David Baxby is the former CEO of

Global Blue Global Blue is a tourism shopping tax refund company headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland. The company is best known for tax-free shopping, a VAT/GST refund product and also operates in dynamic currency conversion, marketing services, point-of-sale ...

and former Co-CEO of the

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...

.Virgin.co
Farewell from Stephen and hello to Josh and David
, retrieved 2011-12-09. He was born on 12 September 1973 in Sydney, Australia. Baxby is currently based in Sydney. As Co-CEO of the Virgin Group, Baxby was responsible for the branded investing activities of the Virgin Group globally.

Roles

David Baxby was appointed Co-CEO of the Virgin Group alongside Josh Bayliss in 2011. He left that position in April 2014 to assume the role of CEO of Global Blue. He is a Non-Executive Director on the following Boards: * Non Executive Director of

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin Group, Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue ...

(formerly Virgin Blue) since September 2006 * Non Executive Director of

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...

since March 2007 * Non Executive Director of

Virgin Holidays Virgin Holidays Limited, trading as Virgin Atlantic Holidays, is a company within the Virgin Group that offers holidays worldwide with destinations including the US and Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and the Fa ...

since March 2007 * Non Executive Director of

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost U.S. airline that operated from 2007 until 2018, when it was acquired by Alaska Airlines. The airline primarily focused on operating low-fare service between cities on the West Coast and other major metropoli ...

since January 2009 David Baxby was a Non Executive Director of

Virgin Active Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom. History Virgin Active was founded in 1999. Their first club opened in Preston, Lancashire that year. I ...

Australia from 2008 until 2011,

Air Asia X AirAsia X (previously known as ''FlyAsianXpress Sdn. Bhd.''), is a long-haul budget airline based in Malaysia, and a sister company of AirAsia. It commenced operations on 2 November 2007 with its first service flown from Kuala Lumpur Internati ...

from 2006 until 2011 and Non Executive Director and then Chairman of

Virgin Money Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by two independent brand-licensees worldwide from the Virgin Group. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom. The brand formerly operated in South Af ...

from 2004 until 2008.

Early career

Following graduation, Baxby worked for 12 months as an Analyst for

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...

in the Corporate Finance Division. In 1996, Baxby transitioned to

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

and worked as an investment banker. During his tenure he was responsible for numerous gold royalty agreements, oversaw the IPO of Philex Mining on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

and was an expert valuer in the telecommunications field. Following his tenure at Rothschild, Baxby moved to

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

and spent the next eight years in both the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

offices as a Partner and executive director. Baxby achieved numerous accomplishments during his time at Goldman Sachs; * In 2002, he became the Co-Head of the consumer and industrial industry sectors team in the investment banking unit managing a team of 20 bankers and revenue of $75m per annum * He advised Fosters, Promina,

ANZ ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ** ...

, the Australian Government,

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Luxottica Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest company in the eyewear industry. It is based in Milan, Italy. Luxottica is a vertically integrated company, which has been described as a monopoly—it designs, m ...

and Goldman Sachs. In 2003 David Baxby advised the Virgin Group on the IPO and sale of a 50% stake in Virgin Blue.Bond University
Graduate Profile for David Baxby
, Retrieved 24 June 2008. It was through his involvement in this matter that Baxby became acquainted with

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

. In 2004, Richard Branson asked Baxby to come and work for the Virgin Group directly and he joined as CEO of Virgin Management Asia Pacific. In addition to this, he was also appointed as the Global Head of Aviation, based out of

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Sydney and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. David Baxby, returned to Australia for the launch of the Virgin Group and was involved in the early days of its airline operations. In 2006 he moved to Shanghai for two years to explore new opportunities in the region and oversee Virgin's operations in China. In 2008, Baxby relocated to Geneva, Switzerland to assume responsibilities for Virgin's Aviation investments. In 2011, David Baxby was appointed Co-Chief Executive. Baxby is responsible for the global branded investment activities of the Virgin Group. In 2014, Baxby was appointed CEO of

.Global Blue names David Baxby as CEO
lobal Blue

Education

Baxby attended

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher ed ...

and received a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Finance and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). He graduated in 1994.

Accomplishments

In July 2012, Baxby was awarded the Robert Stable Alumni Medal from Bond University for exceptional achievements by a graduate. In addition to this, at 32 he was the youngest person on the BRW Expatriates under 45 list. Baxby has also been the recipient of numerous academic awards. He was the runner-up Valedictorian, Law and Business School scholarship holder, on the Deans List as well as achieving multiple academic prizes.

Hobbies and charitable associations

Baxby is an avid cyclist and has participated in the Starlight Children's Foundation's ‘Tour de Kids’ for the past 8 years. The 2013 fundraising effort will see Baxby circumnavigating Tasmania. In addition to this, he is also the Chairman of

Virgin Unite Virgin Unite is the working name of The Virgin Foundation, the independent charitable arm of the Virgin Group. Created by Richard Branson and Virgin employees in September 2004, Virgin Unite pools volunteering efforts from across the Virgin Gro ...

in the Asia-Pacific region, which principally focuses of youth at risk, in particular homelessness and drug dependency. David Baxby is a keen skier and enjoys travelling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxby, David Living people 1973 births Australian chief executives Bond University alumni People educated at John Paul College (Brisbane)