David Smorgon (born 8 May 1947) is an Australian businessman and member of the Smorgon family.

Business career

David joined the family business at the age of 23. David advanced to be a senior executive at Smorgon Consolidated Industries, which is the large family business that spanned meat, paper, glass, plastics and steel industries. David then spent 25 years as an executive and director with Smorgon Consolidated Industries. After the sale of Smorgon Consolidated Industries in 1996, David, along with his three children; Dean (b. 1969–70), Ricky (b. 1971–72), and Dale (b. 1974–75), also built up their self-run stockholding organisation, Generation Investment Management focusing on business opportunities, equity and property investments. This corporation is known for providing loan-to-own transactions to assist global corporations with debt, with such clients as Bonds, and coin-operated entertainment business Ride On! Entertainment; the latter in which Ricky and Dale are executive directors. David was also named the inaugural chairman of Family Business Australia in 1997, a position he held for six years. In 2013, David accepted the role of Patron for SportsConnect, an organisation connecting business and sport. In June 2014, David became Executive Chairman of

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

of the Australian branch. In January 2019, David founded his own company Pointmade and also became the CEO of the company, where he has continued his Family Advisory work under.

Sports Administration career

Western Bulldogs Football Club President

He is most noted for holding the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

, an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He has been a passionate supporter of the club since his youth and held the position of president from 1996 to 2012. In David's tenure as president of the club, he directed the Bulldogs through constant battles of survival in the cut-throat world of AFL, where business perspective and professionalism are paramount. David also orchestrated a stunning turnaround of the club's financial fortunes in the off-field area and the club's on-field performance also improved dramatically in his tenure. David stepped down as President in December 2012, ending a 16 year reign.

Order of Australia

For his contributions to the community through health, social welfare and education, he was awarded the Medal 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 ...

in 2000.

Personal life

Smorgon's wife Roslyn died from cancer on Sunday 27 January 2008 aged 58. As a member of the Smorgon family, his cousin is Graham Smorgon, former

Smorgon Steel Smorgon Steel was an Australian steel manufacturing company. It was the last remaining part of Smorgon Consolidated Industries, founded in 1958 by Victor Smorgon, member of the Smorgon family. In 1997, Smorgon purchased structural materials Wel ...

chairman and former president of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

. David was educated at

Brighton Grammar Brighton Grammar School is a private Anglican day school for boys, located in Brighton, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1882 by George Henry Crowther, Brighton Grammar has a non-selective enrolment policy ...

References

Western Bulldogs administrators 1947 births Living people People educated at Brighton Grammar School 20th-century Australian businesspeople Businesspeople from Melbourne Australian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub