Warren McAuley is a Partner at Omera Partners specialising in funds management and superannuation executive search across Australia and global markets. Drawing on his own experience at Deutsche Asset Management and UBS, Warren connects Australia’s and the world’s leading asset owners and asset managers with the senior investment leadership talent that drives lasting value, appointing Chief Executives, Chief Investment Officers, and senior leaders across Private Equity, Private Debt, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Equities, Fixed Income, and Liquid Alternatives.
What are the biggest challenges your clients face in finding senior talent?
“The best senior talent is not looking. It needs to be mobilised. Across Australia and global markets, organisations consistently underestimate the complexity of compensation alignment, competing cultures, and the sheer competitiveness of reaching the true industry elite. Our edge is the relationships and market depth to access and convert the leaders others cannot.”
Which industries or functions do you specialise in?
“I specialise exclusively in asset management and superannuation executive search, appointing Chief Executives, Chief Investment Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Operating Partners, Asset Class Heads, Portfolio Managers, and Investment Strategy, Distribution, and Capital Raising leaders across Private Equity, Private Debt, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Equities, Fixed Income, and Liquid Alternatives. I have a proven track record in team lift-outs, Australian market entry mandates, and global business builds.”
What types of appointments are you most proud of?
“The work I am most proud of spans both individual appointments and strategic team builds. Mobilising global talent for Australia’s leading asset owners and supporting their offshore platform build outs is where I do my most consequential work. The tenure and performance of those appointments, and a track record of senior gender diversity outcomes that reflect the standard the global investment industry demands, speaks for itself.”
Over a sustained period, Warren built out the internal investment capability of one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, sourcing senior talent across multiple asset classes from the world’s most competitive investment markets. The mandate required deep cross-market relationships and the ability to attract leaders of genuine global calibre to a domestic platform. The team assembled through that process has since become a benchmark for internal investment capability in the Australian superannuation sector. Among his individual appointments, Warren led the Chief Executive search for ASFA, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, placing a leader at the helm of Australia’s peak superannuation industry body.
As Warren reflects: “The best mandates are the ones where you are not just filling a role but building a team and a culture. That is where the work genuinely matters.”
How do you build trust with both clients and candidates?
“Trust is built through credibility. Having sat on both sides of the table at Deutsche Asset Management and UBS, and spent 15 years advising the world’s leading investors from start-ups to emerging and established funds, I speak the language of my clients and candidates with genuine authority. That is why they keep coming back.”
“Greatness is never found alone. It is built through the right people, in the right roles, at the right time. Aspire to it, commit to it, and we will find it together.”
What keeps you energised outside of work?
“I am the proud father of twins, and outside of work you will find me on the tennis court, playing guitar, or walking my border collie Ziggy along Sydney’s Northern Beaches.”
