Peter Shergold

Shergold (right) with then Prime Minister John Howard at a 2005 meeting in the United States.

Peter Roger Shergold AC (born 27 September 1946) is an Australian academic and former public servant. Until February 2008, he was the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), and as such was the nation's most senior public servant and a key adviser to the Prime Minister of Australia. He was succeeded by Terry Moran, who had been the head of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Education and early career

Shergold earned a Bachelor of Arts (first-class) in politics and American studies from the University of Hull, and later a Master of Arts degree in American History from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle and a Doctor of Philosophy from the London School of Economics. After moving to Australia, he became a lecturer in economics at the University of New South Wales in 1972. He was appointed as head of the university's economic history department in 1985.

In 1987 he began working for the Australian federal government, firstly as head of the newly established Office of Multicultural Affairs. Having become deputy secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1990, he was appointed the CEO of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1991–1994) and Comcare, a federal government workers' compensation authority (1994–1995). From 1995 to 1998, he was the Commissioner of the Australian Public Service. He has also been the Secretary of the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (1998–2002) and the Department of Education, Science and Training (2002–03). In 2003 he was appointed Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Post-PM&C career

After retiring from the PM&C Secretary position in February 2008, Shergold became the first head of the Centre for Social Impact, a joint collaboration between the business schools of the University of New South Wales, Melbourne Business School, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Western Australia. In that capacity he is a frequent media commentator on the relationship between governments and not-for-profit organisations, new forms of social business and entrepreneurship and corporate responsibility and accountability.He co-hosts 'Social Business' on SKYNews Business Channel.

From 2006-08, Shergold served as the chairman of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. He is currently a non-executive director of financial services company AMP Limited and Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He is chairman of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and serves on the boards of the General Sir John Monash Foundation and the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence. He chairs the ethics committee of the Fundraising Institute Australia. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996, and a Companion of the Order in 2007, as well as receiving the Centenary Medal in 2001.

In 2011 Shergold became the Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney. He was also appointed as chairman of New South Wales' Public Service Commission by Premier Barry O'Farrell.

External links

• Biography - University of Western Sydney