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Sam Sicilia, Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus
Overview
Show notes
Published 20th December, 2023.
Episode #151 features a rare public interview with Sam Sicilia — Chief Investment Officer of $100b Hostplus and one of the key architects behind Australia’s modern venture capital ecosystem.
Born in Melbourne to Sicilian parents, Sam grew up “economically poor but culturally rich”. He studied theoretical physics, completed a PhD, and unexpectedly transitioned from academia into investing after a chance phone call changed his career path.
In this conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Sam reflects on stepping into the CIO role during the 2008 GFC, why he believes deeply in venture capital, how he would redesign the VC model today, and what supers look for in private equity — from fees to portfolio construction to the value of illiquidity.
Sam also shares the personal lessons from his 42-day walk across Spain, what he’s learning next, and the person who inspires him most.
It’s time to explore your curiosity — please enjoy.
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Timestamps
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis Australia), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary/Chief, Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep) and more.
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