HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey will leave the $100 billion fund after more than 17 years and just over a decade in the top job to pursue a “more extensive” board career.   
 
“I think 10 years is a very good, sweet spot for CEO tenure,” Blakey tells Investment Magazine. “It gives you enough time to have shaped the organisation and had a few strategic cycles and hand over at the right time. I never wanted to be a very long-term CEO and thought that about 10 years was the right amount of time. It’s always been front of mind. When you step into a role you should be focused on making the greatest impact but knowing you won’t stay too long.”  
 
“You get to be a custodian of a business for a season; people came before me and people come after me and at the end of the day it’s all about the members, and I hope my legacy is how we made a difference, how I made a difference to their financial future. … They deserve the very, very best of retirements.” 
 
Blakey’s departure from HESTA follows its troubled switch to new administrator Grow Inc – for which it was excoriated by members and the press and slapped with additional licence conditions by APRA – and comes as long-standing industry dynamics begin to shift.  
 
Retail super funds and platforms, with their extensive product menus and expertise in retirement and member services, are now winning in terms of competitive flows, and Blakey says that profit-to-member funds will need to work hard in three key areas to maintain their primacy: retirement – “the biggest opportunity for any super fund” – member services and investments. But Blakey is still optimistic about the prospects of the fund she’s led for 11 years.  
 
“I think HESTA will go from strength to strength. One of the things I’m very proud of is that we’ve done some difficult things, we’ve done some hard work, and it’s always about that long-term focus and how we can do better for members. I think HESTA will build on where we are now in terms of investment, in terms of retirement, in terms of member experience. I see a huge future for HESTA.”   
 
“I’m very biased but I think the Australian pension system is the best globally in terms of it sustainability and what it’s delivering to members. But I think for us to continue delivering on that in these very different times, we need to really deliver on super’s intended purpose for all Australians.”  
 
Blakey’s tenure at HESTA was characterised by a more active approach to the fund’s engagement with investee companies. While HESTA was an early mover on exclusions, and was one of the first super funds to drop tobacco companies from its portfolio, its 2015 divestment of Transfield over “human rights risk” was indicative of an approach that would see the fund go on to engage vocally (and publicly) with companies it thought were putting shareholder value at risk through bad behaviour, including AMP and WiseTech.  
 
Blakey was visibly involved in many of those engagements to a greater degree than other super fund CEOs, and says they were “not always” easy.  
 
“It does go back to being very clear about why we were doing this. And I hope that at HESTA it was very clear that we never did this to seek the spotlight. We did this because we thought it was important. And the hardest moments require absolute clarity on why. You have to understand it; as a team you have to share it.”  
 
“It’s part of our DNA and our history and aligned with who our members are. Our members work in the health sector, in the community sector, and they are passionate about what happens and focusing on the right things. When we research our members, an incredible proportion believe HESTA should take a strong stance on how we invest their retirement dollars. It’s something we’ve built over the last 20 years.”  
 
Blakey says she wouldn’t have done anything differently “in terms of strategy” during her time at the fund.  
 
“I think with a bit of hindsight I would have immersed and enjoyed and valued and been thoughtful about every moment. It passes in a flash. And when you look back on it you say ‘Wow, where did it go?’.  
 
HESTA is undertaking a search for a new CEO and anticipates it will announce Blakey’s replacement before she leaves the fund in July.