Michael Alfred Chaney (born 15 April 1950) is an Australian businessman and former

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

Early life

Chaney was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on 15 April 1950. He was the third-youngest of seven children born to Frederick Charles Chaney, who was a minister in the Menzies government and Lord Mayor of Perth. His brothers included Frederick Michael Chaney, who was also a federal government minister, and John Chaney, a judge on the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Chaney attended Aquinas College, Perth, and the

. He completed a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in geology in 1972 and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA) in 1980. He attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 1992. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia.

Career

Chaney worked as a petroleum geologist for eight years. His first job in geology was with Burmah Oil, where he worked on the North West Shelf Venture. In 1974 he moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas, in the aftermath of the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

. After returning to Australia he joined the Australian Industry Development Corporation (AIDC) in 1980 and opened its Perth office. At AIDC he "helped organise financing for the multibillion-dollar North-West Shelf development, Delhi/Santos's gas fields in the Cooper Basin, coalmines and coal loaders" during the resources boom of the 1980s. Chaney became managing director of Wesfarmers in 1992, having previously served as

company secretary A Company secretary is a senior position in the corporate governance of organizations, playing a crucial role in ensuring adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements. This position is integral to the efficient functioning of corporations, ...

and

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

. He oversaw the acquisition of Dalgety Farmers Ltd's pastoral business in 1993. The following year he announced that Wesfarmers had entered into a joint venture with Vietnamese firm Petrolimex for a

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

plant in Vietnam, which was reportedly Wesfarmers' first major overseas investment. Chaney also oversaw Wesfarmers' acquisition of Bunnings and divestment of its Landmark rural finance business. In 2001, the '' Australian Financial Review'' reported that Wesfarmers' market capitalisation had increased from $1.1 billion to $10 billion during Chaney's tenure and that he had "done something that has eluded most Australian chief executives: made a success of a conglomerate structure". Chaney was chairman of the National Australia Bank from 2005 to 2015, Chairman of Woodside Petroleum until 2016 and has been chairman of Wesfarmers since 2013, a Director of the Centre for Independent Studies, and the former Chancellor of the University of Western Australia, between 2005 and 2017. He was a director of BHP from 1995 to 2005 and a member of the

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

International Council from 2004 to 2015.

Honours

Chaney was appointed Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

on 14 June 2004 for service to the business sector through innovative leadership and management strategies, and to the community through involvement with and support for a broad range of artistic, cultural and scientific organisations.

References

External links

Business Council calls for cull on State powers
– interview transcript from ''AM''

- interview transcript from ''The World Today''
Interview with Michael Chaney, outgoing Wesfarmers CEO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaney, Michael Australian chief executives People educated at Aquinas College, Perth Officers of the Order of Australia Businesspeople from Perth, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Living people Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Chancellors of the University of Western Australia Wesfarmers people BHP people Petroleum geologists Australian geologists Australian chairpersons of corporations 1950 births JPMorgan Chase people