NGS adds to equities team

The $13.4 billion NGS Super has strengthened its investment team with two new hires to manage  the fund's share portfolios as it moves ahead with its plans to become carbon neutral.

Susan Ding has been appointed as senior manager of international shares where she will manage the international shares portfolio and select investment managers.

Ding was formerly a senior manager, partner selection at NSW Treasury Corporation and the director, of investment management at icare.

Johnny Lambridis comes on board as senior manager, Australian shares,

\He spent more than a decade as a portfolio manager at M&G Investments and Element Investment Managers.

These appointments come at a pivotal time for the business, particularly following NGS's divestment of oil and gas exploration and production companies, including Woodside and Santos.

Earlier this year, the fund announced an interim target of a 35 per cent reduction of scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions by 2025 within the diversified MySuper portfolio.

NGS investment chief Ben Squires said the fund is committed to building a brighter and more sustainable future for its members, and the new recruits will strengthen its capabilities in key sectors.

"Having Susan and Johnny on board means our investments team can continue to drive sustainable and long-term value outcomes from our existing international and Australian assets while being even more alive to future growth opportunities," he explained.

Last year, NGS Super announced a bold target of having a carbon-neutral portfolio by 2030. Ensuring achieving that target becomes a reality is a priority for the fund.

The fund is carrying out leading-edge work to obtain an accurate baseline measurement of the carbon intensity of its investment portfolio and completing a scenario analysis of both listed and unlisted assets to create a robust carbon reduction glide path.

This will help to effectively model carbon reduction scenarios accounting for risk, return and tracking error.