Directors

Executives who have sat on other un-related listed boards


January 2, 2023

This list tracks CEOs or executive directors of major companies who have simultaneously been non executive directors of other un-related major public companies, a practice which really should only happen at the tail end of a CEO's executive career.

Don Argus: CEO of NAB from 1990 until 1999 and joined the BHP board in 1996.

Will Bailey: CEO of ANZ from 1984 until 1992 and joined the Coles Myer board in 1991.

Michael Cameron: joined the Suncorp board when serving as CEO of GPT, then became CEO of Suncorp.

Michael Chaney: sat on the BHP board for most of his stint whilst CEO of Wesfarmers.

Leigh Clifford: the London-based Rio Tinto CEO joined the Barclays Bank board in 2004, mid-way through his 7 year stint running the miner.

Terry Davis: was Coca Cola Amatil CEO from 2001 until 2015 and sat on the St George Bank board from 2004 until the 2008 Westpac takeover and then joined the Seven Group board in ?????

Geoff Dixon: the then Qantas CEO joined the board of PBL in 2006, the same year he quit Leighton Holdings.

John Elliott: sat on the National Mutual board whilst CEO of Elders IXL, which included draining them of more than $100 million to help fund his disastrous Harlin privatisation bid at Foster's.

Jerry Ellis:
joined the ANZ board in 1995 when was an executive director at BHP running the minerals division before stepping up in 1997 to be non-executive chairman of BHP. Let the ANZ board in ??????

John Fletcher: retained his seat on the Telstra board until June 2006 after coming out of retirement to be CEO of Coles Myer in 2001, a gig he held until Wesfarmers took over Coles Group in 2007. Previously spent 27 years at Brambles.

Elmer Funke Kupper: former Tabcorp CEO who stayed as a non-executive director after departing to be CEO of ASX in 2011.

Jayne Hrdlicka: came out from the US to be Jetstar CEO and joined Woolworths board around the same time, but then quit Woolworths in early 2016 citing her big commitments at Qantas.

Fred Hilmer: quit all his boards with the exception of Westfield when selected to run Fairfax in 1998.

Wal King: served as Leighton CEO from 1987 until 2011 and in 2002 joined the Coca Cola Amatil board.

Brian Loton: CEO of BHP from 1981 until 1991 and served on the NAB board from 1988 until 1999.

Frank Lowy: executive chairman of Westfield who found time a few years back to serve on the board of Britain's Daily Mail Group.

Dick McIlwain: persuaded to take the job running Tatt's Group in Melbourne after the Unitab merger in 2006 and then somehow managed to also chair Brisbane-based Wotif and Super Cheap Auto for the next couple of years.

John Mullen: appointed to the Telstra board whilst still in the US, then returned and became Asciano CEO from ???? until it was taken over in , but remained with Telstra which he now chairs, along with Brambles.

Rupert Murdoch: CEO of News Corp since 1953 and chairman since since 1990. Served on Philip Morris board for more than a decade starting in 1989.

James Packer: executive chairman of PBL who served on the Qantas board from 2004 until 2007, when he resigned in support of Margaret Jackson.

Peter Smedley: CEO of Mayne Nickless 2000 until 2002 and was chairman of OneSteel (later called Arrium) from 2000.

Gary Toomey: was finance director of Qantas in 1998 when he joined the ANZ board and retained the post until he came a cropper as CEO of Air New Zealand when Ansett collapsed in September 2001.

John Stanhope: long time CFO at Telstra who served as an executive director whilst also sitting on the board of AGL Energy for many years.

Sol Trujillo: retained his seat on the Target board in the US when recruited to Australia in 2005 to run Telstra for a tumultuous 4 year stint until June 2009.

Stan Wallis: CEO of Amcor from 1977 until 1996 and joined the AFIC board in 1987 and chaired Santos from 1989 until 1994. A classic case of over-boarding.