Ian Silk to step down from AustralianSuper

Ian Silk
IAN SILK
AustralianSuper - Chief Executive Officer
DEPARTURE
AUSTRALIANSUPER
Date: October 2021
Position: Chief Executive Officer

AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk has decided to step down after more than 15 years atop the industry fund.

Chief risk officer Paul Schroder will take over as chief executive when Silk leaves the organisation.

"The AustralianSuper Board wishes to express our deep appreciation for the leadership and integrity that Ian has consistently displayed throughout his tenure and in building an organisational culture that always puts the long-term financial interest of members first," said AustralianSuper chair Don Russell. "Under Ian's leadership the fund has always been ambitious for members and this has played a vital role in ensuring AustralianSuper has been able to use its size and scale to be the number one performing fund across multiple time periods. The Fund has no other objective than to work in assisting members to achieve their best financial position in retirement."

During Silk's time with the organisation, AustralianSuper grew from 50 staff to more than 1,000 with global officers in London, New York, and Beijing. "It has been an amazing privilege to work with my colleagues across the Fund to deliver the best possible financial returns for the more than 2.4 million members who trust us with their retirement savings," said Silk. I look back with huge pride on what the team at AustralianSuper has achieved."

Silk spent time in industry before moving to financial services, first in the Victorian government's Office of Industrial Relations as a senior policy advisory and later as a wages policy specialist. He was the head of building and construction in the Department of Labour in the mid-80s and also spent time in the organisation's industrial relations division.

Silk was appointed CEO of the Australian Retirement Fund in 2006 before its merger with Superannuation Trust of Australia which formed AustralianSuper.

Outside of his executive experience, Silk is the chair of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) and a director of Industry Super Australia.