QIC chief executive Damien Frawley said in a statement.
The A$93 billion manager, which is owned by the Queensland government in Australia, manages the state government’s assets, as well as investments on behalf of other institutions. Hill will specifically manage Queensland’s investments, according to the announcement.
Her predecessor Christensen has been with the fund since 2016 and is now retiring, according to the announcement. He had been the state CIO since March 2020, and prior to that was managing director of the fund’s global multi-asset portfolios, his LinkedIn profile shows.
Christensen had worked for QIC previously, from 1997 through 2009, most recently as a managing director in the active management division. He left the fund for five years to serve as the CIO at Telstra Super, a pension fund supporting workers at the internet and phone company.
“He is a respected leader at QIC and on behalf of the entire team, I would like to thank him for his contribution,” Frawley said of his work.
Hill, meanwhile, joined QIC in January 2018. She joined as the director of investments and transitioned to deputy CIO in March 2020.
She joined QIC from DMP Asset Management, an Australian equities boutique, where she worked as CEO for four years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also worked as a senior consultant for 11 years at Frontier Advisors. Her early career years were spent in business development at BT Funds Management and Colonial First State.
“Our investment strategy has enabled the Queensland Government to become one of the few in the world to operate a fully funded defined benefit scheme,” Hill said in a statement. “This scheme, coupled with a number of state-based superannuation funds in Queensland, has provided a significant pool of capital that we manage and forms part of a state-based finance sector that leads nationally and globally significant investments.”
Like Christensen, Frawley will soon retire. He announced in late June that he plans to retire in 2022 after nine years at the fund. “As QIC reaches our 30th year of operations, the timing of my departure feels about right,” he said in a statement at the time.
