What's Wrong With Boards

Fred Hilmer AO is an economic policy and reform strategist. He served as the chief executive officer of John Fairfax Holdings from 1998 to 2005 and as vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales from 2006 to 2015. From 1989 to 1998, he was a professor of management in the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales, later becoming its Dean and Director.

Awarded the John Storey Medal from the Australian Institute of Management in 1991, he chaired the National Competition Policy Review Committee in the early 1990s, leading to significant reforms. He was also a member of the Higher Education Council and has chaired the Group of Eight Universities (Go8) and Universitas 21.

Prior to his academic roles, Fred was Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company (Australia) and co-founded Port Jackson Partners. He has served as a Director of TNT, Coca-Cola Amatil, Macquarie Bank; Chair of Pacific Power; and Deputy Chair of Foster’s Brewing Group and Westfield Holdings Ltd and related companies. He holds a law degree from the University of Sydney, pursued further law studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his MBA at the Wharton School of Finance as a Joseph Wharton Fellow.

His publications include When the Luck Runs Out and New Games, New Rules in the 1980s, followed by Strictly Boardroom: Improving governance to enhance company performance (1993, 1998), The Fairfax Experience: What the Management Texts Didn’t Teach Me (2007). He is also the co-author of Management Redeemed: The case against fads that harm management (1998) and Working Relations: A fresh start for Australian enterprises (1993).