Simon McKeon, 2012

Simon McKeon (b. 1955), corporate chair, investment banker and philanthropic entrepreneur, gained degrees in commerce and law in Melbourne before beginning a very successful career in banking and finance. In 1994 he became part-time Executive Chairman of the Macquarie Group in Melbourne to begin his formal involvement with beneficent causes and organisations. President of the Australian Takeovers Panel from 1999 to 2010, over the same period he was Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Australia; Chairman of the Point Nepean Community Trust; Founding Chairman of Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia; Chairman of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria; Chairman of MYOB Limited; and Director of Vision Fund International. He is deeply involved in the Global Poverty Project Australia, a director of Red Dust Role Models, which works with remote Indigenous communities, and chair of Business for Millennium Development. Still Executive Chairman of the Macquarie Group, he currently chairs the CSIRO. McKeon held the world speed sailing record for some years and is a patron of the Australian Olympic sailing team. He was Australian of the Year for 2011, following Patrick McGorry and preceding Geoffrey Rush.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012
© Dave Tacon