Richard White (born December, 1954) is the Australian billionaire executive chair, co-founder, and former CEO of WiseTech Global, an Australian technology company specialising in transport logistics. He stepped down as CEO amid allegations of sexual and corporate misconduct in October 2024, but continues to chair the board.

Early life and career

White was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1954, and grew up in the suburb of

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

. His father ran an engineering business, his mother sold cookware through house parties and as a youth he washed dishes for his grandparents wedding reception business. He worked as a musician in a band called ''Jade'' and refrigeration mechanic, later standing a small business repairing guitars called ''Rock Repairs''. He taught himself electronics and programming when he started building lighting systems for bands.

Education

He graduated

Sydney Technical High School Sydney Technical High School is a state-financed Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for Single-sex education, boys, located in Bexley, New South Wales, B ...

in 1972 and completed a master's degree in IT management in 2002.

WiseTech

White co-founded WiseTech (then Eagle Developments International) with Maree Isaacs in 1994, having worked together previously. The company became established in the Australian logistics industry by 2000, and expanded into the US market in 2006 under the name CargoWise. They changed the name to WiseTech in 2011. It was listed on the ASX in 2016.

Sexual harassment and bullying allegations

In 2024 White was involved in a bankruptcy case with Linda Rogan, who alleged he expected sex in return for investing in her business. During the course of the relationship he bought her a

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

home, before locking her out when his then partner Zena Nasser found out about it, leaving Rogan out of pocket for the furnishing. In the following weeks multiple other women alleged he traded business advice for sex, often approaching them over

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

. Additionally, it was revealed that had a sexual relationship with an employee and bought her a "Lane Cove mansion", and an outgoing director accused him of "sustained intimidation and bullying". He subsequently stepped down as CEO of WiseTech. He was later cleared by WiseTech of bullying and intimidation allegations, and remained on as a consultant at his former salary. It was noted by the

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

that the "salacious revelations" had little effect on his position and influence. In February 2025, a Brazilian woman alleged that White gave her financial support and visa assistance in exchange for sexual relationship (settled in April), and three more women, including an employee and contractor, made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against White. In 2025 he blocked the release of a report into his conduct, and was promoted to executive chairman of the WiseTech board after most of the board resigned.

Other activities

Both White personally and his company invested in Grok Academy, an Australian technology education company led by James Curran, with the aim of providing free technology education to students, and encouraging other Australian technology companies to act similarly. White also began an earn-and-learn program which paid students to work at WiseTech while completing a degree.

Personal life

White lives in a mansion on a compound in Bexley based on the grounds of the house he grew up in. His mother, children and some old school friends live in separate houses on the site, which is energy-independent through a 100kW solar system and a 235kWh Tesla battery. White was married to Barbara Mason until their 2015 divorce. White married former criminal lawyer Zena Nasser in 2024 in the United States, and they have a child via surrogacy.

Net worth

In 2018, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' listed White among Australia's 50 richest people with an estimated

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

of over 1

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

. By January 2025, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at 9.2 billion; and his net worth was assessed on the ''

Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' 2025 Rich List at 10.59 billion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Richard 1955 births Living people Australian billionaires 20th-century Australian businesspeople 21st-century Australian businesspeople Businesspeople from Sydney