Michael Easson

Michael Bernard Easson AM (born 22 March 1955 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), is an Australian businessman. On 8 June 1998 Easson was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM).^[2]

Career

Michael Easson is a specialist in property and infrastructure investments.

In 1978 he was Research Assistant to the Hon. John Brown MP^[1]

He then joined the Labor Council of NSW as Education & Research Officer, then Assistant Secretary (1984) and Secretary (1989-1994).

He joined the private sector in 1994, recruited by Sydney Olympic Bid Chief Rod McGeogh for law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, and serving on various Boards, including as an independent Director on Macquarie’s Industrial Property fund. Specialising as a company director with businesses in infrastructure, construction and investment, along with Sydney businessmen Shane and Adam Geha, Easson formed EG Property, of which he is Executive Chairman. EG has three divisions, property advisory, funds management, and development. The advisory division, EG Property Group, advises large property owners about land use change. The funds division, EG Funds Management,^[3] directly invests in real estate with a focus on land use change associated with nearby infrastructure change – such as rail. The development business project manages the construction of mixed use and residential properties. The funds management division has approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management with offices in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Austin, TX.

Easson presently serves as non-Executive Chair of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), Chair of Icon Water, formerly known as the ACTEW Corporation, as Chair of ActewAGL, the energy distribution and retail business in Canberra, and as a director of ANZ Stadium ^[4]

From 2012 to 2014 he was Chair of the Ministerial Council on Business Skills Migration.^[5]

Michael Easson has served on several top 50 Australian and other boards; his experience includes as a director NSW State Superannuation Board and predecessor boards (1986-1995), the State Rail Authority of NSW (1989-1993), NRMA Insurance (1993 to 1996), Macquarie-Goodman Industrial Fund (1994-2003), Barclay Mowlem Australia (1998-2000), InTech (1998-2003), Macquarie Infrastructure Group (1996 to 2007), Kaldor family company boards in apparel, chemicals and office works (1997 to 2004), Metro Transport Sydney (2002-2006), Sydney Roads Group (2006-2007), and the ING Group Real Estate Group in Australia (2004-2012).

He was the inaugural Chairman of the NSW Urban Taskforce, an urban planning policy advocate group in Australia, from 2000 to 2002.

Trade union related

He was Secretary (i.e., head) of the Labor Council of New South Wales (now Unions NSW) from 1989 to 1994. At the age of 34, he was elected as the youngest ever Secretary. He elected Vice President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, 1993 to 1994, and Senior Vice President of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), 1993 to 1995. Whilst at the Labor Council he was Managing Director of Radio Station 2KY (1989 to 1994), and in 1989 co-founded both Asset Super (since 2012 part of CARE Super) & Chifley Financial Services.

After resigning from the Labor Council in 1994, Michael Easson pursued business, academic and other interests.

• 1978 – 1984 Education and Publicity Officer, Labor Council of NSW
• 1984 – 1989 Assistant Secretary, Labor Council of NSW
• 1989 – 1994 Secretary, Labor Council of NSW
• 1978 – 1987 a member for the NSW Council of the Trade Union Trading Authority (TUTA)^[1]

Business related

• 1989 – 1994 member of the Economic Planning & Advisory Council (EPAC).
• Advisor, Corrs Chambers Westgarth;
• Advisor, Hill and Knowlton;
• Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Management University of NSW;
• Director, State Superannuation Investment and Management Corporation;
• Director, NRMA Insurance;
• Director, Tourism Task Force.^[1]
• Fellow of the
  • Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD)
  • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS).

Michael Easson was a foundation Member of the National Competition Council (1996 to 1999) and an Assistant Commissioner and Commissioner of several Productivity Reports, including the review of Work, Health and Safety in Australia (1994-1995). He served as Chairman of the Review of Commonwealth Payments to Statutory Authorities and Special Purpose Payment to the States from 1995 to 1996. According to then Finance Minister John Fahey in 1997, this resulted in one-off saving of $400 million to the Commonwealth Government.

He was Adjunct Professor of Management at the Australian Graduate School of Management from 1994 to 1998 and served as senior Vice President of UNICEF Australia from 1998 to 2002 and as a member of the Board of the Museum of Contemporary Arts (1999-2000) and as a Director of the Sydney Symphony (1995-1996).

Early life and education

Michael Easson was born in Sydney on 22 March 1955. He matriculated at Sydney Technical High School in 1972.^[1]

Easson graduated with First Class Honours in Politics from the University of New South Wales in 1976. In 1981 he completed a Trade Union Program at the Harvard Business School and completed management and finance programs at Stanford Business School in 1997. More recently he finished a Masters in Science in Sustainable Development (with Distinction) from Campion Hall, University of Oxford, and a PhD in history from the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of NSW. In 2016, Michael was awarded a second PhD in Transport and Urban Planning from the University of Melbourne.

He is married to former federal politician Mary Easson (Member for Lowe, from 1993 to 1996). They have two adult daughters.

References

External links

• Michael Easson Official Website
• EG Funds Management
• ACTEW Board Members
• ANZ Stadium Board Members
• Macquarie Infrastructure Group Board
• ING Real Estate Board