The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation has won the inaugural Executive Team of the Year Award at the 2012 New Zealand CIO Awards.

The Guardians manage the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which invests money today to help pay for the rising cost of national superannuation in the future. A long-term, growth-oriented investor, the Fund has more than $19 billion in assets, including around $4 billion invested in public and private companies in New Zealand.

The judges said they were impressed with the high calibre of teamwork demonstrated by the Guardians during the deployment of a new operational platform that has allowed reconciliation of daily investment transactions and reporting on a whole-of-Fund basis.  The new platform has also underpinned the development of a series of bespoke analytical tools to inform investment decision making.

“The CEO, Adrian Orr, led the project at a strategic level, the executive members kept the outcomes focused on the business and the ICT team, led by Greg McHugh, ensured technology outcomes were achieved,” the judges said. A key factor in the award was how the Guardian’s Head of IT, Greg McHugh, worked with members of the executive team to ensure the success of the business technology initiative.

CEO Adrian Orr said top quality IT systems were essential to the Guardians.  “As well as managing and reconciling a large volume of daily transactions, we need accurate, easily accessible information to help make the best long-term strategic decisions for the Fund.”

“We now have much greater real-time visibility over the Fund’s risk profile and a more sophisticated approach to anticipating and managing Fund-wide and individual investment risk. Specific benefits include stronger cash management, a better view of the Fund’s liquidity and the ability to stress test a range of risk scenarios.”

The Executive Team of the Year Award was sponsored by ClearPoint.

Other finalists for the Executive Team of the Year were Air New Zealand, Auckland Transport and healthAlliance.