David O’Donnell, an investment analyst at the $7 billion Energy Super, has won the seventh annual ‘Rising Star Award’, sponsored by Hermes Investment Management. It is the only award he has won since he got the ‘best and fairest’ for his ‘Under 13s’ cricket team, he said.

The Rising Star Award, announced at AIST’s ASI conference in Hobart last week, includes a $10,000 payment (thanks Hermes) towards an education program in the UK. which is where Hermes is headquartered. Alumni for the award include Charles Wu, of NSW’s State Super and a former investment manager at Media Super, Norman Zhang, the current general manager of investments at Media Super, awarded last year, and Kevin Wan Lum, the CIO of Energy Super.

Ian Manton-Hall, the Australia country head for Hermes, said the award had proved a fairly good omen for future success. He has no involvement in the selection process for the award as a matter of principal, he says. AIST organises that process. But at the moment it’s looking like a race between Media Super and Energy Super. “The judges have done a good job in the past,” Manton-Hall says.

The four criteria assessed are that the candidate: has shown investment leadership; has demonstrated innovation; has raised awareness of super in the wider community; and/or demonstrated the potential to be a CIO or other future leader.

O’Donnell said it was the first time he had attended an ASI conference. “With this award I guess there comes a bit more pressure on my with my career,” he said. He not only thanked Hermes and AIST but also his family for their support over the past 20 years.

– G.B.