Head of private capital body to leave

Australian Investment Council chief executive Yasser El-Ansary is to leave after more than eight years in the role.

AIC announced El-Ansary would step down “in coming months” after a leadership transition period.

El-Ansary is to join financial services industry professional membership body FINSIA (The Financial Services Institute of Australasia) as chief executive in late April. He will spend a period working alongside outgoing FINSIA chief executive Chris Whitehead.

The AIC board is to begin a formal executive search process for a successor to El-Ansary.

Prior to taking up the chief executive role at AIC, El-Ansary was general manager of policy at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.

El-Ansary took over leadership of AVCAL (Australian Venture Capital Association Limited) – primarily the representative organisation for the Australian private equity and venture capital sector. He played an important role in developing the organisation into the peak body for the entire private capital investment industry. This included achieving greater involvement within the organisation of institutional investors in the sector – limited partner investors in funds (LPs) – and changing the organisation’s name following commissioning of external research.   

AIC now has more than 200 corporate members.

Announcing El-Ansary’s decision, AIC chair Alicia Gregory, head of private equity for the Future Fund, said: “Yasser has done a terrific job as our chief executive. He has been instrumental in designing and implementing leadership positions on a wide range of important policy and regulatory issues such as the foreign investment regime; RG97 [ASIC guidance on fees and cost disclosure], the ‘Your Future, Your Super’ reforms and the introduction of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

“Australia’s private capital industry is a critically important part of the national economy because it’s responsible for catalysing investment into businesses that will create new industries and new jobs of the future.

“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Yasser for his valuable contribution to the council. We wish him well in his new role.”

El-Ansary said he was proud of what had been achieved by his team and the AIC board during his time as chief executive.

“We’ve delivered many important initiatives to support the industry across our research and policy and advocacy programs, as well as professional development and knowledge sharing activities, and positioned the council for growth into the future.

“Our industry is a powerhouse of the economy – the significant rise in funds under management and invested capital we’ve seen over the past few years is testament to the growth of our sector and the significant contribution that it makes.”

Image: Australian Investment Council outgoing chief executive Yasser El-Ansary.