David Victor Murray AO (born 27 April 1949), is an Australian businessman. He was the inaugural Chairman of the

Future Fund The Future Fund is an independently managed sovereign wealth fund established in 2006 to strengthen the Australian Government's long-term financial position by making provision for unfunded superannuation liabilities for public servants that wil ...

Board of Guardians, serving between 2006 and 2012, and Chair of the

International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) is a nonprofit international group of sovereign wealth funds managers which was established in 2009. It is based in London, England. History In 2009, a group of 23 leading state-owned in ...

Business career

Prior to his appointment to the Future Fund, Murray was the Chief Executive Officer of the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

between 1992 and 2005. In Murray's 13 years as Chief Executive, the Commonwealth Bank transformed from a partly privatised bank with a market capitalisation of $6 billion in 1992 to a $49 billion integrated financial services company, generating in the process total shareholder returns (including gross dividend reinvestment) at a compound annual growth rate of over 24 per cent, one of the highest total returns of any major bank in Australia. Murray holds a Bachelor of Business from the NSW Institute of Technology 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 ...

, commenced at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

and completed at the International Management Institute,

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. He holds an honorary

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from Macquarie University and is a Fellow of the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back t ...

. He is an

old boy Old boy or Oldboy or Old Boys may refer to: * Old Boys, male former pupils of schools in Britain, some schools in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago ** Old boy network, social and business connections among former pupils o ...

of St Aloysius' College,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 2007 Murray was appointed an

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 ...

for service to the finance sector nationally and internationally through strategic leadership and policy development, to education, particularly fostering relations between educational institutions and business and industry, and to the community as a supporter of and fundraiser for cultural and church organisations.

Controversies

Murray has made public comments on attempts to

mitigate climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

. Against a backdrop of increasingly severe 2013 bush fires, he slandered an Australian group of scientists who he said lacked any "integrity" after they attributed the disasters to increased carbon emissions. This prompted the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society to publicly declare they were "disturbed" by his statements. Murray led a push against the

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

in 2019 for companies to have a social licence included in their Corporate Governance Guidelines, labelling the proposal "politically correct nonsense". In 2018, Murray was appointed chairman of

AMP Limited AMP Limited (formerly Australian Mutual Provident Society) is an Australian financial services company that operates in Australia and New Zealand. It offers superannuation and investment products, financial advice and banking services through '' ...

, resigning in August 2020 as a consequence of calls for his resignation from shareholders and political pressure due to the board's handling of staff allegations of harassment.

Charitable Activity

As of 2019, Murray is chair of The Butterfly Foundation a registered charity helping people with eating disorders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, David Australian bankers Australian chief executives 1949 births Living people People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney) Businesspeople from Sydney