David Andrew Newington Epstein (born 9 January 1963) is an Australian public affairs specialist, company director and corporate adviser who is Chair o
Communications Compliance Limited
an independent consumer compliance monitoring body for the telecommunications industry.

Biography

He was educated at The

Geelong College , motto_translation = Thus one goes to the stars , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day and boarding, Christian school , denomination = in association with the Unitin ...

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, and

The Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

( UPenn). Epstein began his career as a political adviser, serving as Private Secretary to

John Dawkins John Sydney "Joe" Dawkins, AO (born 2 March 1947) is an Australian former politician who was Treasurer in the Keating Labor government from December 1991 to December 1993. He is notable for his reforms of tertiary education as Minister for E ...

in the Employment, Education and Training portfolio, where he was involved in the campaign to introduce Australia's Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), then serving as Director of the Ministerial Media Group and National Media Liaison Service for

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

politicians Bob Hawke and

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

during their terms as Prime Minister of Australia. He was then Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Federal Opposition

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabine ...

. In 1999, he left politics to head both the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association and Australian Telecommunications Industry Association. He was then recruited to Macquarie Corporate Telecommunications, to whom he remained an adviser after becoming a partner and Director o
Government Relations Australia
a corporate advisory firm. In June 2007, he was appointed Chief of Staff and Principal Adviser to

politician

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, first heading the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, then the Prime Minister's Office. US State Department officials reported on his "significant" role in the Australian Labor Party campaign during the 2007 Australian Federal Election. In 2008 he was ranked second in the Australian Financial Review's Covert Power list. Epstein resigned as Prime Minister's Chief of staff in late 2008 before accepting the position of Group Executive for Government and Corporate Affairs at

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

Airways Limited, and served on the Qantas Executive Committee. While at Qantas he managed the company's public response to the QF32 engine explosion incident, later attracting recognition from the pilot of the aircraft. Reportedly, he was also involved in negotiating the release of

Jetstar Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, operating as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline (self-described as "value-based") headquartered in Melbourne. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by airline Virgi ...

executives in Vietnam in the wake of Jetstar Pacific losing $US31 million on disputed fuel-hedging contracts in 2008. Epstein was recruited to

BHP Billiton 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 ...

in late 2010 by CEO Marius Kloppers, to a new role as company's Head of Group Public Affairs This was speculated to be part of a response to the failure of $US40 billion bid for

PotashCorp The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, also known as PotashCorp, was a company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company merged with Calgary-based Agrium to form Nutrien, in a transaction that closed on January 1, 2018. The company was t ...

following a backlash over foreign ownership from Canadian politicians. During Epstein's tenure, BHP Billiton overtook Microsoft in size, by market capitalization, and reported a $22 billion annual profit. He left this role in September 2011, but remained a strategy and public affairs adviser to companies, serving as Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for Singtel

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited (commonly referred to as Optus) is an Australian telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singaporean telecommunications company Singte ...

until 2017. He is now Executive Director o
The Chifley Research Centre
the official think-tank of the

and a company director. David Epstein is a non-executive director of the European Australian Business Council
Communications Compliance Limited
and The Asia Society Australia Centre, and sat on boards of th
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
(TIO Limited) and th
Committee for Sydney
until 2018, and for three terms at

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder ...

until 2019. He is also a member of the advisory board for th
Headon Photofestival Foundation
and was appointed a
Adjunct Professor
in the Deakin Business School by Deakin University in January 2019. In July 2022, David Epstein has been appointed as the new Deputy Chair of the Open Gardens Victoria (OGV) Committee of Management, and will take over as Chair in 2023.

Publications

No Longer At The Centre: Australia’s real relationship with Asia
', in
Disruptive Asia
' (Vol.1) © Asia Society Australia 2017.
''Bob Hawke's Asia Legacy'', in ''The Lowy Interpreter'', Lowy Institute, 2019

References

External links

*https://www.afr.com/politics/covert-power-20080926-j6zcx *http://www.theherald.com.au/news/national/national/general/enormous-clout-but-not-without-obligation/2078867.aspx *http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/big-firm-big-profit-big-problem-20110216-1awpu.html *http://m.theage.com.au/business/bhp-losing-iron-grip-20111019-1m83g.html *http://www.opera-australia.org.au/aboutus/opera_australia/board *http://www.smh.com.au/national/from-politics-to-business-comes-a-special-insight-20110724-1hvfs.html *http://www.eabc.com.au/david-epstein-2/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, David 1963 births Living people Australian corporate directors Australian National University alumni Qantas people Australian political consultants Australian Labor Party