Simon Hackett

After graduating from the University of Adelaide, Simon Hackett founded Internode in 1991. Internode grew to become the largest privately held national broadband services provider in Australia, and it was sold to iiNet Limited in 2012. Simon is now invested in a variety of Australian and US startups in fields he is passionate about. Simon is a keen supporter of electric vehicles. Meeting Elon Musk at FiRe in 2008 led to him being the first Australian customer of Tesla in 2009. His family now owns multiple Tesla vehicles (and no gas-powered ones). In the energy sustainability field, Simon has invested in startups in Australia and the US, most significantly in Redflow (ASX:RFX), where he is a significant shareholder and a member of the board. He considers this to be a case of putting his money where his beliefs are. Simon is also a board director of the National Broadband Network (www.nbn.com.au) in Australia. Simon is a serial delegate at the SNS FiRe conference, having participated in almost all FiRe events since their inception. Away from the office, when he isn't spending time with his family, Simon is usually off flying in something.