Superannuation Leaders Forum 2027
This Is Different: Leadership in a world of complexity, scrutiny and accelerated change
The leadership shift is no longer ahead of us. It is already here.
Superannuation leaders are operating in an environment that is not simply more complex, but fundamentally different. Scrutiny is continuous, decisions are increasingly visible, organisational systems are more interconnected and artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how work is undertaken and decisions are made.
The 2027 Superannuation Leaders Forum will bring together senior leaders from across the industry to examine what effective leadership requires in this changed environment. Rather than focusing on capabilities for a future state, the Forum will explore how leaders must operate now: exercising judgement, owning risk, sustaining performance and maintaining discipline amid competing priorities and accelerated change.
This is not a policy or technical forum. It is a serious and practical leadership conversation focused on judgement, behaviour and consequence.
The Forum program
Through expert insights, executive discussions, practical case studies and including contributions from some of FEAL's recent scholarship recipients, the program will examine questions that are central to leadership today.
Sessions will explore:
How the leadership role itself has changed and what is now required of CEOs and senior executives.
Why successful organisations can gradually drift from high performance and how leaders can recognise and respond to those warning signs.
How leaders need to prioritise decisions to execute on strategy.
The evolving role of investment leaders as they navigate market volatility, organisational growth, international expansion and increasing scrutiny.
Leading through AI: equipping people, building trust, and creating cultures that adapt and thrive.
Join your fellow leaders for a focused and thought-provoking examination of what it takes to lead with clarity, discipline and sound judgement in a system still adapting to profound structural change.
Speakers
We are pleased to confirm some of the speakers and panel participants for the Forum with details of further speakers and the Forum program to follow.
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Deanne is Chief Executive Officer of Aware Super, one of Australia's largest profit-for-member superannuation funds, responsible for more than $245 billion in funds under management. Deanne brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across superannuation, wealth management, insurance and management consulting, spanning senior roles in Australia and internationally.
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Deanne has led Aware through major transformation, including several mergers and a significant technology and data transformation to build a digital-first fund. Under her leadership, Aware launched a market-leading retirement proposition, including an innovative digital advice service, and has been named Pension Fund of the Year for three consecutive years.
Before joining Aware Super, Deanne was Chief Executive Officer of MetLife Australia. She has also held senior roles at BT Financial Group and Westpac, at Merrill Lynch Investment Management in New York, and at McKinsey & Company in London.
Deanne serves as a Director of the Super Members Council and Redkite, Chair of the Sydney North HealthCARE Innovation Precinct Executive Council, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work at the University of Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UNSW Sydney and an MBA from the Yale School of Management, completed as a Fulbright Scholar, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2025, she received the UNSW Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
Jason Murray, CEO, CareSuper
Jason Murray is Chief Executive Officer of CareSuper. With more than 25 years' experience across banking, insurance and superannuation in Australia and the UK, he has led significant transformation and innovation throughout his career. Since the merger with Spirit Super in 2024, Jason has overseen CareSuper's growth to more than 615,000 members and over $65 billion in retirement savings. In 2026, he was recognised as FEAL Fund Executive of the Year and serves as a Director of Industry Super Australia.
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Sidney Dekker (PhD Ohio State University, USA, 1996) is Professor in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.
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Sidney has lived and worked in seven countries across four continents. He coined the terms ‘Safety Differently’ and ‘Restorative Just Culture’ in the 2010s, which have since turned into global movements for change. They encourage organisations to declutter their bureaucracy and enhance the capacities in people and processes that make things go well—and to offer care, compassion, restoration and learning when they don’t. His work has inspired generations of professionals and consultants globally. Many today will recognise Sidney’s ideas and concepts in for example ‘HOP,’ ‘Learning Teams,’ the ‘New View,’ and more.
An avid piano player and pilot who learned to fly at age 14, he has been flying the Boeing 737 for an airline on the side.
He is a trained mediator and Crisis Chaplain.
Sidney is prolific and bestselling author of over twenty books, including Safety Theater, Ten Virtues of a Positive Safety Culture; Random Noise; Stop Blaming; Foundations of Safety Science; The Safety Anarchist; The End of Heaven; Just Culture; Safety Differently; The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’; Second Victim; Drift into Failure; Patient Safety; Compliance Capitalism; and Do Safety Differently.
He has co-directed the documentaries ‘Safety Differently,’ ‘Just Culture,’ ’The Complexity of Failure,’ and ‘Doing Safety Differently.’
His work has some 23,000 citations and an h-index of 67.
Stanford has ranked Sidney among the world’s top 1% most cited scientists
Will Liang, co-CEO, Amplify AI Group
Will is a former CTO and CIO with more than 18 years' experience leading AI, data and technology across financial services. His career includes senior leadership roles at MA Asset Management, Macquarie Group and KPMG, and he is a TEDx speaker and globally recognised AI and data leader.
Will and the Amplify AI Group team work closely with CEOs and C-suite executives across super funds, asset managers and asset owners, providing executive coaching and building practical AI capability at the leadership level. Their work focuses not simply on what AI can do, but how it changes the way senior executives think, decide and lead.
Members’ Dinner and leadership awards
The Forum will be followed by the FEAL Members’ Dinner, bringing members together to continue the conversation and recognise leadership and excellence across the superannuation sector.
During the dinner, we will announce the winners of the Michael Dwyer Leadership Scholarship and the Greg Bright Scholarship for Excellence in Member Communications and announce the 2027 FEAL Fund Executive of the Year.
Register early and save 10%
Register early by Friday 23 October 2026 to receive a 10% early bird discount on your Forum registration. Use code 27fealEB when registering.
Cost:
Forum & Dinner
FEAL Members $1,290
FEAL Sponsors & Partners $1,570
Forum only
FEAL Members $1,130
FEAL Sponsors & Partners $1,370
Dinner only
FEAL Members $310
FEAL Sponsors & Partners $390
Pricing above is GST inclusive. A 10% early bird discount on these prices is available until Friday 23 October 2026 using code 27fealEB.
Please note that the the Forum & Dinner are both open to members, sponsors and partners only.
Forum Thursday 18 March 2027
9.30am tea & coffee, 10.00am - 5.30pm (AEDT)
Pre-dinner drinks & canapes
5.30pm - 6.30pm (AEDT)
Members’ Dinner
6.30pm - 9.30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Park Hyatt Melbourne
Address: 1 Parliament Square, off Parliament Place
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