Infrastructure behemoth IFM Investors will be ramping up its overseas investments under new chairwoman Cath Bowtell, who plans to take it from “an Australian company that has a global presence to being a really truly global company” under her leadership.

The former super fund CEO, Labor candidate, Australian Council of Trade Unions official and prodigious board member was promoted from deputy chairwoman to the top job on Monday, after former Labor minister Greg Combet left to head the government’s new Net Zero Economy Agency.