Frederick George Hilmer AO (born 2 February 1945) [1] is an Australian academic and business figure. He was the president and eighth vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales, an appointment he held from June 2006 till January 2015. [2] He has also served as a director and deputy-chairman of the Westfield Group between 1991 and 2013. [3]
Hilmer was the chief executive officer of John Fairfax Holdings Limited from 1998 to 2005. [4] Before joining Fairfax he was Dean and director of the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of New South Wales from 1989 [5] until 1998. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney, where he graduated in 1966, [6] a Master of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was appointed a Joseph Wharton Fellow. [7]
He was a member of the Commonwealth Higher Education Council and chairman of the Business Council of Australia's Employee Relations Study Group. In 1992 and 1993 he chaired the National Competition Policy Review Committee, which led to the introduction of National Competition Policy in 1995.
Prior to joining the AGSM, Professor Hilmer was with McKinsey & Company for 19 years, spending the last 9 year managing the Australian practice. [8] Professor Hilmer has also held a number of other senior business positions including chairman of Pacific Power, deputy chairman of Foster's Group Limited and a director of Coca-Cola Amatil, TNT and Macquarie Bank. [9]
As CEO of Fairfax, Hilmer invested heavily in a new printing facility for The Age at Tullamarine. This reduced staff numbers from 280 to 160, prompting conflict with the Australian Manufacturing Worker's Union. Strikes led to The Age losing an edition for the first time in its history, and Hilmer delayed the opening of the new facility for three months to force the union to concede to the demand of management to have sole discretion over which staff were transferred to the new facility. [10]
At the conclusion of the dispute, Hilmer issued each member of the management group who presided over the building of the Tullamarine plant with a golf ball inscribed with the names of unionists who he considered had given them trouble. He later wrote that the balls were still turning up years later on golf courses in Sydney and Melbourne. [11]
He was vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales from June 2006 till January 2015. [12]
Hilmer was appointed chair of the Group of Eight (Go8), the coalition of Australia's leading research universities, in December 2011, and chair of Universitas 21 (U21), the global network of research-intensive universities, in May 2013.[ citation needed ]
Fred Hilmer has written extensively on strategy, organisation and economic reform and is the author of a number of books, including:
Hilmer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1998 for his service to management education, competition policy, and workplace. [13]
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive universities. It is ranked 19th in the 2024 QS World University Rankings.
Tullamarine is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 km (8.7 mi) north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank, Hume and Merri-bek local government areas. Tullamarine recorded a population of 6,733 at the 2021 census.
Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. In 2019, it was ranked in the top 100 young universities in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
The Australian Graduate School of Management is a postgraduate management and business school that is part of the UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The AGSM offers general management, executive and leadership development programs.
Stephen Paul Martin is an Australian former politician, senior academic and rugby league referee. He served as an Australian Labor Party (ALP) member of the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Macarthur, south west of Sydney, from 1984 to 1993; and, following redistribution, represented Cunningham from 1993 until his resignation in 2002. Martin was the Chief Executive of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) from January 2011 until his retirement in April 2017.
David Edward Kirk is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He is best known for having been the captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.
David Michael Gonski is an Australian public figure and businessman.
John Rodney Niland is an Australian academic and board director. Niland obtained a Bachelor and Master of Commerce from UNSW and his PhD is from the University of Illinois. He has held academic positions at Cornell University, The Australian National University, and UNSW. He served as a mediator of labour disputes in the US while at Cornell, and in Australia has undertaken extensive academic and policy work in conflict resolution, theory and practice, particularly enterprise bargaining. John Niland is a Professor Emeritus of UNSW and was its fourth Vice Chancellor and President (1992–2002). Before that he was the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics. While UNSW Vice-Chancellor, he was a founding director of both Universitas 21 and Australia’s Group of Eight Universities. He also served a term as President of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, and was a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.
Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased The Sydney Morning Herald in 1841. The Fairfax family retained control of the business until late in the 20th century.
Mark Walter Scott is a public servant and university administrator who serves as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney. He was the managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 2006 to 2016. Prior to commencing at the ABC, Scott had previously held a senior role at Fairfax Media, responsible for the editorial content of the group's major newspapers, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age.
Airport Drive is a 5.7 kilometre highway in Melbourne, Australia, linking Centre Road at Melbourne Airport with the M80 Ring Road at Airport West. This road is an important thoroughfare for the adjacent Melbourne Airport Business Park along South Centre Road, and acts as an alternative access road to Tullamarine Freeway.
Helen Marion Nugent is a leading Australian company director, businesswoman and former academic.
Dominic Barton, known as Bao Damin in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments as well as the chancellor of the University of Waterloo. He served as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2019 to 2021. Prior to this, Barton was the Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, from 2009 to 2018 and has previously served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden.
Frederick W. Gluck was a longtime top senior partner and director at management consultancy McKinsey & Company, serving as managing director from 1988 to 1994. At McKinsey he introduced the concept of fifteen “centers of competence”. He is a director at Amgen Inc. and holds directorships in public, private, and non-profit organizations.
Rufus Edward Ries Black is the vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania.
Steven Mark Lowy is the former co-Chief Executive Officer of Westfield Corporation, a leading global shopping centre company that was acquired by French company Unibail-Rodamco in 2018 in what was one of the largest transactions in Australian corporate history. His principal activities now focus on investments associated with the Lowy family’s private company, Lowy Financial Group, as well as a number of philanthropic and community roles including as Chairman of the World Board of Trustees of Keren Heysod-United Israel Appeal and President of the Hakoah Club.
Ian Jacobs is an academic, medical doctor, gynaecological oncologist, charity founder and university leader from the UK, with dual British and Australian citizenship.
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