Graham Smorgon is a prominent Australian businessman and a member of the Smorgon family – one of Australia's wealthiest and most powerful and influential families.

Business career

He was appointed as Chairman of Smorgon Consolidated in 1994, and was the chairman of the Smorgon Steel Group in 2006 when it was split and sold to

OneSteel Arrium was an Australian mining and materials company, employing nearly 10,000 workers, that went into voluntary administration in 2016 with debts of more than $2 billion. In 2017 it was acquired by British-owned Liberty House Group. Hist ...

and

BlueScope BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002. History BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueSco ...

. Smorgon then went on to become Chairman of the GBM Group, Smorgon Consolidated Investment and Scental Pacific. Smorgon is also a director of Incitec Pivot Limited. Smorgon's other roles and positions included Director of

Federation Square Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...

, Deputy Chairman of Melbourne Health, Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Trustee of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.

Sports Administration career

Carlton Football Club

In 2002, Smorgon joined the Board of directors at the Carlton Football Club. In April 2006, Smorgon took over the Presidency of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

after Ian Collins stood down. He held this position until he failed to win a board position in the February 2007 club election that elected Richard Pratt as President of the Carlton Football Club. Smorgon's tenure as President of the club was unstable because Carlton struggled to maintain off-field stability with club debt, as well as continuous poor on-field results.

Order of Australia

Smorgon was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

(AM) in the

2013 Australia Day Honours The 2013 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2013 by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Australia Day Honours, the first major honours list for a calendar year, are announced on Australia Day (26 January) every ye ...

Personal life

As a member of the Smorgon family, He is also the grandson of Moses Smorgon, who emigrated from the Russian empire in the 1920s with his brother Naum; Naum's son

Victor Smorgon Victor Smorgon (2 January 1913 – 3 July 2009) was an Australian industrialist, arts patron and benefactor, who was founder and former head of the Victor Smorgon Group. Biography Smorgon was born in 1913 in Heidelberg, a German settlement ...

co-founded Smorgon Consolidated Industries. He is also the cousin of David Smorgon, the former executive and director of Smorgon Consolidated Industries and the former President of

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

Football Club. .

References

Australian Jews Carlton Football Club administrators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Order of Australia {{Australia-business-bio-stub 20th-century Australian businesspeople Australian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Melbourne