The $2.5 billion charities investment specialist, Trust Management, has named Rachael McDonald, to lead the organisation following the departure of long-time chief, Grant Hope.
Hope left Trust Management in July, ending a 20-year stint with the under-the-radar wholesale investment business including the last 12 years as CEO.
He now runs his own consulting business, Tūmanako Advisory Services, providing governance and management advice to the charitable sector.
McDonald returns home to NZ after almost 20 years offshore where she was most recently managing partner at the British Virgin Islands office of Jersey-based legal firm, Mourant Ozannes.
Prior to Mourant Ozannes she spent seven years in the UK in senior legal roles with Clifford Chance and Ogier. McDonald began her career as a solicitor with Chapman Tripp in Auckland.
In a statement, Trust Management chair, Andrew Evans, said she: “… built and led a team that provided legal and advisory services to international clients encompassing investment funds, complex business transactions, regulatory advice, private wealth services including trusts, property deals, asset management, and general corporate and finance advisory services.”
As well as taking on the Trust Management leadership role from September 21, McDonald has also joined the Auckland North Shore board of Life Education Trust, a youth-oriented charity.
Evans said she had been involved in other charitable ventures offshore as well as winning many professional accolades including ranking in the 2021 list of “prominent women lawyers globally” compiled by legal research firm, IFLR.
“… we were delighted with the extremely high calibre of candidates, and a common characteristic was the strong desire to lead a higher-purpose-driven organisation such as Trust Management,” he said. “In Rachael, we see an individual with the skills, experience, drive, and knowledge to build on its success and on its mission of Enabling Charities to Serve and Prosper.”
Trust Management has a long history in providing investment management services to NZ charities.
In 2020 the business restructured its funds as portfolio investment entities (PIEs) under the leadership of newly appointed head of investments, Matthew Goldsack.
Trust Management PIEs now account for about $850 million of the firm’s total assets under management of $2.5 billion in a portfolio that includes roughly half in property.
The firm operates five underlying funds covering property, Australasian shares, international shares, global bonds and NZ fixed income – all of which feed into another balanced fund.
While the manager runs property and NZ bonds in-house it has outsourced global assets to State Street index products and Australasian shares to Harbour Asset Management.
Goldsack joined Trust Management from the Westpac-owned BT Funds NZ in March of 2020, replacing John Williams.