Respected financial visionary
THE founding chief executive of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund died in Australia this week after a long period with cancer.
Paul Costello, who was aged 61, was also the founding head of Australia’s giant Future Fund.
Mr Costello was picked in 2003 to be the inaugural chief of the Super Fund, after a worldwide search.
When he left three years later, thenchairman David May said Mr Costello had made ‘‘a tremendous contribution’’, leading the fund through its critical establishment phase.
When he returned from Australia to start at that Aucklandbased job aged 46, the fund stood at $4 billion. Today it is worth about $40 billion.
Mr Costello left Auckland and the Super Fund in 2006 when he was appointed to head Australia’s Future Fund, and went to Melbourne where he and his family had lived previously. The Future Fund stood at $A148.8 billion at the end of September this year.
Mr Costello, a New Zealander, had earlier shifted to Australia in 1989 with his wife Denise, a journalist and university lecturer.
He joined National Australia Bank as a superannuation specialist and later became a financial planner.
He was attracted to the notforprofit sector, and had been Superannuation Trust of Australia chief executive before the 2003 Auckland appointment.
He was known as a relationship builder who demonstrated the advantage of being liked and respected. He was not afraid to take risks.
Mr Costello was, in 2011, appointed Blackstone Group’s nonexecutive chairman for Australia and New Zealand.
He was a graduate of Canterbury and Massey universities and a director on various boards.
The Super Fund’s general manager of finance and risk, Stewart Brooks, worked closely with Mr Costello in setting up the Crownbacked pension fund.
‘‘Paul was an excellent chief executive who established the foundations of our organisation,’’ Mr Brooks said.
‘‘He was an early visionary in responsible investment and his focus on this, and on quality and integrity, has endured . . .
‘‘Paul was blessed with a strong intellect, and was considered and professional in everything he did — a true gentleman. In the early days the organisation was a very small shop and Paul had to oversee many things, while we built the team. The guardians [of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund] would not be the organisation it is today without Paul’s many and varied contributions to it, and it was a privilege to work with him.’’
Brian Gaynor, on the guardians when Mr Costello was appointed said: ‘‘Paul was top class, extraordinarily good. I can’t say how professional he was because we were just starting. It’s often very difficult when you start up an organisation to run it but he was so good.’’
Mr Costello was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in February last year. He is survived by his wife and their children, Caitlin and Harry. — The New Zealand Herald/ODT.