Christopher John Pearce (born 1 March 1963) is an Australian business executive and former politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 2001 to 2010, representing seat of

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He served as a parliamentary secretary in the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

from 2004 to 2007. Outside of his political career he has worked as a senior executive in the IT and telecommunications industries.

Early life

Pearce was born on 1 March 1963 in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area, it is also a regional centre in the Northern River ...

. He holds the degree of

Bachelor of Business A Bachelor of Business (BBus, BBus (Major)) is a three to four year undergraduate degree in the field of business offered by universities from the post-Dawkins era in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is similar in format and structure to a B ...

from

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, and later completed an MBA at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

and a graduate certificate at the

University of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

. Prior to entering parliament, Pearce worked as a manager in the information technology and telecommunications industry. He began his career as a marketing executive with Yamaha Music Australia, later working for

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

as manager of its MobileNet marketing campaign, as a marketing director with United Telecommunications, as a marketing vice-president with

Iridium Satellite Iridium is a chemical element; it has the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ir and atomic number 77. This very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmi ...

, and as Australian managing director of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

Politics

Pearce joined the Liberal Party in 1992 and was president of its Rowville branch from 1996 to 1999. He also served on the Knox City Council from 1997 to 2000. Pearce was elected to the

at the 2001 Aston by-election, retaining the seat for the Liberal Party following the death of incumbent MP Peter Nugent. He was re-elected at the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and 2007 federal elections. Pearce was parliamentary secretary to Treasurer

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...

from 2004 to 2007. He was responsible for the

's proposed changes to financial services legislation, reported in 2006 as "the biggest overhaul since the corporate law economic reform program began in 1997". In September 2008, Pearce was included in

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

's shadow ministry with responsibility for the financial services, superannuation and corporate law portfolio. He served as a shadow minister until June 2009, when he announced that he would retire from federal politics at the next election.

Later activities

In July 2010, it was reported that Pearce would join Telstra as a business development executive responsible for contracts with government agencies. He was appointed chair of Anglicare Victoria in 2016. He was appointed as an adjunct professor at Deakin Business School in 2019 and has also served as deputy chair of the St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research.

References

External links

Personal websiteParliamentary profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Chris 1963 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Aston Monash University alumni Australian business executives Government ministers of Australia Deakin University alumni University of Divinity alumni Australian MPs 1998–2001 Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010