Future Fund names new CIO, hires PE executive from Navis

Brake had served as interim CIO since May when Raphael Arndt, her predecessor, was promoted to CEO. Arndt, in turn, replaced David Neal, who departed Future Fund to lead IFM Investors.

Brake will have overall responsibility for developing and implementing the sovereign wealth fund’s investment strategy. She joined Future Fund last year as deputy CIO covering economic and capital market analysis, emerging markets, dynamic beta management, and portfolio construction. Before that, Brake worked for Willis Towers Watson and New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

“Changes in markets and economies that were evolving gradually have accelerated rapidly over the last year. I am really looking forward to facing the challenges and opportunities this brings with the support of such a high-caliber team and organization,” Brake said in a statement.

Mak spent 10 years with Navis, having joined from Goldman Sachs in 2010. As a senior investment director in the firm’s Sydney office, he has served on the boards of New Zealand egg producer Mainland Poultry, education provider Guardian Early Learning Group, and Retail Apparel Group. Navis is in the process of raising its eighth fund, which has a target of $1.75 billion.

Future Fund has been rebuilding its private equity team under Alicia Gregory, who was recruited from MLC last year. As of September, the sovereign wealth fund had had A$163 billion ($121 billion) in assets – rising to A$210 billion including five other public asset funds it runs. The private equity allocation in the main fund was 14.1%, or A$22.9 billion.

Earlier this year, Future Fund confirmed it had rebalanced its private equity portfolio as part of efforts to avoid “excessive risk,” paring exposure to international growth and buyout managers following a period of very strong performance. A total of A$6 billion in PE assets were sold off.

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