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Finalists for Don Kofoed Memorial Young Super Scholarship Award announced
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) is pleased to announce the three young superannuation professionals chosen as finalists for the inaugural Don Kofoed Memorial Young Super Scholarship Award, sponsored by ESSSuper.
Brendan Laffey of QSuper, Blair McPherson of VicSuper, and Benjamin Tse of the BT Financial Group have been recognised by the judging panel for their innovative and inspirational ideas for the future of the superannuation industry.
The Don Kofoed Memorial Young Super Scholarship Award, created by ASFA and ESSSuper, encourages the industry's young minds to submit a BRIGHT IDEA, in the form of a 1,000 word paper, to share their thoughts on how the industry can build a better future for super and everyone involved.
Topics applicants could choose to cover included competition, superannuation as a career, member engagement, social media, and climate change.
The scholarship far surpassed expectations in its first year, attracting 50 nominations from young industry professionals around Australia.
"The quality of the submissions we received was just outstanding," said ASFA chief executive officer, Pauline Vamos.
"It really goes to show the huge potential of the youth in our industry and impresses the importance of continuing to find ways to take advantage of this resource."
Established in memory of Don Kofoed, former CEO of ESSSuper and dedicated mentor to a number of young professionals, the scholarship aims to promote and encourage the growth and professional development of future superannuation leaders.
"ESSSuper is pleased to be able to offer this scholarship in memory of Don Kofoed. Don was passionate about developing and supporting young super professionals to help them reach their full potential and this scholarship will help continue this commitment," said ESSSuper acting CEO, Mark Puli.
"We have been overwhelmed by the response and the quality of the submissions, and it really demonstrates the high calibre of young professionals working in our industry."
"ASFA is firmly committed to fostering thought leadership in the superannuation industry and supporting and nurturing the development of our future superannuation leaders is an important part of this," said Ms Vamos.
Approximately $10,000 worth of professional development opportunities will be awarded to the winner to further their learning in the super industry, and their winning paper will be published in Superfunds magazine.
The winner will be announced at a networking event in Sydney on Monday 29 August which will bring some of the industry's brightest young minds and senior members together for the special presentation.
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