Episode 332: Deanne Stewart of Aware Super - A Superannuation Fund Braced for a Dynamic World

Deanne Stewart is CEO at Aware Super, an Australian superannuation fund with over 200 billion AUD in assets under management and the third largest superannuation fund in the country. She has held this role for close to seven years, and was previously Chief Executive Officer at MetLife in Sydney, and prior to that, held a series of financial services roles.

Because Deanne is no stranger to podcasting (you can see a range of her other appearances below) we wanted to pick up where some of the other podcasts had picked up and we start by asking what it was about her varied roles - what she calls a "grab bag of experiences - in asset management, life insurance and management consulting that shaped her leadership style and approach at the helm of Aware Super. We reflect on what she seeks to channel as a leader, and Deanne highlights the importance of curiosity about her team, ideas, approaches, and about listening and plugging in to "learning mode".

Moving to discuss the priorities now at Aware Super, we discuss their strong ethos around essential workers, and how this translates into a twin focus on achieving the required return but also channeling the responsible ownership ethos that is important to their mission. We discuss recent acquisitions and the consolidation going on within the Australian superannuation fund environment and the need to find global investment opportunities as the funds under management grow.

You can find more podcasts featuring Deanne here:
Leadership Series with Helen McCabe https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deanne-stewart-on-the-pivotal-moment-that-shaped-her-career/id1469503665?i=1000703776587
Top CEO Series, The Mentor with Mark Bouris https://open.spotify.com/episode/0R0hHl3Q6wfdaBb4JI5WNd?si=K5CBUkSiRSGyfE8dMGQ2qA
Blenheim Partners https://blenheimpartners.com/episode-109-deanne-stewart/

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income