Newsmakers
AustralianSuper Hires First Head of AI From Microsoft
Sarah Carney will fill the role created to help align artificial intelligence agents with human intent.
Reported by Eliza Bavin
Sarah Carney
AustralianSuper named Sarah Carney as its first head of artificial intelligence and automation in a newly created role.
Carney joins the $293 billion superannuation fund from Microsoft, where she spent a decade, most recently as national chief technology officer for Australia and New Zealand.
The Tuesday announcement comes as large asset owner organizations are exploring ways to set governance standards for the use of AI and ways to incorporate the rapidly growing technology into their operations.
AustralianSuper Chief Platforms Officer Mike Backeberg said appointing Carney is a major step in the fund’s tech evolution.
“Sarah has over two decades’ experience leading digital transformation, AI strategy, and enterprise-scale change programs globally,” Backeberg said in a statement. “Having someone of Sarah’s caliber join our team is a demonstration of our determination to use technology to its fullest capability to deliver for members.”
Backeberg said AustralianSuper has already embraced AI and automation across its business, but the new role will further position the fund as a “technology leader in the superannuation sector.”
“At AustralianSuper, we are looking to align autonomous agents with human intent, embed guardrails without killing momentum and turn experimentation into repeatable scaled outcomes,” Backeberg said in the statement. “This means addressing how AI flows through the organization, finding ways for humans and machines to collaborate at scale and making sure that governance is fit for purpose.”
The AustralianSuper hire was announced about two weeks after the board of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan appointed Feifei Wu to the pension fund’s newly established role of senior managing director of investment technology and applied intelligence.
Carney will join the fund in late July and said she is excited to be joining.
“In my most recent role, I have had a front row seat seeing the incredible development and growth of AI and automation globally,” Carney said in a statement. “Finding new ways to apply both automation and AI to support AustralianSuper’s purpose of having members achieve their best financial position in retirement is an opportunity I am really looking forward to. Whether it’s through supporting personalized member guidance and advice, enabling greater investment capability and insights or further improving service levels, AI and automation have a vital role to play in delivering better outcomes for members.”
AustralianSuper has also announced that its partner, Ignition Advice, which operates a tool to help people make better financial decisions, will start rolling out digital advice options for the super fund’s 3.6 million members in the second half of 2026, with the aim to launch all digital advice journeys across the 2026-27 financial year.
A version of this article originally appeared in our sister publication, Financial Standard, which, like CIO, is owned by ISS STOXX.