Graham Smorgon is a prominent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n businessman and a member of the

Smorgon family Smorgon may refer to the following: People * David Smorgon (born 1947), Australian businessman, President of the Western Bulldogs football club * Graham Smorgon, Australian businessman, former President of the Carlton Football Club * Loti Smor ...

– one of Australia's wealthiest and most powerful and influential families.

Business career

He was appointed as Chairman of Smorgon Consolidated in 1994, and was the chairman of the Smorgon Steel Group in 2006 when it was split and sold to

OneSteel Arrium was an Australian mining and materials company, employing nearly 10,000 workers before going into voluntary administration in 2016 with debts of more than $2 billion. In 2017 it was acquired by British-owned Liberty House Group. Hi ...

and

BlueScope BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002. History BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueS ...

. Smorgon then went on to become Chairman of the GBM Group, Smorgon Consolidated Investment and Scental Pacific. Smorgon is also a director of Incitec Pivot Limited. Smorgon's other roles and positions included Director of

Federation Square Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Street ...

, Deputy Chairman of Melbourne Health, Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Trustee of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.

Sports Administration career

Carlton Football Club

In 2002, Smorgon joined the

Board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

at the Carlton Football Club. In April 2006, Smorgon took over the Presidency 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 ...

after Ian Collins stood down. He held this position until he failed to win a board position in the February 2007 club election that elected Richard Pratt as President of the Carlton Football Club. Smorgon's tenure as President of the club was unstable because Carlton struggled to maintain off-field stability with club debt, as well as continuous poor on-field results. Also in Smorgon's tenure as president of Carlton, In September 2006, Smorgon was involved in a board of the club coup plot to push for the removal of senior coach

Denis Pagan Denis Leslie Pagan (born 24 September 1947) is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. Pagan is a dual AFL premiership coach, and he also won the prestigious Victoria derby in 2020 as a trainer and owner of the horse ...

, Smorgon then reversed this position and declared his full board support for senior coach Pagan and extended Pagan's contract as senior coach until the 2008 season.

Order of Australia

Smorgon was made a Member 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 ...

(AM) in the 2013 Australia Day Honours.

Personal life

As a member of the

, He is also the grandson of Moses Smorgon, who emigrated from the Russian empire in the 1920s with his brother Naum; Naum's son

Victor Smorgon Victor Smorgon (2 January 1913 – 3 July 2009) was an Australian industrialist, arts patron and benefactor, who was founder and former head of the Victor Smorgon Group. Biography Smorgon was born in 1913 in Heidelberg, a German settlement ...

co-founded Smorgon Consolidated Industries. He is also the cousin of

David Smorgon 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 ...

, the former executive and director of Smorgon Consolidated Industries and the former President of

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 ...

Football Club. .

References

Australian Jews Carlton Football Club administrators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Order of Australia {{Australia-business-bio-stub 20th-century Australian businesspeople Australian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Melbourne