Australia’s Catholic Super fund hires Mercer RI Research head, Guyatt

Danyelle Guyatt, Global Head of Research for the Responsible Investment business of Mercer Investment Consulting, is to join the investment team at Catholic Super, the $A4.1bn (€3.2bn) Australian industry-wide superannuation fund. Responsible-investor.com revealed earlier this week that Guyatt, based in London, was leaving Mercer. She is expected to take up her new position back in her native Australia in September 2011. At the Melbourne-based fund, Guyatt will join her former Mercer colleague, Garrie Lette, who was also a Global Head of Research at the consulting firm. Lette, who left Mercer in early 2010 after 18 years at the firm, is now Chief Investment Officer at Catholic Super, which has 70,000 members and 5,000 employers spread across Australia. The fund was one of the first Australian super funds to adopt the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).Catholic Super said it was hiring Guyatt following a decision to establish a specific sustainability-themed component to its investment portfolio.
Guyatt who also managed client relationships at Mercer, led a major recent collaborative project by the consultant and a number of large pension funds examining the strategic asset allocation implications of climate change. Lette at Catholic Super said “We’re delighted that Danyelle has agreed to join us. She will be the focal point for the sustainability-themed investments, which we intend to pursue. We see it as vital that a portfolio-wide approach be taken on sustainability – it’s not a sideshow. Danyelle will be working closely with other members of our team on the sustainability-themed investments. And she’ll be fully involved in decisions which arise in managing our existing portfolio.”