legalsuper hires execs from Cbus, ART and CareSuper

legalsuper has added a chief operating officer, a head of product and a manager of business development and partnerships.

Trevin Erichsen has been appointed chief operating officer arriving from Australian Retirement Trust, where he has worked for ten years.

The $5 billion industry fund for the legal community has also hired David Walker in the newly created role of head of product.

Walker joins from CareSuper where he was senior product manager for the last five years.

In the new role, he will oversee product development and innovation with a particular focus on tailoring and personalising legalsuper's products to the needs of legal professionals.

The two recruits will join the executive team.

A third recruit, Tyson Adams has been hired as manager business development and partnerships.

Adams joins from Cbus where he was senior manager of corporate growth.

Before his two year stint the $73.5 billion industry fund for construction workers, he worked at Equipsuper in a similar role.

Earlier in is career he worked at National Australia Bank for ten years most recently as a foreign exchange dealer.

According to legalsuper's chief executive, Andrew Proebstl, both recruits cited the fund's niche market position and associated cultural and operational benefits as reasons to move across.

"Our recent experience in recruiting for these roles showed niche super funds with clarity of purpose are highly attractive employers for high-performing individuals who want roles where they can truly make a difference," he said.

"We offer closer proximity to decision-making, a make-it-happen mindset, absence of bureaucracy and demonstrable opportunities for our people to innovate and deliver highly personalised member experiences, informed by deeper insights into the expectations of niche markets.

"Combining these cultural and operational attributes with legalsuper's long-term investment out-performance has further made us a 'fund of choice' for senior superannuation executives."

As a boutique fund, the chief executive said management actively takes advantage of its scale to make informed, innovative and timely investment decisions.

Proebstl added that the fund avoids the overvalued and exposed areas of the market and seeks out new institutional-quality investment opportunities in areas such as digital infrastructure and healthcare property.

"Acknowledging continued industry commentary about scale, we firmly maintain that super funds should be judged on the quality of the member outcomes they deliver and not simply whether they are large or small.

"At a time of continued reform in the superannuation system and increasing expectations from members, employers and regulators ... it is critical that all super funds embrace change and have a passion for rethinking and reinventing how we better serve our members."

The appointments follow the recent appointment of Carrie Norman as chief member officer.