Super fund Rest hires ex-Vocus, Melbourne IT CTO

Serial CTO Simon Smith has landed at industry superannuation fund Rest as its new general manager of technology as the company seeks to build out a new cloud capability on Amazon Web Services.

Smith joined the super fund last month after spending almost two years as the chief technology officer at Vocus, which he departed in March this year.

He now oversees Rest’s technology team which includes the company’s architecture, engineering, security and risk, service operations and vendor management components.

The position reports into the group executive of innovation and transformation, Jeremy Hubbard, who said the strategic investment in technology with a focus on cloud will be integral to how the fund engages with its 2 million members.

Around half of the fund’s customers are under the age of 30 and have so far responded positively to Rest’s forays into virtual assistants and its mobile app offering, which were designed to help members engage with the super earlier, more often, and on their own terms to maximise their retirement outcomes.

“One of Rest’s strategic priorities is to further invest in technology and data to continue building outstanding customer service for our members,” Hubbard said in a statement.

“We will become a more agile organisation through the implementation of a new cloud foundation, which will use the latest AWS native tools and patterns to provide speed and flexibility as we look to deliver greater value to members. Through automation, we can increase our speed to market while maintaining robust security protocols and quality standards.

“Simon’s extensive experience in strategic technology and digital leadership roles will be
invaluable as we continue to improve our existing digital customer experience.”

Smith’s previous IT leadership experience includes an 11-month stint as CTO at Arq group (then Melbourne IT), two years as CTO and CIO at smart access and ticketing company Vic Technology, and head of technology at AAPT.

He’s also been involved in IT consultancy since 2009 with a Meshn, a firm which works with companies looking for interim tech chiefs.

Through Meshn, Smith has consulted with Rest, Sydney Airport, vividwireless and Lumo Energy.