What our corporate leaders studied at university

15 October 2012 Myriam Robin

More than a third of the corporate titans who head our largest companies are scientists or engineers, a LeadingCompany analysis has found.

Of the CEOS who head ASX100 companies, 35 studied either science or engineering at an undergraduate level at university.

We can reveal that 19 of the 100 studied science at an undergraduate level (usually geology or mineralogy), while another 16 are engineers.

Not far behind, commerce and economics were studied by 14 and 11 CEOs respectively as a first degree. On par with economics was arts, while another five studied law. One CEO, Treasury Wine’s David Dearie, studied marketing.

An interesting observation to come from our figures is that our largest mining companies disproportionately promote to the CEO role those with backgrounds in science and engineering – those who’ve typically spent much of their early career working as engineers or geologists. This contrasts with the other industries on the list, where broader degrees in commerce, accounting, economics and arts were most common.

In August, Suncorp catalogued the backgrounds of the CEOs of the ASX50, and found the most common degree was a tie between commerce, engineering and economics (eight CEOs or 16% had studied each).

But in our analysis, which was broadened to include the entire ASX100, there is a higher proportion of mining companies than the ASX50, generating a higher percentage of engineers and scientists.

Another takeout is that more than a quarter (28%) of the leaders of the ASX100 studied overseas.

On closer inspection this factor reveals the varied nationalities of these leaders, rather than evidence of Australian-born CEOs having gone overseas to study after leaving school. Many of the leaders on the list are American, British, South African or European, and their place of undergraduate study reflects that.

For example, American CEOs such as Boral’s Mike Kane and Boart Longyear’s (soon to depart) Craig Kipp graduated from Southern Illinois University and the University of North Dakota respectively, while Irishman Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, graduated from Trinity College.

The University of New South Wales can boast the most CEOs – seven graduated from its undergraduate programs. Six graduated from Monash University, while another five went to the University of Western Australia.

When it comes to which universities they studied at, our CEOs tended not to graduate from the “sandstone” variety such as the University of Melbourne or Sydney. Four graduated from Melbourne University while only two got their first degree from the University of Sydney.

Both of these hallowed halls were overshadowed by another university in their city – with the University of New South Wales in Sydney and Monash University in Melbourne being the starting place of far more CEOs.

The University of Adelaide and Curtin University both graduated two CEOs apiece, the same number as the more prestigious University of Sydney.

The University of Pretoria in South Africa was the only foreign university to graduate more than one ASX100 CEO, courtesy of Westpac’s Gail Kelly and BHP’s Marius Kloppers, who finished degrees there in arts and science respectively.

The full list of CEOs, along with what and where they studied, is available over the page. For our earlier pieces on the backgrounds and corporate careers of the ASX100’s CEOs, click here.

Company	CEO / MD	Area of Undergraduate Study	University
AGL Energy	Michael Fraser	Commerce (Accounting)	University of NSW
Atlas Iron	Ken Brinsden	Engineering	Curtin University
Asciano	John Mullen	Science	University of Surrey (UK)
Amcor	Ken MacKenzie	Engineering	McGill University (Canada)
AMP	Craig Dunn	Commerce Degree	Melbourne Uni
Ansell	Magnus Nicolin	Arts Degree	Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden)
ANZ	Mike Smith	Economics	City University of London (UK)
APA	Michael McCormack	Engineering	?
ASX	Elmer Funke Kupper	Business	Nijenrode (Netherlands)
Aurora Oil and Gas	Jonathan Kingsley Stewart	Commerce	?
Alumina	John Bevan	Commerce	University of NSW
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank	Mike Hirst	Commerce	University of Melbourne
BHP	Marius Kloppers	Engineering	University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Boral	Mike Kane	Arts / Law	Southern Illinois University (USA)
Boart Longyear	Craig Kipp	Engineering	University of North Dakota (USA)
Bank of Queensland	Stuart Grimshaw	Computer Applications	Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
Beach Energy	Reginald George Nelson	Science	?
Bluescope Steel	Paul O'Malley	Commerce	?
Brambles	Tom Gorman	Economics / International Relations	Tufts University (USA)
CBA	Ian Narev	English / Law Degree	University of Auckland
Coca-Cola Amatil	Terry Davis	?	?
Colonial First State Property Trust	Michael Venter	Accounting	University of Stellenbosch (South Africa)
Challenger	Brian Benari	Accounting	?
Cochlear	Chris Roberts	Science	Macquarie University
Commonwealth Property Office Fund	Michael Venter	Accounting	University of Stellenbosch (South Africa)
Campbell Brothers	Greg Kilmister	Science	?
Computershare	William Stuart Crosby	?	?
Centro	Steven Sewell	?	?
CSL	Brian McNamee	Medicine	University of Melbourne
Caltex	Julian Segal	Engineering	Technion-Machon Technologi Le'Israel (Israel)
Crown	Rowen Craigie	Economics	University of Monash
David Jones	Paul Zahra	?	?
Downer EDI	Grant Fenn	Economics	Macquarie University
Duet Group	David Bartholomew	Economics	University of Adelaide
Dexus Property Group	Darren Steinberg	Economics	University of Western Australia
Echo Entertainment	Larry Mullin	Business Administration	?
Fortescue Metals	Nev Power	Engineering	University of South Queensland
Fairfax	Greg Hywood	Economics	Monash University
Goodman Group	Gregory Goodman	?	?
Graincorp	Alison Watkins	Commerce	?
GPT	Michael Cameron	Business	?
Harvey Norman	Katie Page	?	?
Insurance Australia Group	Mike Wilkins	Commerce	?
Iluka Resources	David Robb	Science	University of Western Australia
Investa	Scott MacDonald	Arts (Politics)	Indiana University Bloomington (USA)
Incitec Pivot	James Fazzino	Economics	?
JB Hi Fi	Terry Smart	NA	NA
James Hardy	Louis Gries	Mathematics	University of Illinois
Leighton Holdings	Hamish Tyrwhitt	Engineering	University of Western Australia
Land Lease	Steve McCann	Economics / Law Degree	Monash University
Lynas Corporation	Nick Curtis	Arts / Science (Speech Communication Studies)	Northwestern University (USA)
Mirvac	Nick Collishaw	Finance	Sydney Institute of Technology
Monadelphous	Robert Velletri	Engineering	University of Western Australia
Macquarie Group	Nickolas Moore	Commerce	University of New South Wales
Metcash	Andrew Reitzer	Commerce	?
Myer	Bernie Brookes	Arts	Macquarie University
NAB	Cameron Clyne	Arts (Economics)	University of Sydney
Newcrest Mining	Greg Robinson	Science	Monash University
News Corp	Rupert Murdoch	Economics	Oxford University (UK)
Origin Energy	Grant King	Engineering	University of NSW
Orica	Ian Smith	Engineering / Finance	University of New England
Oil Search	Peter Botten	Science	ARSM (UK)
Arrium	Geoff Plummer	?	?
OZ Minerals	Terry Burgess	Science	? (UK)
Paladin Energy	John Borshoff	Science (Geology)	?
PanAust	Gary Stafford	Science (Mining Engineering)	?
Perseus Mining	Mark Galderwood	?	?
Primary Health Care	Edmund Bateman	Medicine	?
Qantas	Alan Joyce	Science (Applied)	Trinity College (Ireland)
QBE	John Neal	?	?
QR National	Lance Hockridge	?	?
Ramsey Health Care	Chris Rex	?	?
Rio Tinto	Tom Albanese	Science (Mineral Economics)	University of Alaska (USA)
ResMed	Peter Farrell	Engineering (Chemical)	University of Sydney
Regis Resources	Mark Clark	Business (Accounting)	Curtin University
SEEK	Andrew Bassat	Law	University of Melbourne
Sims Metal Management	Daniel Dienst	Law	Washington University (USA)
Stockland	Matthew Quinn	Science / Accounting	?
Sonic Healthcare	Dr Colin Goldschmidt	Medical	?
Spark Infrastructure	Laura Reed	Commerce	?
SP AusNet	Nino Ficca	Engineering	Deakin University
Santos	David Knox	Engineering	Edinburgh University (Scotland)
Suncorp	Patrick Snowball	Arts	Oxford University (UK)
Seven West	Don Volte	Science	University of Nebraska (USA)
Sydney Airport	Kerrie Mather	Arts	?
TabCorp	David Attenborough	Science	?
Transurban Group	Scott Charlton	Engineering (Electrical)	Texas A&M University (USA)
Telstra	David Thodey	Arts (Anthropology)	Victoria University (NZ)
Toll Holdings	Brian Kruger	Economics	Monash University
Tatts Group	Dick McIlwain	Arts	University of Queensland
Treasury Wines	David Dearie	Marketing	University of Hull (UK)
UGL	Richard Leupen	Science	University of NSW
Westpac	Gail Kelly	Arts	University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Westfield	Peter Lowey	Commerce	University of NSW
Wesfarmers	Richard Goyder	Commerce	University of Western Australia
Whitehaven Coal	Richard Leupen	Science (Engineering)	University of NSW
Worley Parsons	John Grill	Science	Sydney University
Woolworths	Grant O'Brien	Commerce	University of NSW
Woodside	Peter Coleman	Engineering	Monash University
Westfield Retail Trust	Domenic Panaccio	?	?