Simon Sheikh (born 1986 in Sydney) is the CEO of superannuation fund Future Super and an Australian activist. He was the National Director of

GetUp! GetUp! is an independent Progressivism, progressive Australian political activism, political activist group. It was launched in August 2005 to encourage Internet activism in Australia, though it has increasingly engaged in Community organizing, ...

from 2008 to 2012. He was a delegate to the economics stream of the

Australia 2020 Summit The Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held over 18-19 April 2008 at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long-term strategy for the nation's future". Announ ...

and was named the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Young Professional of the Year in 2007.The Punch biography
Thepunch.com.au. Retrieved on 2012-07-03.

Education and career

He was born in Sydney, and has ancestry from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia. He is the son of Michael Sheikh, an Indian-born Pakistani industrial chemist and inventor and British New Zealander, Rhonda Badham. He attended Camdenville Public School and later gained entry to Fort Street High School. He later studied economics at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

, while working full-time in the Services Marketing team at

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

and as a public servant at the NSW Treasury. Sheikh represented Australia as the youth representative at the

Commonwealth Heads of Government The Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOG) is the collective name for the government leaders of the nations with membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. They are invited to attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings every two years, ...

Meeting in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

in 2007. In 2009 he was part of the Sydney Leadership Program run by Social Leadership Australia at The Benevolent Society.

GetUp!

He became National Director of ''GetUp!'' in September, 2008, at the age of 22. He stepped down from being National Director of ''

'' on 27 July 2012, stating that he intended to avoid burnout. ''GetUp!'' claims its membership increased from 270,000 to 610,000 during his four-year term. 80,000 people donated to ''GetUp!'' in the 12 months up to July 2012. He is succeeded as director by Sam McLean.

Future Super

Sheikh is managing director of Future Super, an ethical superfund, which he co-founded with Adam Verwey. Future Super is an Australian retail superannuation fund that offers superannuation services, focussing on zero fossil fuel investment and on holistically ethical investment with an emphasis on clean energy projects. Established in 2014, Future Super services over 36,000 members Australia-wide and has over $1 Billion in funds under management.

Political career

Sheikh was a financial member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

for two years from 2004 to 2006. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, Sheikh unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the Australian Greens seeking election to the Senate represting the Australian Capital Territory.

Personal life

In November, 2011, Sheikh married Australian climate activist

Anna Rose Anna Rose (born 14 April 1983) is an Australian author, activist and environmentalist. She co-founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) in late 2006 with Amanda McKenzie. In 2012 she co-starred in an ABC documentary, ''I Can Chan ...

.Anna Rose biography
Annarose.net.au. Retrieved on 2012-07-03.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Simon University of New South Wales alumni 1986 births Living people Australian Greens candidates