Former insurance boss Tony Robinson will succeed Ron Dewhurst as head of fund manager IOOF Holdings.
Robinson, 49, was head of listed insurance underwriting and broking company OAMPS for five years before leaving last year when Wesfarners Group bought the firm.
He was chief executive of St George Bank-owned technology firm Wealthpoint from 1998 to 2001 and was chief financial officer of Link Telecommunications from 1994 to 1998.
He is also a non-executive director of Bendigo Bank.
His appointment begins on 24 April 2007 but the terms of his contract are yet to be announced.
Dewhurst announced in January he was retiring from the top job.
Robinson does not have direct funds management experience but has had a lot of experience in managing talented people and so has an ideal background, IOOF chairman Ian Blair said.
"Managing talented people can be quite difficult," Blair said.
"A lot of people who come to work for us have come to get away from the big institutions, so managing has to have a light touch - you can't be interfering with them all day long."
Blair said Robinson's focus would be on developing the funds management and platform sides of the business.
He said Dewhurst had helped to achieve a smooth transition to the new chief executive, making sure Robinson would get off to a flying start.
"Ron's departure has been very amicable - it's fairly rare in this industry."
