Robert Law Joss (born June 5, 1941) is an American businessman, banker, and former university administrator.Stanford University faculty webpage
/ref>
/ref>Forbes
/ref>Bloomberg BusinessWeek
/ref>

Early life and education

Robert Joss received his BA degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1965. A Sloan Fellow at Stanford in 1965–1966, he received his MBA degree there in 1967 and his PhD degree in 1970.

Career

After service as a White House Fellow, he was deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. In 1971, he began his banking career with

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

Bank, rising to the post of vice chairman in 1986. In 1993 he left

to accept the position of

chief executive officer 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 ...

and managing director of Westpac, one of Australia's largest banks. During six years with Westpac 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 ...

, he helped modernize and streamline operations and refocus the bank's business culture to emphasize teamwork, open lines of communication, customer focus and community support. He returned to the United States in 1999 to become Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, where he remained until 2009. He is currently a member of the school's faculty, as an

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

. He formerly served on the boards of Westpac, Wells Fargo, Agilent Technologies, Inc., BEA Systems, E.piphany, Inc., Makena Capital and Shanghai Commercial Bank, Ltd. of Hong Kong and

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

. He currently serves on the board of directors of Citigroup, Bechtel, Makena Capital Management and C.M. Capital. He also serves as co-chair of the advisory council for the U.S. Studies Centre at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He has served as chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association.

Honours

On 26 January 2016, Joss was named 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 ...

for eminent service to business and finance through executive roles with major banking institutions, and as a contributor to taxation policy and reform, to education as an academic and administrator, to professional organisations, and to the community. Joss was also awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society through banking and reform of the Australian taxation system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joss, Robert L. 1941 births Living people University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Wells Fargo employees Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni American academic administrators American bank presidents Directors of Citigroup Westpac people Stanford Sloan Fellows Directors of SRI International Companions of the Order of Australia