Michael "Mike" K. Heard is a prominent South Australian businessperson, best known for his directorship of electronics company,

Codan Codan Limited is a manufacturer and supplier of communications, metal detection, and mining technology, headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia with revenue of A$348.0 million (2020). Codan Limited is the communications business unit a ...

Ltd. In September 2016, he was appointed Chair of the Future Industries Institute at the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

Career

Heard was director of Codan from 1991 until 2010. During that time, the company grew to become a major developer and exporter of communications, metal detection and other electronic equipment with civilian and military applications. Under his direction, the company grew to achieve sales of $190 million annually. He attributed the company's export growth in part to a

Free Trade Agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occ ...

between Australia and the USA. He became a director of the Leaders Institute of South Australia in 2009 and held the position until July 2014. He was a member of the Premier's Science and Industry Council from 2012 until 2014. Heard is a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Technology 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 in September 2016, was appointed Chair of the Academy's SA Division Committee. Heard co-founded the SA Electronics Industry Association (now the Technology Industry Association) and became its inaugural president. Through his roles at Codan and the Electronics Industry Association, Heard partnered with the University of South Australia on various research, skills, and training endeavors "to help advance the state and national economies." He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University in 2013. In September 2016, he was appointed Chair of the Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia and as of October 2017 retains the position. Heard also served as a director of the laboratory services business Amdel Limited, and was a member of the Australian Space Council and the Australian National Telescope Steering Committee.

Nuclear industrial development

In December 2016, Mike Heard was one of a group of 21 prominent South Australians to sign an open letter to the Government of South Australia, which called to keep discussions open regarding the potential establishment of storage and disposal facilities for international

spent nuclear fuel Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and ...

in South Australia. The group's letter supported the recommendations of the 2015–16

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission is a Royal Commission into South Australia's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. It commenced on 19 March 2015 and delivered its final report to the Government of South Australia on 6 May 2016. The Comm ...

, but not the vote of the subsequent Citizen's Jury which rejected the pursuit of the nuclear waste storage proposition by a majority vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heard, Mike Living people Australian businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people)