Tony Shepherd (businessman)

Australian businessman (born 1944)

Tony Shepherd AO

Born| 1944 (age 79-80)

Melbourne, Australia

Occupation| Businessman
Years active| 1979–present

Anthony "Tony" Shepherd AO (born 5th June 1944, Melbourne[1]) is an Australian businessman. The first 15 years of his career were in the Australian Public Service. He joined Transfield Services in 1979, going on to become chairman of the Transfield board. Shepherd resigned from Transfield in 2013.

He is currently Chair of the Boards of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association and the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust.

## Career[edit]

Tony Shepherd was educated at CBC St Kilda in Melbourne and started his career as a federal public servant while studying commerce part-time at the University of Melbourne. He worked in defence procurement in Canberra and for three years in Washington DC in the 1970s.[2] On return to Australia in 1973 he joined the National Pipeline Authority under energy minister Rex Connor. He worked on the development of the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline during this time.[3] He spent a total of 15 years as a public servant.[1]

In 1979 a friend introduced Shepherd to Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, who offered him a job at the infrastructure company Transfield Services in North Sydney.[4] At Transfield, Shepherd's first big project was the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, which was an early example of public–private partnership in Australia. In March 2001, Shepherd was appointed a director on the Transfield Services board.[5] He became Chairman in 2005, retiring from the role in October 2013.[6] During his time at Transfield he worked on EastLink and the Lane Cove Tunnel.[1][7]

In 2011 he became president of the Business Council of Australia for a two-year term, later extended by six months to March 2014. He was succeeded by Catherine Livingstone.[8][9]

By 2012 he was also chairing the Greater Western Sydney Giants and was a trustee and later chairman of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust.[1][10] As Chair of the Giants, he and other board members set key performance indicators for both the football and business side of the team.[11]

In June 2012 he was made an officer of the Order of Australia for services to business, particularly infrastructure development, the arts and sport.[10]

In November 2013 he was appointed chairman of the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association.[12] He was chairman of Abbott government's National Commission of Audit which ran between 2013 and March 2014.[13][14] He was chairman of the WestConnex Delivery Authority from its establishment in November 2013, resigning in October 2015 when the organisation was merged into the Sydney Motorway Corporation.[15][16]

## Personal life[edit]

Tony married in 1964 to Loredana Vilovich. They had three children, Lisa Shepherd in 1965 and Twins John & Rebecca Shepherd in 1969. Divorced after 12 years, Tony raised his children in Sydney. Tony remarried in 2018 to Maryanne Graham and is stepfather to Cassie & Alexandra Graham.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Saulwick, Jacob (18 October 2014). "Tony Shepherd: the deal-maker". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
2. ^ Greater Western Sydney Giants, Meet the Board, Greater Western Sydney Giants, archived from the original on 7 July 2015
3. ^ Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association, Tony Shepherd AO (Chairman), ASTRA, archived from the original on 16 March 2015
4. ^ Hyland, Anne (15 June 2013). "BCA's Tony Shepherd: always a good sport". Australian Financial Review. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
5. ^ Transfield Services, Board of Directors, Transfield Services, archived from the original on 17 July 2011
6. ^ Business Council of Australia, Our Board, Business Council of Australia, archived from the original on 13 February 2014 `{{citation}}`: `|author=` has generic name (help)
7. ^ Coorey, Phillip (18 June 2015). "Tony Shepherd backs Bill Shorten over EastLink worker sell-out claims". Australian Financial Review. Fairfax Media.
8. ^ Smith, Michael (28 March 2014). "Australia has 'lost pioneering spirit': outgoing BCA president". Business Review Weekly. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014.
9. ^ Keane, Bernard; Dyer, Glenn (28 March 2014). "Tony 'moral and correct' Shepherd's parting shot from BCA". Crikey. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014.
10. ^ a b Stewart, Claire (11 June 2012). "Birthday gongs for the best in business". Business Review Weekly. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016.
11. ^ Korporaal, Glenda (23 May 2015). "Shepherd's small steps bring leap for new AFL club GWS Giants". The Australian. News Corp.
12. ^ "Business leader Tony Shepherd to chair ASTRA". Mumbrella. 11 November 2013.
13. ^ Aston, Heath (21 January 2014). "Audit Commission head Tony Shepherd accused of conflict of interest". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 21 January 2014.
14. ^ National Commission of Audit, The Commissioners, Australian Government, archived from the original on 26 October 2015
15. ^ Saulwick, Jacob (16 October 2015). "WestConnex shielded from scrutiny after control handed to private corporation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015.
16. ^ Saulwick, Jacob (25 September 2015). "WestConnex chairman Tony Shepherd to leave board". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.