Giam Swiegers

Last updated

Giam Swiegers
Born
Guillaume Johannes Swiegers

(1956-07-27) 27 July 1956 (age 67)
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Alma mater University of Pretoria
Occupation(s)Chairman, NED and consultant
Known forformer Global CEO of Aurecon and 12 year CEO of Deloitte Australia

Guillaume Johannes "Giam" Swiegers (born 27 July 1956) is a South African-born Australian business executive. Swiegers was the Global CEO of international engineering company Aurecon from 2015 to 2019, and was previously CEO of Deloitte Australia for twelve years.

Contents

Early life and education

Swiegers was born in 1956 in Pretoria, and was educated at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, and graduated from the University of Pretoria with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) (Honours) degree in 1978. Swiegers was a first-class rugby player. [1]

Early career

He joined Deloitte South Africa as an auditor, and also worked for the firm in the United States, before emigrating to Australia in 1997. He was a managing partner of the Queensland practice before moving to Sydney in 2000 where he was appointed chief operating officer of the Australian firm. [2]

Deloitte CEO

After the resignation of the previous CEO Domenic Martino in 2003, Swiegers was appointed CEO of Deloitte Australia. [3] Giam chose Hobart for the company's first meeting of national partners to begin the process of turning Deloitte Australia's operations around. [4] Giam was subsequently appointed member of Deloitte's Global Board and Global Board Governance Committee and was a member of Deloitte's Global Executive Committee from 2010 to 2015. [5] BRW described Swiegers as 'Mr Fix-It' as he has overseen a turnaround in both organisational culture and revenues. [6] Swiegers was also involved heavily in the adoption of new technology, particularly social media including Yammer. [7] [8] This has fostered agility within the organisation. [9]

Swiegers also spearheaded efforts to improve the recognition of women. Swiegers received the 2005 Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Best CEO for the advancement of women in business award. [10] Over 2011–13, the admission of women to Deloitte has increased 30% and the number of female partners has increased over 25-fold over fourteen years. [11] In 2008, Deloitte itself was named Best firm for the advancement of women. [12] The Sex Discrimination Commissioner appointed Swiegers a founding Male Champion of Change. [13] In 2006, Swiegers was named the HR Champion – CEO and Deloitte was named the Inclusive Workplace of the Year in the Australian Human Resources Institute Diversity Awards. [14] When Giam retired from Deloitte in 2015 he was succeeded by Cindy Hook having recruited her from the Deloitte USA firm in 2009.

Global CEO Aurecon

Swiegers retired from Deloitte Australia on 30 January 2015. Aurecon Chairman Teddy Daka announced Swiegers would commence as Aurecon's new Global CEO effective 1 February 2015. Swiegers' South African background, and extensive experience in Australia, South Africa and the United States was noted in the announcement. [15] Following a very successful four years at Aurecon he retired on 1 February 2019 as was agreed at the time of his appointment.

In 2020 the AFR named Aurecon Australia's most innovative company as well as most Innovative professional service firm in Australia. This was achieved after being rated one of Australia's most innovative companies in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

At the close of his career at Aurecon Giam wrote a note to all stakeholders reflecting on his time at Aurecon and the gift(s) that Aurecon gave him. This note has been widely distributed https://justimagine.aurecongroup.com/gift-aurecon-giam-swiegers/

Board appointments

Giam was appointed as the Chairman of Aurecon on 1 January 2021 after serving on the Board as a NED from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2020.

Giam was also appointed as Chairman of Brisbane based finance company Attvest on 1 April 2021.

Giam is a NED of The Australian Design Council.

He has started his own consulting company Learntthehardway consulting and consults to several organisations with focus on strategy and strategy execution through an emphasis on culture.

Swiegers was a member of the University of Technology, Sydney Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Board [16] and the Australian School of Business (University of New South Wales) Business Advisory Council. [17] Swiegers was also a member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales President's Council. [18]

Personal life

Swiegers plays golf, is a fly fisherman and oenophile. [19]

Swiegers' alma mater, the University of Pretoria, awarded Swiegers a laureate in 2009. [20]

Related Research Articles

The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world: Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC. They are the four largest global accounting networks as measured by revenue. The four are often grouped because they are comparable in size relative to the rest of the market, both in terms of revenue and workforce; they are considered equal in their ability to provide a wide scope of professional services to their clients; and, among those looking to start a career in professional services, particularly accounting, they are considered equally attractive networks to work in, because of the frequency with which these firms engage with Fortune 500 companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PwC</span> Multinational professional services brand

PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited is a multinational professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back to the 1870s. UTS is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), and is a member of Universities Australia (UA) and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, commonly referred to as Deloitte, is a multinational professional services network. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professionals in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms along with EY, KPMG and PwC.

<i>Australian Financial Review</i> Australian financial newspaper

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; owned by Nine Entertainment and has been published continuously since its founding in 1951. The AFR, along with the rest of Fairfax Media, was sold to Nine Entertainment for more than A$2.3 billion. The AFR is published in tabloid format six times a week, whilst providing 24/7 online coverage through its website. In November 2019, the AFR reached 2.647 million Australians through both print and digital mediums (Mumbrella).

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is an industry association that comprises the chief executives of more than 100 of Australia's biggest corporations. It was formed in 1983 by the merger of the Business Roundtable – a spin-off of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia – and the Australian Industry Development Association. The organisation is headquartered in Melbourne with offices in Sydney and Canberra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melbourne Business School</span> Graduate school of the University of Melbourne

Melbourne Business School (MBS) is the graduate business school of the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The School offers an MBA program, specialist Masters programs, a doctoral program, and executive education programs. The MBS Head Office and main campus are in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, walking distance from Melbourne's Central Business District, in a complex designed by Daryl Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Liveris</span> Australian businessman

Andrew N. Liveris is an Australian former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. Liveris has been a member of Dow's board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004 and was elected as chairman of the board effective 1 April 2006. Liveris became CEO in 2004 after holding the position of chief operating officer (COO). Afterwards he served as executive chairman of DowDuPont, where he remains a director. He is chairman of the board of Lucid Motors.

Charles Waterhouse "Chip" Goodyear IV is an American businessman and the former CEO of BHP. He is a member of the Goodyear family that had extensive business interests in lumber and railways, as well as significant philanthropic endeavors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyro Payments</span> Australian public company

Tyro Payments Limited (Tyro) is an Australian financial institution (neobank) specialising in merchant credit, debit and EFTPOS acquiring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James P. Gorman</span> Australian-American financier (born 1958)

James Patrick Gorman is an Australian-American financier who is the former chief executive officer and current executive chairman of Morgan Stanley. Before becoming CEO, he was the Co-President and Co-Head of Strategic Planning at the firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuix</span>

Nuix Ltd is an Australian technology company that produces investigative analytics and intelligence software for extracting knowledge from unstructured data. The applications of the company's technology reportedly include digital forensics, financial crime, insider investigations, data privacy, data governance, eDiscovery and regulatory compliance. As of December 2020, the company's software was reportedly used by 1000 customers in 79 countries. The company has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia with offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamish McLennan</span> Australian businessman (born 1966)

Hamish McLennan is an Australian businessman who chairs several large, listed companies on the Australian Securities Exchange. He is chair of REA Group, a multibillion-dollar global digital advertising real estate company operated by News Corporation. He is the chairman of Magellan Financial Group, a globally focused equity fund. He is additionally the Chairman of ARN Media. He is a director at Claim Central Consolidated, a global claims business. From May 2020 until November 2023, McLennan served as chairman of Rugby Australia.

Redbubble is a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products based on user-submitted artwork. The company was founded in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, and also maintains offices in San Francisco and Berlin.

Global Relay is a technology services company providing software-as-a-service electronic message archiving, instant messaging, compliance and supervision services with a focus on highly regulated industries. Global Relay is privately held and employee controlled, with no outside or venture funding.

Peter Wilson is an Australian author, academic and management thinker. Wilson was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for services to workplace relations and safety, and community service. Formerly, Wilson held group executive roles at ANZ Bank, Amcor Limited, and as CEO of Energy 21. He is a regular commentator in the Australian media on workplace issues, notably gender equality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cindy Hook</span> American businesswoman (born 1964)

Cindy Hook is an American-Australian business executive. She is the chief executive of the organising committee for the 2032 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. She was the chief executive officer of Deloitte Asia Pacific from September 1, 2018, to May 31, 2022. She was the chief executive officer for Deloitte Australia from 2015 to 2018. Hook was the first female CEO of an Australian big four professional services firm. In 2018, she was named in Australian Financial Review's annual Power issue as one of the top five most powerful people in consulting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punit Renjen</span> Indian-American businessman (born 1961)

Punit Renjen is an Indian-American businessman who has been chief executive officer of the multinational professional services firm Deloitte since June 1, 2015. Previously, Renjen was chairman and CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP, and later, held the role of chairman of Deloitte LLP from 2011 to 2015. Effective December 31, 2022, Renjen will become Global CEO Emeritus of Deloitte.

Louise Adams is a Chartered Civil Engineer and as of October 2022 Aurecon's chief operating officer. In 2020, Adams was awarded Australian CEO of the Year by The CEO Magazine. Previously she served as the Chief Executive for Australia and New Zealand at Aurecon, overseeing a workforce of 4300 people. In 2013, Adams became the first woman to serve as executive director on Aurecon's Global Board and is Aurecon's global spokesperson for Women in Leadership. Adams has worked as a civil engineer for over 25 years.

References

  1. ↑ "Giam Swiegers > University of Pretoria". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Who's Who in Australia, Crown Content, 2010.
  3. ↑ Rochfort, Scott (11 March 2003). "Pay disclosures risk brain drain". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "What management heretics believe in | Market Leader Articles - June 2011". www.marketingsociety.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Deloitte | Giam Swiegers". Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Giam Swiegers: Deloitte's Mr Fix-It looks to his legacy". Financial Review. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Technology News". Financial Review. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Deloitte's Yammer Time - ReadWrite". ReadWrite. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Durkin, Patrick; Hyland, Anne, "CEOs Who Deliver", AFR Boss , p. 30
  10. ↑ "Giam Swiegers - Occasional speeches - UTS: Graduations". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Accounting 100: How women are slowly climbing the ladder". Financial Review. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "Giam Swiegers | Business21C". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Giam Swiegers: Deloitte's Mr Fix-It looks to his legacy". Financial Review. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  14. ↑ "Human Capital Magazine - HR News, Human Resource Management". www.hcamag.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Aurecon appoints new CEO". www.aurecongroup.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  16. ↑ "Giam Swiegers - Occasional speeches - UTS: Graduations". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  17. ↑ "Advisory Council members". UNSW Business School. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "President's Council :: Support us :: Art Gallery NSW". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  19. ↑ "Deloitte | Giam Swiegers". Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  20. ↑ "Giam Swiegers > University of Pretoria". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
Business positions
Preceded by CEO of Deloitte Australia
2003–present		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.