James Strong

James Strong has been described as the first of a new breed of 21st century super power chairmen.

He is Chairman of Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG), Chairman of Ripcurl, Chairman of the Business-Arts Council and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Woolworths. He is perhaps best known as the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Airways Limited, Australia’s largest airline. Under his leadership Qantas was voted Number 1 airline in the world. He is also a former Chairman of IATA, the International Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry, and the first Australian to be honoured with this appointment.

James was formerly the Group Chief Executive of the Magnum Corporation in New Zealand. He has also served as the National Chairman of Partners of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, a national law firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and London. After training as an Officer Cadet at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, James worked for six years in industrial relations in Brisbane with the Sugar Industry Employer Association, before joining the mining company Nabalco, the management company of the Gove Project, then the largest single development project in Australia. In 1983 he was appointed Executive Director of the Australian Mining Council (AMIC), based in Canberra. AMIC represents about 140 mining companies throughout Australia in developing and presenting industry policies to Government, the media and the general public.

At the beginning of 1986 James Strong was appointed General Manager of (the then) TAA and subsequently Chief Executive of Australian Airlines Limited until September 1989. During that time he engineered the well-publicised metamorphosis of the company's name, image and performance. His role in the amalgamation of Australian Airlines with Qantas further added to his national and international status as one of the leading CEO's in Australia. In 1991 he was the recipient of the prestigious Sir Charles McGrath Award, and won the 1998 Monash University & Mount Eliza Alumni Award for Leadership.In 1999, James was awarded the Smithsonian Institute’s Laureate Hall of Fame Award for Commercial Air Transport. James Strong is renowned as a brilliant strategist, a clever publicist and an articulate speaker. His addresses are tailored to suit the specific brief, but his titles include: Managing For Profitability; The Management Challenge for Australia; Marketing into the Next Ten Years - Winning Strategies; Changing the Culture of an Organisation. At the beginning of 1986 James Strong was appointed General Manager of (the then) TAA and subsequently Chief Executive of Australian Airlines Limited until September 1989. During that time he engineered the well-publicised metamorphosis of the company's name, image and performance. His role in the amalgamation of Australian Airlines with Qantas further added to his national and international status as one of the leading CEO's in Australia.

Presentations:

TOPICS:
• Changing the Culture of an Organisation - Winning Strategies
• Managing for Profitability
• Marketing Into the Next Ten Years
• The Management Challenge for Australia