Jennifer Westacott is an Australian business executive. She has been chief executive of the

Business Council of Australia The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is an industry association that comprises the chief executives of more than 100 of Australia's biggest corporations. It was formed in 1983 by the merger of the Business Roundtable – a spin-off of the Comm ...

(BCA) since 2011. On 1 January 2023 she will become chancellor of

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network ...

, while continuing in her role with the BCA. She grew up in Springfield in New South Wales, Australia and completed her secondary education at Henry Kendall High School. She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. She also holds a Graduate Management Certificate from the Monash Mt Eliza Business School and was a

Chevening Scholar The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarshi ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Following a career in the NSW and Victorian public sectors, she was a senior partner at

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

in Sydney, Australia from 2005 to 2011, before assuming the role of chief executive of the Business Council of Australia. She is also a non-executive director of

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

Recognition

She received an honorary doctorate from the University of New South Wales in 2017. In 2018, Westacott was awarded an

Officer 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 Gove ...

(AO) for her service to policy development and reform, cross sector collaboration, equity and business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westacott, Jennifer Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian businesspeople University of New South Wales alumni Australian women in business