Australian asset consultant Frontier appoints new CEO

The infrastructure and agriculture advisor has poached Andrew Polson from MyState, who will take the helm in May.

Australian consultant Frontier Advisors has appointed Andrew Polson as its new chief executive, who will start the role in May, after Damien Moloney steps down on March 29.

Polson is currently general manager, wealth management with Tasmania-based financial services group MyState Limited. He was previously global head of investment management and implementation at ANZ Global Wealth and was general manager, investments, for ANZ Private and ANZ Trustees.

“Andrew has considerable experience in both strategic development and operational management within the investment and wealth management sectors,” Frontier Advisors chairman Gabriel Szondy said. “We believe he will build on the firm’s current strong position and identify new opportunities.”

The firm had announced Moloney’s decision to step down last September, saying that while “the Board reluctantly accepted Damian’s resignation, they [understood] the reasons and timing of his decision”.

“Damian believes that, as his brief has been achieved, it is now time for someone else to apply his or her vision and take the firm further,” Szondy said at the time.

Moloney joined the firm in July 2011 and was given the task of transforming the business from a successful advisory practice, with a stable of, largely industry superannuation fund clients, into a more dynamic and sophisticated financial services consulting practice, according to Frontier.

He achieved those goals and has expanded the firm’s client group – 40 percent of which is now from outside the firm’s traditional industry superannuation fund base, Frontier said, adding that staffing levels are at their highest in the firm’s 23-year history.

Moloney, who had yet to decide his next move when his plans to step down were announced, was slated to leave the firm last December. It is unclear whether his departure was delayed due to an extended search for his replacement.

Frontier Advisors had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The firm has been active in Australia as a consultant on real assets including infrastructure since 1994 and advises on commodities, timber and agriculture.

Last year, Martin Thompson, a senior consultant at Frontier Advisors, expressed optimism about ag’s prospects as an asset class. “As investor money pours into these sectors, assets will be turned into more institutional-quality assets,” he told Agri Investor then. “It will be a gradual move but there’s no real cap on how big the market could get.”

His comments came on the back of a report on timber and agri – a move Thompson said came in response to “an underlying current of interest in agriculture” on the part of its client base.