Robert Geoffrey Gerard AO (born 3 January 1945) is a businessman, was Chairman of the Gerard Family's company Gerard Industries Pty Ltd, a former member of the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. T ...

, and ran for the leadership of the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in 1987. He was born and grew up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, and attended

Prince Alfred College , motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure , established = 1869 , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding , headmaster = David Roberts , chaplain = Reverend ...

Philanthropy

Gerard is a noted South Australian philanthropist. He is a Founder Member of the Quarter Club, which raises over $250,000 per annum for Australian

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

and

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

athletes. Robert is a major supporter of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia and in 2016 he was awarded a Gold Distinguished Service Medal. Robert served as a national Board director and SA Chair (2002 - 2012) and President of the Friends of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award from 1997 - 2001

Family history

Robert's grandfather Alfred Gerard established the

Clipsal Clipsal is an Australian brand of electrical accessories. Their primary factory, once located at Bowden, moved to Gepps Cross, South Australia. Smaller factories in South Australia at Nuriootpa, Strathalbyn, Wingfield, Bayswater and in Victoria ...

brand in

in 1920. Under the nearly 50 years of leadership by Geoff Gerard (Alfred's son and Robert's father), the business made several manufacturing breakthroughs and expanded. Robert Gerard took over leadership in 1976, and expanded the business throughout Australia and South-east Asia, and into Hong Kong, India, South Africa, the UK and Russia. By 2003, Gerard Industries was 50:50 owned by the Gerard family and the Singapore-listed Clipsal Industries Holdings (CIH). It was also still involved in a 14-year dispute with the

Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuati ...

(ATO).Gerards switch out of Clipsal stake.
TheAge.com.au, 2003-08-26. Requiring funds to "repay debt, build new businesses and let the Clipsal brand grow globally", in 2004 the Gerard family "opted to sell its stake to the French company

Schneider Electric Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational company that specializes in digital automation and energy management. It addresses homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation ...

, as a sharemarket float did not look an attractive option". The family has retained control of "a raft of other businesses accumulated over the years".

Simon Gerard Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

is the son of Robert Gerard, and was appointed chief executive officer of Gerard Lighting in 2010

Reserve Bank board appointment

In March 2003, Robert Gerard was appointed to the Board of the

Reserve Bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

by the Federal Treasurer (of the then governing Liberal Party),

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving treasurer in Australia' ...

. He resigned on 2 December 2005 amidst questions about a 14-year dispute between his family's business, Gerard Industries, and the

. Prior to Gerard's appointment, the treasurer had required Gerard to produce evidence that he had no outstanding taxation issues. The letter produced stated that Gerard had no outstanding personal taxation issues. However, it did not mention outstanding business taxation issues. Some, including the then Opposition Labor Party's Treasury Spokesman,

Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954), often colloquially referred to as Swanny, is an Australian politician who is National President of the Labor Party. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Labor ...

, charged that his original appointment to the board was politically motivated, citing Mr. Gerard's generous donations to the Liberal Party, in particular his donations to the state Liberal party in South Australia. Since Gerard's resignation, his donations to the party have ceased, allowing for only the most basic of election campaigns at the 2006 South Australian election.

Nuclear industrial development

In December 2016, Rob Gerard was one of a group of 21 prominent South Australians to sign an open letter to the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

, 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 an ...

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:Gerard, Robert 1945 births Living people Australian businesspeople People educated at Prince Alfred College