Michael Henry Codd (born 1939) is a retired

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

senior

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and

university chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

Early life

Mike Codd was born in 1939. He attended

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, graduating in 1961 with a

Bachelor of Economics A Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon)Bureau of Labor StatisticsHow to Become an Economist/ref> is an academic degree, awarded to students who have completed specialised undergraduate studies in economics. Variants include the "Bachelor of Econo ...

with

honours Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valo ...

Career

Codd was appointed to his first

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

role in 1981, becoming head of the Department of Industrial Relations. Between 1985 and 1986 Codd served as Secretary of the

Department of Community Services The Department of Community Services was an Government of Australia, Australian government department that existed between December 1984 and July 1987. Scope Information about the department's functions and government funding alloc ...

. In 1986 he was appointed Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary. In 1987 he worked with Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

to introduce massive reform changes to the public service, creating "super ministry" departments. Codd did note potential disadvantages of the machinery of government changes, including that there was potential for "bunker mentality" to continue. Codd retired from the public service in December 1991, his appointment was terminated by an Executive Council meeting on 27 December that year. After his retirement from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Codd joined consultancy firm Coopers and Lybrand. He was also appointed to the board of Qantas in 1992, prior to the airline's privatization, and served 16 years retiring in 2008. Between 1997 and 2009 he was Chancellor of the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

(UOW), retiring in September 2009.

Awards and honours

In January 1991, Codd was made a

Companion 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 recognition of service as secretary to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He received a Centenary Medal in 2001. In 2009, the

awarded Mike Codd an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

and in 2010 named a building after him on its Innovation Campus in recognition of his eminent service as the university's second Chancellor. His portrait (by Mathew Lynn, 2014) hangs in the Codd building.

Notes

References and further reading

* (pages 157, 193–194, 202) {{DEFAULTSORT:Codd, Mike 1939 births Australian public servants Chancellors of the University of Wollongong Companions of the Order of Australia Living people University of Adelaide alumni