Rest welcomes SDA-nominated director

The board of Rest has announced the appointment of Catherine Bolger as director, having formally commenced with the fund this month.

Bolger joins Rest as a Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA)-nominated director and replaces Julia Fox, who retired from the board in May 2024.

Describing her as a “highly skilled advocate for working Australians”, Rest confirmed that Bolger brings more than two decades of experience in financial, governance, member experience, and advocacy skills in superannuation, not-for-profit, and government environments.

“Catherine is a highly respected director who is passionately committed to the profit-to-member superannuation sector and has a strong focus on improving the retirement outcomes for working people,” commented Rest chair James Merlino.

“We are fortunate to have Catherine join the Rest board where her skills and experience will directly benefit Rest’s 2 million members.”

Bolger is currently a director of State Super and the Centre for Workers’ Capital, as well as a trustee of Unions NSW and a director of Professionals Australia.

Moreover, as former president of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), she played a role in the creation of the Super Members Council of Australia, the collective body for profit-to-member super funds created through the merger of AIST and Industry Super Australia.

“I am delighted to be joining the Rest Board. I have long been an advocate for better work and retirement outcomes for working people and I look forward to supporting Rest’s mission to make super simple for more than 2 million working Australians,” Bolger said.

Last month, Rest reported that its default MySuper Core Strategy delivered a return of 8.67 per cent in the financial year 2023–24, driven by the strong performance of international shares amid “sticky” inflation.

This, the fund clarified, was ahead of its 10- and 20-year average returns, but down on the 9.2 per cent return recorded in the previous fiscal year.

Commenting on the results, Rest chief investment officer Andrew Lill said that, while recent months have aligned with the expectation of persistent core inflation and sustained higher cash rates, the fund said that companies with strong balance sheets, higher profitability, and strong earnings have achieved gains.

“Our exposure to these higher-quality companies, such as many of the Magnificent 7 tech stocks at the forefront of artificial intelligence development, and our decision to stay fully invested in listed equities has been strongly rewarded,” Lill said at the time.