AGSM Professor Jeremy Davis to retire

AUTHOR: Editor   DATE: 08.12.05   ISSUE 3, 2005

Professor Davis played a leadership role and made outstanding contributions to both AGSM and UNSW during the last 25 years. He was AGSM Dean from 1980 to 1989 and appointed AMP Professor of Management when he retired as Dean. He was a member of the UNSW Academic Board for a decade and served as its President for two terms. Professor Davis was a member of the UNSW Council for 8 years.

Professor Davis' experience as a Board Director and close ties to the business community have enabled him to bring the business world into the classroom.

Photo: Professor Jeremy Davis

Professor Davis pioneered a number of initiatives to increase AGSM’s independence, autonomy and accountability while he was the School’s Dean. He established AGSM’s alumni association and the MBA (Executive), and introduced performance appraisals for AGSM faculty well before they were introduced across the university sector. He built AGSM's reputation both within the University of New South Wales and business community, and successfully lobbied the Federal Government for deregulation of the academic sector, particularly student fees and academic salaries.

During the last 15 years Professor Davis has developed and taught a number of innovative, highly regarded courses in the areas of strategy and negotiation. His successful teaching style is underpinned by a belief that academics need to strike a balance between providing students with intellectual and conceptual structures and giving them learning opportunities to master these concepts. Over the years his elective Negotiations and Strategy has consistently ranked as one of the School’s most popular courses, and is fondly remembered by alumni as a program that has made a profound difference to the way they conduct themselves both personally and professionally. Professor Davis has also taught Strategy, Strategy Implementation, Strategy and E- commerce and Venture Capital, and published a number of book chapters and journal articles.

Professor Davis' experience as a Board Director and close ties to the business community have enabled him to bring the business world into the classroom, providing MBA students and Executive Program participants with unique insights and learning opportunities.

Professor Davis is Deputy Chairman of AMWIN Management Pty Ltd and a Director of SP AusNet Group, Transurban Group and CHAMP Ventures Ltd. He was previously Chairman of AIDC Limited, Capral Aluminium Limited, Gradipore Limited and XRT Limited, and a Director of the Australian Industry Development Corporation, ASX and Nucleus Limited. He was formerly President of the Strategic Management Society and a Board member of the St. James Ethics Centre and Australian Institute of Company Directors. He also chaired a number of high-level Federal government committees.

Professor Davis started his business career with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) at a time the company was small and rapidly growing. He worked with BCG in Boston for two years then moved to Paris to help set up BCG’s Paris office. He was later promoted to San Francisco as Managing Partner and eventually returned to Paris as Managing Partner. He left BCG to take up his appointment as AGSM Dean.

Professor Davis' distinguished professional life was preceded by an equally exceptional academic record. He was awarded the Sydney University Medal in 1964 (Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours in Accounting) and topped the Dean’s list at Stanford University when he completed his MBA in 1966. He commenced a Ph.D. at Stanford but discontinued his studies when he was recruited by BCG.