CHALLENGER INFRASTRUCTURE FUND 
By
10 November 2011 - The Chairman of Challenger Limited, Peter
Polson, announ ced today that Group
Chief Financial Officer/Group Chief Operating Officer Brian
Benari has been nam ed CEO designate and will succeed current
Chief Executive Officer Dominic Stevens in February 2012.
Mr Polson said: "Dominic has made a long and distinguished
contribu ion to Chall enger and his foresight in recognising
the retirement income opportunity and pivotal role of annu
ities has underpinned Challenger's ongoing success. His
decisive action to streamline and focus the bu siness enabled
its transformation into one of the best-performing financial
services companies in Au stralia. We wish him
well in his time away from corporate life, as well as every
success in the future".
"Brian Benari is the natural choice to succeed Dominic given
his proven track record at Challenger and deep involvement in
corporate strategy and operations over the last nine years. H
e is a pragmatic business leader with broad experience,
having been Group CFO and COO for the last three years, as
well as Chief Executive of our highly profitable Mortgage
Management division for more than five years. In fact, Brian
was the driving force behind the acquisition and expansion of
our res idential lending
business", said Mr Polson.
Remarking on his decision to depart Challenger after nine
years, Dominic said: "A fter 25 years in financial services,
including five years in CEO and Deputy CEO roles, I'm looking
forward to taking a career sabbatical, confident in the
knowledge that Brian is the right person to take the company
through its next growth phase. We have worked together for
seventeen years across three organisations. Brian has been
closely involved in all major strategic decisions and has the
energy and experience to take the
company forward from here".
Dominic will continue as CEO until the company's February
2012 board meeting, and will remain with
Challenger until the end of the 2012 fiscal year to ensure an
orderly transition of r esponsibilities. Brian said: "I am
honoured and excited to be assuming the role and look forward
t o extending Challenger's early leadership in the retirement
incomes arena. Dominic and I shar e the same vision for
Challenger and believe the opportunity for both our Life and
Funds Management b usinesses is enormous. I feel fortunate to
now be leading the team of senior executives I've wo rked
with since 2005". Prior to joining Challenger in 2003, Brian
Benari held senior executive roles with J P Morgan,
Bankers
Trust, Macquarie Bank and Zurich Capital Markets.
Under Challenger's succession plan, current Deputy Group
Chief Financial Office r Andrew Tobin will be
appointed Group Chief Financial Officer when Brian becomes
CEO.
Andrew join ed Challenger in 2007
and has more than twenty years' experience in the banking,
insurance and wealth management industries in Australia and
Asia, having most recently worked for the Commonwea lth Bank
of Australia and MLC.
Attached to this announcement are brief biographies for Brian
Benari and Andrew Tobin. Final terms
for the appointment of Brian as CEO will be announced to the
market in due cours e.
Ends
Further enquiry:
Suzanne Evans, Head of Investor Relations, Challenger Limited. 02 9994 7125
Stuart Barton, General Manager Corporate Marketing & Communications, Challen ger Limited. 02 9994 7008
Challenge r Limited A.B.N 85 106 842 371
Brian Benari Group CFO/Group COO, Challenger Limited
Brian Benari is Challenger's Group CFO/Group COO, having been
appointed in O ctober 2008. He is responsible for
Challenger's Business Services division.
Prior to his current Challenger role, Mr Benarii established
and was fo
nding Chie f Executive of
Challenger's Mortgage Management division.
In this role he oversaw the develop ment of the business
to include residential and commercial mortgage lending arms,
as well as the oper ation of three of the four largest
mortgage distribution broker platform businesses in
Australia. The divi sion grew its mortgage lending assets in
excess of $23 billion, was Australia's largest independ ent
mortgage lender and one of the largest issuers of Residential
Mortgage Backed Securities in Austr alia. Additionally the
business managed over $110 billion of mortgages under
administration from the b roker platforms. The
business was sold in 2009 to the National Australia Bank.
Having originally trained as a Chartered Accountant, Mr
Benari joined Challenger in March 2003 with many years of
finance industry experience, both offshore and onshore. He
has he ld a number of executive roles with institutions
including JP Morgan, Bankers Trust, Macquarie B ank and
Zurich
Capital Markets.
Andrew Tobin is Challenger's Deputy Group Chief Financial
Officer, having joined the company in 2007. Having originally
trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, Andrew was pre
viously the General Manager, Finance, for the Premium
Business Services division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(CBA). Prior to CBA, Andrew was the Chief Financial Officer
of the Asian regional office of National Australia Bank's
Wealth Management division, based in Hong Kong, providing
support for MLC's joint venture operations in Hong Kong,
Thailand and Indonesia. Andrew spent 10 year s with the Lend
Lease
group, prior to MLC being sold to NAB, including finance
roles in Melbourne and S ydney.
Andrew is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of
Australasia and holds a M asters of Business
Administration from the AGSM.
Further enquiry:
Suzanne Evans, Head of Investor Relations, C allenger Limited. 02 9994 7125
Stuart Barton, General Manager Corporate Marketing & Communications, Challen ger Limited. 02 9994 7008
Challenge r Limited A.B.N 85 106 842 371
