Emerging Financial Risk Management Challenges in the Superannuation and Investment Sectors

Jane Couchman is a senior executive in the banking and financial services sector, with over 30 years of leadership experience across Legal, Risk, and Governance disciplines. She currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer and Group Executive, Sustainability at Aware Super.

Her career spans pivotal executive roles, including Executive General Manager, Compliance at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA); Global Chief Operating Officer, Compliance and Head of Enterprise Compliance at Macquarie Bank; Chief Risk Officer at BT Financial Group; and General Counsel at Perpetual.

Jane has led major governance, culture, and accountability transformation programs at Macquarie Bank, CBA, and Aware Super. She has also spearheaded strategic initiatives such as the risk integration of Asgard and BT Financial Group during the St George–Westpac merger, and the digital transformation of Aware Super’s internal administration platform.

Ali Parker is the Head of Investment Research and Strategy in TCorp’s investment team. The team is responsible for TCorp’s risk-based Investment Model, Capital Market Assumptions, top-down input to the listed and unlisted strategies, and researching risk and return behaviours of risk factors and assets.

Ali previously led TCorp’s Investment Advisory team, the unit that was responsible for developing a deep understanding of clients’ investment goals, risk appetite and reporting on portfolio strategy outcomes.

Stephanie Lyons is the General Manager of Enterprise & Investment Risk at Rest, overseeing risk management across an investment portfolio exceeding $100 billion. She brings deep expertise in financial risk, investment governance, and regulatory transformation.

Prior to her current role, Stephanie served as Chief Risk Officer at EISS Super, where she led major strategic initiatives including a superannuation fund merger and an administration platform transition.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (German), is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA), a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), and has completed executive education at Harvard Business School (GMP26).

Chris is an investment / market risk manager with experience performing risk oversight of equity, fixed interest, credit and private debt portfolios across asset management, investment banking and hedge fund industries. Areas of focus include stress testing, VaR analysis, risk framework development and risk mitigation strategy. Currently he is a Senior Vice President at Citi, working in Global Market Risk, and is a certified FRM.