Sean Hughes
Head of the Office of General Counsel
Vanguard Australia

Sean Hughes is the Head of the Office of General Counsel at Vanguard Australia, and a member of the Australian Executive Team.

In this role, Sean leads the legal and compliance functions to ensure Vanguard’s products and services meet its regulatory and legal obligations.

Sean has significant experience in law, governance, regulation, financial services, wealth management and risk. Prior to joining Vanguard in 2023, Sean served as a Commissioner at Australia’s corporate, financial services and consumer credit regulator, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). There he led the regulatory oversight of the banking, credit and payment systems sectors as well as insolvency, financial reporting and audit regulation, corporate finance, and governance regulation.

Sean was also formerly Group General Counsel for Tabcorp, and Chief Risk and Legal Officer at UniSuper. Prior to this he was CEO of the Financial Markets Authority in New Zealand and has held leadership positions at National Australia Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and was a partner at the law firm Herbert Geer & Rundle (now Thompson Geer).

Sean has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law with Honours both from the University of Canterbury, and a Master of Law from Cambridge University. He also holds a Graduate Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.