Richard James Barr Goyder (born 1960) is an Australian businessman and sporting administrator who is the current chairman of the
AFL Commission, the governing body of
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 ...
. He was previously CEO and managing director of
Wesfarmers from 2005 to 2017. Between 2018 and 2024, Goyder was the chairman of
Qantas
Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...
.
Personal life
Goyder was born at
Tambellup, Western Australia, and was raised on his parents' farms at Tambellup and
Broomehill.
[Julie-Anne Sprague]
"Tambellup boy on the Wesfarmers' way"
''Farm Online'', 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2017. He boarded at
Hale School,
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, and then went on to the
University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...
, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Commerce degree.
[Russell Quinn]
"Ups of being down, down"
PerthNow, 4 February 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2017. Goyder played amateur football for several teams in the
WAAFL, but did not progress to higher levels.
Goyder is married with four children.
His son Matthew played
WAFL football for
Claremont. Goyder's main residence is in Mosman Park, WA (a riverside suburb of Perth),
though he also owns a holiday home in
Augusta and a farm of near
Toodyay.
Business career
After graduating from university, Goyder worked in various positions at Tubemakers of Australia Ltd., an industrial conglomerate. He joined
Wesfarmers in 1993, and was initially posted to the company's Business Development Department. He was made
managing director
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
Wesfarmers Dalgety (a subsidiary focusing on rural merchandise) in 1999. Wesfarmers Dalgety merged with IAMA in 2001 to form Wesfarmers Landmark, and Goyder initially stayed on as managing director of the new entity. The following year, he was appointed finance director of the main Wesfarmers company.
[RICHARD GOYDER AO](_blank)
Wesfarmers. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
Goyder became deputy managing director and
chief financial officer
A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...
of Wesfarmers in 2004, and replaced
Michael Chaney
Michael Alfred Chaney (born 15 April 1950) is an Australian businessman and former Chancellor (education), chancellor of the University of Western Australia.
Early life
Chaney was born in Perth on 15 April 1950. He was the third-youngest of s ...
as CEO in July 2005.
In 2007, he oversaw the purchase of
Coles Group for
A$19.3 billion, which was "the biggest and one of the riskiest acquisitions in Australian corporate history". This brought
Coles Supermarkets,
Kmart,
Target, and
Officeworks under the control of Wesfarmers. In 2014, Goyder was chosen to chair the
B20 Summit in Sydney, a meeting of business leaders from the
G20 countries. He announced his intention to resign as CEO of Wesfarmers in February 2017, with Rob Scott being appointed as his successor.
Goyder is currently the chairman of 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 ...
and
Woodside Petroleum.
Football administration
Goyder served on the board of the
Fremantle Football Club
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...
from 2006 to 2011, and then in September 2011 was appointed to the
AFL Commission. In February 2017, it was announced that he would succeed
Mike Fitzpatrick as chairman, with his term beginning on 4 April 2017.
Honours
In 2011, Goyder was awarded 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 ...
, the
Doctor of Commerce
Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to:
Titles and occupations
* Physician, a medical practitioner
* Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree
** Doctorate
** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...
, by the University of Western Australia. He was made 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 ...
(AO) in the
2013 Australia Day Honours, for "distinguished service to business through executive roles and through the promotion of corporate sponsorship of the arts and Indigenous programs, and to the community".
GOYDER, Richard James
It's An Honour. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
References
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goyder, Richard
1960 births
Living people
Australian chief executives
Fremantle Football Club administrators
People educated at Hale School
People from Tambellup, Western Australia
Qantas people
University of Western Australia alumni
VFL/AFL administrators
Wesfarmers people
Officers of the Order of Australia
People named in the Paradise Papers