A record number of superannuation CEOs were paid more than $1 million in total salary in the 2024-2025 financial year as funds try to attract and retain executives who can steer the increasingly complex $4.5 trillion industry during its asset boom.

The annual Investment Magazine Salary Survey found that 18 industry, retail and platform super CEO crossed the million-dollar threshold in the past financial year, though some have remits outside of superannuation. In comparison, 14 CEOs reached that bracket in the 2024 financial year and nine in the 2023 financial year.

Total pay is the combination of cash salary, short-term incentives and cash bonuses, deferred incentives, shares, one-off payment including termination pay, non-monetary benefits, superannuation and leave. The figures were extracted from funds and companies’ annual reports.  

Hostplus CEO David Elia returned as the top-paid traditional super fund boss with a $2.14 million pay package, followed by Aware Super’s Deanne Stewart with $2.06 million and UniSuper’s Peter Chun with $1.75 million.  

AustralianSuper’s Paul Schroder, arguably the most powerful superannuation executive, received a $1.74 million package devoid of any short-term bonuses or deferred incentives. The $400 billion fund was entangled in a highly publicised legal fight with ASIC over deficiencies in death benefit claims handling since last March and was fined for its failure to address duplicate member accounts last February. 

But in gross terms, Andrew Alcock, chief executive of financial adviser platform HUB24, was the highest paid with $4.2 million, including $2.5 million in shares, though that figure is remuneration for overseeing the operations of the entire ASX-listed company and not just its superannuation unit. The company was unable to provide a breakdown of Alcock’s remuneration.  

He was followed by Matt Heine, chief executive of major platform super provider Netwealth, who was paid $1.08 million for managing the master fund alone. He received $2.08 million at the group level. 

According to advance figures from the Conexus Institute’s* State of Super survey, based on the APRA-level fund data in the 2025 financial year, platforms are still the biggest recipients of competitive inflows with HUB24, Netwealth and Macquarie taking out the top three spots. Competitive flows reflect member switching activities.  

CEO of TelstraSuper Chris Davies was the only executive in a fund with assets under $30 billion to receive remuneration of more than $1 million. This include $271,737 in variable rewards and a retention payment, which was introduced for the executive management team after TelstraSuper initiated merger talks with EquipSuper. While the merger was eventually abandoned, the board approved a 30 per cent payment of the original amount “in recognition of staff commitment”.  

The modern super executive 

When asked about the top quality a superannuation CEO should have in the current regulatory and market environment, executive recruiters all point to one thing: commercial awareness.  

“Historically, people have been promoted internally, and no doubt will know the industry inside out, but perhaps there’s a lack in that commercial awareness around the viability of funds – where you need to invest and where you need to cut costs or outsource,” Matt McGilton, managing director at Kaizen Recruitment, which specialises in financial services hiring, tells Investment Magazine. 

Australian super funds are hiring talent at the frontline of funds management, wealth, banking and insurance to reflect a new reality – that modern pension organisations are now complex global financial institutions which demand a more agile leadership suite. 

These executives are ushering in changes that would have been unthinkable within the super sector a few years ago, says Amanda Chisholm, director of legal, risk and compliance at Kaizen Recruitment. Prime Super chief executive Raelene Seales, who joined in June 2024 from Zurich Indonesia where she was chief of business transformation, culled the bulk of its senior leadership group within six months, Chisholm says. Only one executive in the six-person team preceded Seales.  

Chisholm also points to AustralianSuper’s decision in 2024 to let go at least four people in its Melbourne-based global equities team with the intention to replace them with UK-based talents, who may facilitate better access and insights to global opportunities.  

“You wouldn’t have seen that in superannuation even the year before, there would be a negative perception attributed with making those individuals redundant,” she says. 

“Honestly or obviously, the superannuation industry with members’ best interests in mind sometimes has created a pause around making commercial decisions, so perhaps they had a bit of a soft touch. 

“As they get bigger, if you look at those organisations like AustralianSuper or ART, they are absolutely performing like an investment bank at the minute.” 

Susie Moore, partner and co-founder at East Partnership who has specialised in funds management recruitment for over three decades, says different kinds of talent are coming into the super sector as funds seek leaders who can guide them through stages of growing pain.   

“If I was looking for somebody [for the CEO role], I would want somebody that’s been involved in a complex business with complex reporting lines, maybe multiple areas reporting into them,” she says.  

“As a CEO, you’ve got to manage the member process, the technology and the investment team. So you’ve got a real complexity, because all of those areas attract very different styles of characters as well.”  

She observes that an overwhelming number of incumbent executives including Aware Super’s Deanne Stewart and UniSuper’s Peter Chun have held senior positions in firms like BT, NAB and AMP at some stage in their career before coming into pension management.   

Others, like AMP Super’s Melinda Howes, pivoted from actuarial or product background. But Moore notes that regulatory agencies are rarely a hunting ground for fund CEOs as they are more of an observer of the industry.  

Salaries have improved at the senior level across super funds, but Kaizen’s Chisholm says it is not the only determinant of whether a talent will take a job. Being able to attract a commercially minded CEO is the beginning of a virtuous cycle as candidates value the opportunities to work with capable leaders.  

She recalls one recent instance where a chief financial officer accepted a $200,000 pay cut to be placed into a small super fund, as for them, one of the position’s main drawcards was the opportunity to collaborate with someone with the calibre like the fund’s new CEO.  

“You have people who make choices based on the quality of the executive team that’s there now, which I would not have seen even two years ago.” 

*The Conexus Institute is an independent think-tank philanthropically funded by Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine.