John Barry Prescott AC FTSE (born

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 ...

, 22 October 1940) is an Australian retired businessman and corporate bureaucrat who was managing director and CEO of

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

from 1991 to 1998. Over his career, he has held numerous positions including chairman of Queensland Rail and

ASC Pty Ltd ASC Pty Ltd, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, is an Australian government business enterprise involved with Australian naval shipbuilding, headquartered in Osborne, South Australia. It is notable for the construction and main ...

, and director of

Newmont Mining Corporation Newmont Corporation is a gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it owns gold mines in Nevada, Colorado, Ontario, Quebec, Mexico, the Domin ...

., Australian Submarine Corporation
At the time of the Symposium, (November 1999), Mr John B Prescott AC FTSE was Executive chairman, Horizon Private Equity Pty Ltd.

Education

Prescott was educated at North Sydney Boys High School where in 1957 as a pupil he was appointed Deputy Librarian. He received a Bachelor of Commerce (Industrial Relations) 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 ...

in 1961.

Career

~1958–1998: BHP

Prescott was an executive of

, having been with that company for over 40 years including as an executive director for 10 years and as managing director and chief executive officer from 1991 to 1998. Prescott's time as CEO of BHP coincided with a number of failed investments which lost the company almost $10 billion.'

2000–2009: Australian Submarine Corporation

Chairman (2000 – 30 June 2009). Prescott served as chairman of Australian Submarine Corporation, later rebranded

. , pp.2–5, 2004 Annual Report, ASC Pty Ltd

2006–2015: Queensland Rail / Aurizon

From 2006 to 2010 Prescott was Chairman of the

Government of Queensland The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy was form ...

owned Queensland Rail, that managed the state's passenger and freight railway network.Daniel Hurst (21 November 2012) "", SMH Business During this time he oversaw the separation of the company into two separate entities: Queensland Rail that operated passenger services and QR National that operated freight services, becoming chairman of the latter. Under Prescott's chairmanship the latter was listed on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

as Aurizon raising $4.6bn in what was the largest

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

(IPO) in Australia that year.Cynthia Koons (20 November 2010) ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' He was chairman of Aurizon from 2010 to 2015., Australian Business – article is behind a paywall Under Prescott's Chairmanship the company grew significantly. The company's operating ratio improved from 91%, QR National in 2010 to 74% in 2015 and a turn around in safety saw the LTIFR reduced by 97% in this time., Aurizon Holdings Limited Aurizon's share price increased by 95% to $4.96, and under Prescott's stewardship, total shareholder returns increased by 117% from IPO to 30 June 2015.

Other corporate

1998–?: Horizon Private Equity

From 1998 Prescott was the executive chairman of Horizon Private Equity.

1999–2013: Normandy Mining / Newmont Mining

Prescott served as a non-executive director of Normandy Mining from April 1999 to 2002. He served as an Independent Director of

from 2002 to 2013 after it purchased Normandy Mining.

Other

Prescott has been a Global Counsellor of The Conference Board since 2001, a member of the Global Advisory Council since 2013, and a member of the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal since 2010. Other Directorships and consulting/advisory positions have included Conference Board USA,

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, Booz Allen Hamilton, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Proudfoot Consulting and Asia Pacific Advisory Committee of

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

Honours and awards

Prescott was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1996 (AC), 11 June 1996, It's an Honour. Citation: AC. For service to the manufacturing and mining industries as managing director of Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited and as an active contributor to various industry councils. and received the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2003., 1 January 2001, It's an Honour. Citation: For service to Australian society in industry. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...

, and the

Australian Institute of Management The Australian Institute of Management Education and Training Pty Ltd, commonly known as AIM or AIMET, is an Australian education provider. Its courses include business, management and leadership. AIM offers short courses, nationally accredited qu ...

. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

in 1994 and an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of New South Wales awarded in 1995. In 2016 Monash University inaugurated a series of public lectures in his name which focus on human resources, industrial relations and related areas., 10 October 2016, Monash Business School, Monash University The University of NSW awards two scholarships named after Prescott – the John Prescott Scholarship in Human Resource Management, Australian Universities.com.au and the John Prescott Outstanding Teaching Innovation Award., pg.148, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Aging Research He has also held the positions of director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and member then director of the Business Council of Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, John B University of New South Wales alumni Companions of the Order of Australia Australian businesspeople 1940 births Living people Newmont Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering BHP people Fellows of the Australian Institute of Company Directors People educated at North Sydney Boys High School