ART restructures to deliver ‘advice-led’ retirement strategy

Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has appointed a new head of advice and education delivery, Erick Cordero, and head of practice management, Evan Poole, to help deliver on the fund’s strategy of an advice-led retirement for its members.

Cordero has been with the fund since 2019 and prior to commencing his new role in late April, has held numerous senior roles at the company, most recently as head of government and stakeholder relationships in ART’s commercial division.

He has over 25 years working across financial services and superannuation and prior to his employment at ART, has held a number of senior leadership roles at multiple funds, including Rest, Media Super, and ING.

Poole, who also commenced his new role last month, has been with ART since 2008, most recently holding the position of senior manager advice best practice. He has more than 20 years of experience in financial advice and is a Certified Financial Planner. He also holds a diploma of superannuation management from Macquarie University.

In another step towards the fund’s advice-led strategy, ART said the education teams from across the company have been brought together to deliver “unified advice and education strategy for all members, employers, advisers and unions”.

ART’s executive general manager for advice, guidance and education, Anne Fuchs, said the changes reflect the fund’s drive to provide their members with retirement advice.

“Driving an advice-led retirement for all our members is a key element of Australian Retirement Trust’s strategy and so we’ve made changes to reflect the importance of this role by aligning our three core capabilities in this space – external financial adviser partnerships, advice and education delivery, and practice management,” Fuchs said.

“At Australian Retirement Trust, we believe wholeheartedly in an advice-led retirement. We want to help as many Australians as we can with advice on their simple retirement needs, so we can build awareness of the value of advice and encourage more Australians to seek it out so they can retire well with confidence.”

Fuchs said the appointments and the new structure will foster greater collaboration and innovation to provide the best outcomes for ART’s members.

“Combined, Erick and Evan bring an incredible 45 years’ expertise in financial services and superannuation to these roles. Their appointments represent the final piece of the puzzle to establish Australian Retirement Trust’s advice, guidance and education function, and I’m so thrilled we’ve been able to make these appointments internally,” she said.

“The new team structure also goes in hand with strengthening our commitment to collaborating with external advisers. We are proud of this engagement, especially as many of our members need complex advice on retirement, and these advisers help us deliver it.”