Nicholas Richard Whitlam (born 6 December 1945) is an Australian businessman and corporate director. He is the son of former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

and Margaret Whitlam.

Career

Whitlam first became publicly prominent in 1981 when he was appointed

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

State Bank of New South Wales The State Bank of New South Wales, from 1933 until 1981 known as the Rural Bank of New South Wales, was a bank that was owned by the Government of New South Wales. In 1994, it was taken over by Colonial Mutual and became the Colonial State Bank ...

. Subsequent roles include Whitlam Turnbull & Co (an

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

partnership with future Prime Minister

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 ...

and former

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman o ...

), and the chairmanship of the

NRMA The NRMA (trading name of National Roads and Motorists' Association) is an Australian organisation offering roadside assistance, advocacy for motorists and road-users, motoring advice, car servicing, International Driving Permits, travel, and ...

Group. Whitlam was the key figure in the 2000

demutualization Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, member ...

and listing of

Insurance, the country's largest insurance company, now known as

Insurance Australia Group Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) is a multinational insurance company. It is the largest general insurance company in Australia, and also the largest in New Zealand through its subsidiary IAG New Zealand. IAG had its origins in the Na ...

(IAG). In 2002, the

Australian Securities & Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

(ASIC), a corporate regulator, initiated controversial civil proceedings against Whitlam alleging breaches of his NRMA director's duties in relation to his not signing a

proxy vote Proxy voting is a form of voting whereby a member of a decision-making body may delegate their voting power to a representative, to enable a vote in absence. The representative may be another member of the same body, or external. A person so ...

, consisting of 3793 votes, directing him to vote against a motion about the remuneration of directors. A single judge of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

ruled that he had breached his duties as a director and banned him from being a director of any company for five years. Whitlam appealed the judgement. Three senior judges, sitting as the

New South Wales Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

, unanimously found that he had not breached his duties as a director, reversed the ruling and exonerated him. ASIC sought but was denied special leave to appeal by the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

. Whitlam is a graduate of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

(AB

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

, 1967) and the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

(MSc, 1969). He has been Chairman of the Australian Graduate School of Management at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

, and has an honorary doctorate (Hon.DUniv) from that university and from

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

(Hon.DLitt).

Personal life

Whitlam has been married to Judy (née Frye) since 1973; she was a publicist for Vidal Sassoon and the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...

. Believing they were unable to conceive children of their own, they adopted a girl, Alice, from Thailand and a boy, Edward, from Colombia. Then Judy became pregnant, and their son, Peter, was born in 1982; he has severe mental and physical disabilities.Richard Guilliatt, "Nick Whitlam: his part in his downfall", ''The Age'', 23 November 2002, Good Weekend, p. 20

References

External links

Whitlam's website
1945 births Living people Australian chief executives Australian investment bankers Alumni of London Business School Australian corporate directors Children of prime ministers of Australia Gough Whitlam Harvard College alumni Businesspeople from Sydney State Bank of New South Wales {{Australia-business-bio-stub