We were interested in the path to becoming a CEO, rather than how to become a CEO of an ASX100, so in cases where someone was a CEO at another company before being bought over to their current position (quite a common occurance), we counted their last held non-CEO position.
Founders, and those related either by marriage or lineage to company founders, are listed as such. American titles such as ‘president’ or ‘vice-president’ have been given Australian equivalents.
The biggest difficulty in doing this sort of thing is that companies rarely have the same names for the members of their executive suite. Whereas positions like COO and CFO are fairly common, and fairly uniform, when it comes to executive heads of divisions, the whole thing gets very complicated. We’ve included the full title of CEOs whose previous position wasn’t a conventional C-suite role.
We could tell where someone had responsibility for a particular function (such as finance, human resources or operations) on a company-wide basis and when they were in charge of only a particular segment of a business. We grouped divisional heads together.
And lastly, the highest-ranked executive at a few companies had the title of managing director. We counted them as CEOs.
Here’s the full list, for those in the CEO role as of Friday, September 21. If you spot any errors, or if you can help us track down the previous position of Gary Stafford at PanAust, let us know!
|
AGL Energy |
Michael Fraser |
GM – division |
Group General Manager of Energy, Sales and Marketing |
|
Atlas Iron |
Ken Brinsden |
CDO |
|
|
Asciano |
John Mullen |
COO |
Chief Operating Officer at TNT Limited |
|
Amcor |
Ken MacKenzie |
MD – division |
Group Managing Director, Amcor Rentsch and Closures |
|
AMP |
Craig Dunn |
MD – division |
Managind Director, AMP Financial Services |
|
Ansell |
Magnus Nicolin |
MD – divisional |
President of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific at Newell Rubbermaid |
|
ANZ |
Mike Smith |
GM |
Group General Manager HSBC |
|
APA |
Michael McCormack |
COO |
|
|
ASX |
Elmer Funke Kupper |
MD – division |
Group Managing Director of Asia Pacific at ANZ |
|
Aurora Oil and Gas |
Jonathan Kingsley Stewart |
Director |
|
|
Alumina |
John Bevan |
MD – division |
Chief Executive Officer of Process Gas Solutions, BOC Group |
|
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank |
Mike Hirst |
COO |
|
|
BHP |
Marius Kloppers |
CCO |
|
|
Boral |
Mike Kane |
MD – Division |
President Boral USA |
|
Boart Longyear |
Craig Kipp |
COO |
|
|
Bank of Queensland |
Stuart Grimshaw |
CFO |
Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive, Wealth Management |
|
Beach Energy |
Reginald George Nelson |
Director |
Joined as a director of Beach Energy in 1992, became CEO in 1995. |
|
Bluescope Steel |
Paul O’Malley |
CFO |
|
|
Brambles |
Tom Gorman |
MD – division |
Group President of CHEP Europe, Middle East and Africa at Brambles |
|
CBA |
Ian Narev |
GM – division |
Group Executive, Business and Private Banking |
|
Coca-Cola Amatil |
Terry Davis |
MD – division |
Managing Director, Beringer Blass (wine division of Foster’s Group) |
|
Colonial First State Property Trust |
Michael Venter |
CFO – division |
CFO of Commonwealth Bank Wealth Management Business Unit at Commonwealth Bank |
|
Challenger |
Brian Benari |
Joint COO / CFO |
|
|
Cochlear |
Chris Roberts |
COO (Vice-President) |
Executive Vice President of ResMEd |
|
Commonwealth Property Office Fund |
Michael Venter |
CFO |
CFO of Commonwealth Bank Wealth Management Business Unit at Commonwealth Bank |
|
Campbell Brothers |
Greg Kilmister |
GM – division |
General Manager, ALS Laboratory Services Group at Campbell Brothers |
|
Computershare |
William Stuart Crosby |
COO |
|
|
Centro |
Steven Sewell |
MD – division |
National Head of Property Management at QIC Property |
|
CSL |
Brian McNamee |
GM – division |
General Manager, Faulding Product Divisions, F H Faulding & Co |
|
Caltex |
Julian Segal |
CMO |
|
|
Crown |
Rowen Craigie |
COO |
|
|
David Jones |
Paul Zahra |
GM – division |
Group General Manager of Stores and Operations |
|
Downer EDI |
Grant Fenn |
CFO |
|
|
Duet Group |
David Bartholomew |
COO |
|
|
Dexus Property Group |
Darren Steinberg |
MD – division |
Managing Director of Property, Colonial First State Global Asset Management |
|
Echo Entertainment |
Larry Mullin |
COO |
|
|
Fortescue Metals |
Nev Power |
COO |
|
|
Fairfax |
Greg Hywood |
Director |
Newspaper Editor, then appointed independent non-executive director at Fairfax Media |
|
Goodman Group |
Gregory Goodman |
Founder |
|
|
Graincorp |
Alison Watkins |
MD – division |
Managing Director of Regional Banking, ANZ |
|
GPT |
Michael Cameron |
CFO |
|
|
Harvey Norman |
Katie Page |
Founder |
|
|
Insurance Australia Group |
Mike Wilkins |
COO |
|
|
Iluka Resources |
David Robb |
MD – division |
Managing Director, Wesfarmers Energy |
|
Investa |
Scott MacDonald |
COO |
|
|
Incitec Pivot |
James Fazzino |
CFO |
|
|
JB Hi Fi |
Terry Smart |
COO |
|
|
James Hardy |
Louis Gries |
COO |
|
|
Leighton Holdings |
Hamish Tyrwhitt |
MD – divisional |
Managing Director, Leighton Asia Limited and Leighton Contractors (Asia) |
|
Land Lease |
Steve McCann |
CFO |
|
|
Lynas Corporation |
Nick Curtis |
CMO |
|
|
Mirvac |
Nick Collishaw |
MD – division |
Executive Director, Investment |
|
Monadelphous |
Robert Velletri |
Director |
Appointed to Monadelphous’ board in 1992 |
|
Macquarie Group |
Nickolas Moore |
MD – division |
Head, Investment Banking Group, Macquarie |
|
Metcash |
Andrew Reitzer |
MD – division |
Group Operations Director, Russia and Isreal for Metcash |
|
Myer |
Bernie Brookes |
MD – division |
Chief General Manager, Supermarket Buying and Marketing, Woolworths |
|
NAB |
Cameron Clyne |
GM – division |
Executive General Manager of Group Development, NAB |
|
Newcrest Mining |
Greg Robinson |
CFO |
|
|
News Corp |
Rupert Murdoch |
Founder |
|
|
Origin Energy |
Grant King |
MD – division |
Managing Director Energy, Boral. Became Origin CEO when Boral Energy split from Boral. |
|
Orica |
Ian Smith |
? |
Formerly CEO of Newcrest. Previously held unknown position at BHP |
|
Oil Search |
Peter Botten |
MD – Division |
Head of Exploration role at Oil Search |
|
OneSteel |
Geoff Plummer |
Director |
Held several divisional executive roles at OneSteel, then joined the board. |
|
OZ Minerals |
Terry Burgess |
GM – division |
Head of Business Development, AngloBase, a division of Angle American. |
|
Paladin Energy |
John Borshoff |
Founder |
|
|
PanAust |
Gary Stafford |
? |
|
|
Perseus Mining |
Mark Galderwood |
MD – division |
Managing Director, West African Operations, Afminex |
|
Primary Health Care |
Edmund Bateman |
COO |
|
|
Qantas |
Alan Joyce |
GM – division |
Head of Jetstar, a division of Qantas |
|
QBE |
John Neal |
GM – division |
Chief Executive Officer, Global Underwriting at QBE |
|
QR National |
Lance Hockridge |
GM – division |
President of Industrial Markets, Bluescope Steel |
|
Ramsey Health Care |
Chris Rex |
COO |
|
|
Rio Tinto |
Tom Albanese |
GM |
|
|
ResMed |
Peter Farrell |
Founder |
|
|
Regis Resources |
Mark Clark |
CFO |
|
|
SEEK |
Andrew Bassat |
Founder |
|
|
Sims Metal Management |
Daniel Dienst |
MD – division |
Chief Executive Officer of Metal Management, Sims Metal Management |
|
Stockland |
Matthew Quinn |
MD – division |
Managing Director, Stockland Trust Management Limited |
|
Sonic Healthcare |
Dr Colin Goldschmidt |
Professional |
Worked as a histopathologist before appointment as CEO. |
|
Spark Infrastructure |
Rick Francis |
CFO |
|
|
SP AusNet |
Nino Ficca |
MD |
Managing director of SPI Powernet from 2003 to 2004, when he was appointed CEO. |
|
Santos |
David Knox |
COO – division |
Executive Vice President Growth Businesses, Santos |
|
Suncorp |
Patrick Snowball |
MD – division |
CEO Norwich Union Insurance, a division of Aviva |
|
Seven West |
Don Volte |
COO (Vice-President) |
Executive Vice President of Atlantic Richfield |
|
Sydney Airport |
Kerrie Mather |
Professional |
Before becoming CEO Sydney Airport’s owner, MAp, she was a corporate aviation advisor |
|
TabCorp |
David Attenborough |
MD – division |
Managing Director, Wagering, TabCorp |
|
Transurban Group |
Scott Charlton |
COO |
|
|
Telstra |
David Thodey |
MD – division |
Chief Executive Officer, Telstra Wholesale |
|
Toll Holdings |
Brian Kruger |
CFO |
|
|
Tatts Group |
Dick McIlwain |
Founder |
|
|
Treasury Wines |
David Dearie |
MD – division |
Managing Direcot, Australia and New Zealand Wine, Fosters Group |
|
UGL |
Richard Leupen |
COO (President) |
As President, reported to CEO at Kaiser Engineers |
|
Westpac |
Gail Kelly |
GM – division |
Head of Customer Service Division at CBA (was CEO of St George before the Westpac merger) |
|
Westfield |
Steven Lowey |
Founder |
|
|
Wesfarmers |
Richard Goyder |
CFO |
|
|
Whitehaven Coal |
Tony Haggarty |
MD – division |
Managing Director Australia, Agricoal |
|
Worley Parsons |
John Grill |
Founder |
|
|
Woolworths |
Grant O’Brien |
COO |
|
|
Woodside |
Peter Coleman |
COO (Vice-President) |
Vice-President, ExxonMobil |
|
Westfield Retail Trust |
Domenic Panaccio |
CFO |
|
Myriam Robin is a reporter for SmartCompany and its sister site LeadingCompany. She has degrees in economics, international studies and journalism. She likes writing about businesses taking risks and doing new things.
