How tech savvy are our corporate CEOs?

How aware of technology are Australia’s Chief Executive Officers?

Can overinflated job titles affect a business

Yesterday I asked are executives out of touch with IT industry trends.

To figure out the answer to that question, I had a look at the backgrounds of the ASX20‘s CEOs. It’s difficult to draw a conclusion from the results.

ASX 20  CEO backgrounds
Company CEO Industry background Degree
AMP Craig Dunn Financial services BComm
ANZ Bank Michael Smith Financial services Economist
BHP Billiton Andrew MacKenzie Mining Phd in Chemistry
Brambles Tom Gorman Finance Economist
Commonwealth Bank Ian Narev Consulting Law Degree
CSL Brian McNamee Medicine surgeon
Macquarie Group Ltd Nicholas Moore Investment banking lawyer
National Australia Bank Ltd Cameron Clyne investment banking arts/economics
Newcrest Mining Ltd Greg Robinson finance BSci Geology
Origin Energy Grant A. King Energy industry Civil Engineer
QBE Insurance Group Ltd John Neal finance
Rio Tinto Ltd Sam Walsh mining BComm
Santos Ltd David Knox Oil and Gas BEng (mech)
Suncorp Group Ltd Patrick Snowball Finance industry Law, LLD
Telstra Corp Ltd David Thodey IT/Telecoms BA (anthropology)
Wesfarmers Ltd Richard Goyder Diversified industrial BComm
Westfield Group Peter & Stephen Lowy Investment banking BComm
Westpac Banking Corp Gail Kelly Financial services BA
Woodside Petroleum Ltd Peter J Coleman? Oil and Gas BEng
Woolworths Ltd Grant O’Brien Retail Accountant

What stands out from the list is the dominance of executives from a financial services and commerce background, although that’s hardly surprising given the weight of the banking sector in the Australian stock market.

An encouraging trend in the mining sector, the other sector highly represented in the index, is how the industry’s CEOs tend to be from a scientific or Engineering background.

Coming from a science background would tend to indicate the CEOs are probably more across technology trends than we’d think, although the compositions of the boards would probably tell us a little more about the net saviness of the corprorate sector.

That might be an exercise for the weekend.

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Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

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