legalsuper appoints Luke Symons as Chief Executive

legalsuper today announced the appointment of highly experienced wealth industry executive, Luke Symons, as Chief Executive of the fund.

legalsuper’s independent Chair, Kirsten Mander, said that Mr Symons brings a unique combination of professional experience and technical skills to the vital role of Chief Executive, as well as a strong energy and enthusiasm to pursue legalsuper’s purpose of empowering Australia’s legal community to build retirement wealth.

“Throughout our recruitment process Luke exhibited the great clarity of insight and innovative thought that he is known for. His considerable experience across member engagement, service and product innovation, digital transformation, and high-performance team leadership were all clearly demonstrated – and he brought key insights from this breadth of experience to the table during our search,” Ms Mander said.

“He was also enthusiastic about the strategic benefits presented by legalsuper’s legal profession specialisation and the associated opportunities for innovation, agile decision-making and personalised member engagement”.

Image: Luke Symons

Mr Symons brings strong commercial and wealth industry experience to the role, built up over more than 25 years, leading and managing end-to-end businesses across both traditional and start up environments within Financial Services. This includes senior leadership roles at ANZ Banking Group and at AMP.

In superannuation he has had a particular focus on strategy, product innovation, member engagement and digital transformation, whilst in the advice business his key priorities were around digital advice solutions, regulatory change, client engagement and M&A of advice firms.

At ANZ his roles included CEO Financial Planning and CEO Mobile Lending (Australia), and more recently at AMP as Director Advice - Channel Performance, Strategy & Growth, Chief Strategy Officer (Australia), and Managing Director Digital and New Ventures (Australia). He has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in accounting, economics and marketing, an MBA from Charles Sturt University, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

According to Mr Symons, the increasing focus on Australia’s superannuation industry presents genuine opportunities for innovation, member engagement and growth for those funds with a clear organisational strategy, high-performing teams and an ability to execute.

“The superannuation sector is experiencing unprecedented attention from policy makers, industry commentators and the media at present – providing challenges and more importantly opportunities to establish clear market and service differentiation and continue developing genuine member solutions and experiences,” Mr Symons said.

“Importantly, I look forward to working with legalsuper’s executive team and Board to continue legalsuper’s strong long-term investment performance, which has seen the fund’s MySuper returns – where the majority of members are invested – outperform the SuperRatings all fund median over 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years”.

legalsuper is the superannuation fund for Australia’s legal community managing more than $5 billion on behalf of more than 41,000 members.

Mr Symons will commence his role as Chief Executive on Tuesday 11 April 2023.

^{For further information: Jamie Perrott 0408 148 257}