Former Aussie CEOs who join the director's club

Don Argus: NAB CEO for most of the 1990s who rose to be chairman of BHP-Billiton and Brambles, plus a director of Southcorp and AFIC.

Peter Barnett: was CEO of Pasminco from 1988 until 1995 and went on to be a director of Mayne Nickless and Santos.

Harry Boon: was the long-time divisional boss of Ansell before becoming CEO when Pacific Dunlop jettisoned all other divisions and changed its name. Now chairs Tattersall's and is a director of Toll Holdings and Hastie.

Ian Burgess: made his name as CEO of CSR, then went on to badly chair AMP, CSR and WMC.

David Clarke: the long-time Macquarie Bank executive chairman went non-executive in 2007. Also chairs Goodman Group and Australian Vintage, the old McGuigan Simeon.

Leigh Clifford: did well as the London-based CEO of Rio Tinto then returned to Australia as chairman of Qantas.

Tony Daniels: CEO of Tubemakers before BHP mopped it up and then a spectacularly unsuccessful director of companies such as Pacific Dunlop and Pasminco but had some better results at Orica, CBA and AGL.

Leon Davis: did well as the London-based CEO of Rio Tinto then returned to Australia as chairman of Westpac.

Bob Every: the former Onesteel CEO is a Wesfarmers director who is in the race to replace Trevor Eastwood as chairman.

Ray Horsburgh: the long-time CEO of Smorgon Steel is now chairman of Toll Holdings.

Tony Howarth: the former Challenge Bank CEO is hard-working director on a range of companies including Wesfarmers and AWB.

Catherine Livingstone: did spectacularly well as CEO of Cochlear then rose to join boards such as Macquarie Group and Telstra, whilst also chairing the CSIRO.

Brian Loton: the former BHP CEO and chairman landed gigs on other boards including Amcor and NAB.

Don Mercer: fired as CEO of ANZ in the mid-1990s but recovered to become chairman of Orica and Newcrest.

John Ralph: the last Australian-based CEO of CRA rose to become chairman of CBA and Pacific Dunlop, plus a director of Telstra and BHP-Billiton.

Mark Rayner: the former CEO of Comalco who never landed the big job at CRA but still rose to chair NAB, Mayne Nickless and Pasminco, all of which performed poorly on his watch. Still serves on Alumina to this day.

John Schubert: did a good job running Pioneer International before it sold to Hanson and then rose to become chairman of CBA and the heir apparent at BHP-Billiton. Made serious cash as the founding chairman of Worley Parsons.

James Strong: did a good job as CEO steering Qantas through privatisation and beyond, then rose to become chairman of IAG and Woolworths whilst also returing to the Qantas board after a break.

Stan Wallis: the long-serving Amcor CEO was a spectacularly unsuccessful chairman of AMP and Coles Myer who also chaired Amcor for a period.

Dean Wills: the long-serving CEO of Coca Cola Amatil rose to become chairman of Fairfax and Axa Asia Pacific, plus served on other boards such as Westfield.

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