Ivan Power appointed inaugural CEO of $15b National Reconstruction Fund

The news: Ivan Power has been appointed CEO of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, warning that risk will be inevitable as part of efforts to boost Australia's manufacturing sector.

The numbers: Chartered accountant Power has been an adviser and investor with Macquarie Group for more than 20 years. He will lead efforts by the fund to grow industrial capability and innovation, carrying an investment mandate to make a return of 2-3% more than the government bond rate.

The context: The multi-billion dollar Commonwealth fund aims to drive investment in seven priority areas: resources, agriculture, transport, medical sciences, renewables and low-emissions technology as well as defence. Decisions on what the fund chooses to invest in as priority areas will be made independently of government. However, the fund is barred from investment in projects that include coal, natural gas extraction or native forest logging.

What they said: "We need to be investing on a commercial basis," Power said. "We need to be responsible in how we do that and sustainable. There will be swings and roundabouts within that, and that's part of my job and the job of the board is to ... manage that in that portfolio towards those return metrics and risk metrics. We've got to be assessing, pricing and managing risk in a very prudent way but we also need to be able to take risk."