Adrian Di Marco (born 1958) is an Australian entrepreneur and businessman. He is the founder and

Executive Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

TechnologyOne TechnologyOne Limited is an Australian enterprise software company founded in 1987. The company is headquartered in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Australia, with other offices in United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, South Pacific and Asia. It is li ...

, Australia's largest enterprise

software company A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry. Types There are a number of different types of soft ...

Early life and career

Di Marco was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1958, the child of Italian immigrants. He attended St James College in Brisbane. He became interested in IT after helping his brother, who was studying engineering at university, to program one of the first digital computers. After high school, Di Marco completed a science degree at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

, majoring in computer science. Early in his career, he worked at

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...

(now

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accen ...

TechnologyOne CEO

Di Marco founded TechnologyOne from inside a demountable office in the car park at JL Mactaggart Industries'  hide processing plant in Hemmant, Brisbane, in 1987. The company initially received with a small amount of capital from JL Mactaggart Industries. The company began providing financial software, building its products around

relational database A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relatio ...

s. It has since developed

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...

software for sectors including local government, universities, and hospitals. In 1998, when Oracle launched a competitor product and revoked TechnologyOne’s licenses, Di Marco made the company’s products database independent, building its own sales, marketing, and implementation divisions. In December 1999, Di Marco led the company into its listing on the

ASX Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia a ...

making it one of the most successful floats of the DotCom era. In 2001, he was appointed chairman of TechnologyOne. Di Marco was member of the

Australian Institute of Company Directors The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is a non-profit membership organization for directors. The AICD is a founding member of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI). History The origins of the AICD can be traced ba ...

and was Deputy Chair of the

Australian Information Industry Association The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is the peak body representing the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Australia. The AIIA’s membership includes computer hardware Computer hardware includes t ...

from 2002 to 2004. He was the Director of the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation Board from 2004 to 2012. In 2004 Di Marco won the

Pearcey Award The Pearcey Awards are a set of prizes presented annually since 1998 by the Pearcey Foundation for achievement in the Australian ICT industry. Pearcey Award Categories Each year, the Pearcey Foundation presents 3 categories of award: ;Pearcey ...

for innovative and pioneering achievement and contribution to

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

in IT. He was awarded Fellow of the

Australian Computer Society The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is an association for information and communications technology professionals with over 48,000 members Australia-wide. According to its Constitution, its objectives are "to advance professional excellence ...

in 2010. When he stepped down as CEO in May 2017, Di Marco was one of the longest-serving chief executives of an ASX-listed company. As CEO, Di Marco established the philanthropic TechnologyOne Foundation, which has made donations to

Opportunity International Opportunity International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is working to end global poverty by creating and sustaining jobs. Through a network of 47 program and support partners, Opportunity provides small business loans, savings, ins ...

Australia, the

School of St Jude The School of St. Jude is a charity-funded school located in the city of Arusha, in the northern Arusha Region of Tanzania. With its three campuses, the school provides free primary and secondary education to children in the Arusha Region. ...

in Tanzania,

The Fred Hollows Foundation The Fred Hollows Foundation is a non-profit aid organisation based in Sydney, Australia, which was founded in 1992 by eye surgeon Fred Hollows. The foundation focuses on treating and preventing blindness and other vision problems. It opera ...

, and others. He also advocated against a business model run by professional managers, which caused the company difficulties in the early 2000s. He has argued that a focus on corporate governance weakens companies and that subject matter experts are more important to have on a board than independent directors.

Post-CEO

In May 2017, Di Marco stepped down as CEO from the company but remained its Executive Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer. As of 2019, Di Marco’s 8.6 per cent stake in the company was worth more than $240m, and with his other investments in property, his net worth is reportedly more than $300m. In 2017, Di Marco invested in accounting software start-up Practice Ignition. In 2018, Di Marco made a $3.2 million investment in sports tech firm Fusion Sport. In 2019, Di Marco made a $500,000 investment with Snackwise. Di Marco is a founding member of Software Queensland, a group promoting the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

software industry. In February 2022, he announced he would be stepping down as TechnologyOne's executive chairman after 35 years with the company, with his resignation effective on 30 June.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Marco, Adrian Australian businesspeople Living people 1958 births