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Uniseed, the Australian multi-university venture fund, has found its next chief executive officer in Alastair Hick , currently the chief commercialisation officer at Monash University.
Hick—who has been a board director of Uniseed since November 2023, when Monash University joined the firm—succeeds Peter Devine , who has led Uniseed since 2006. Devine revealed his intention to step down in June after a total of 22 years with the organisation.
Hick’s last day with Monash University will be on 9 November. Devine will exit at the end of the year, before enabling a transition period before Hick takes over as CEO in January.
“Following an extensive executive search process, we are delighted to appoint Dr Alastair Hick as Uniseed’s next chief executive officer.
With his proven track record in research commercialisation and exceptional understanding of how academia and industry can intersect to drive innovation, Alastair is ideally positioned to lead Uniseed into its next phase of growth.
“I would like to acknowledge the outstanding leadership of Dr Peter Devine, whose vision and dedication over the past two decades have positioned Uniseed as both a national and global leader in research commercialisation, and seen it named the Most Impactful Research Investment Firm.”
David Miles, chairman of Uniseed
Hick has been with Monash University since 2007, when he joined as director of commercialisation. He became director of Monash Innovation in 2015, before a promotion to senior director in 2018.
In April 2022, Hick was appointed Monash University’s inaugural chief commercialisation officer. Among his more recent achievements is the creation of the A$15 million Monash Ventures Pre-Seed Fund, officially launched in August this year in partnership with Victorian state-owned investment firm Breakthrough Victoria.
Under his leadership, Monash University has delivered a 500% uplift in commercialisation revenues.
Hick is also a past chair of Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia, having led the board from September 2015 to September 2018. He additionally brings investment expertise through his work with IP Group Australia and BioCurate.
Hick began his career in university technology transfer as the head of life sciences at Cambridge Enterprise, where he worked from 2002 to 2006.
