Chancellor Professor Peter Shergold AC

The UWS Board of Trustees elected Professor Peter Shergold AC as the new Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney beginning 1 January 2011.

Peter received a B.A. Hons (First Class) in Politics and American Studies from the University of Hull; an M.A. in History at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle; and a PhD in Economics from London School of Economics.

In 1972 he migrated to Australia to take up a lectureship at the University of New South Wales and in 1985 became Head of the Department of Economic History. He published extensively on British and American labour history, convict transportation to NSW and immigration to Australia.  He also taught for periods at the University of Illinois, Southampton University, London School of Economics and Pennsylvania State University and has twice been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship.

He was elected a Fellow of The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2005. He has also been made a Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, the Institute of Public Administration Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Management.

Leaving academic life Peter became a CEO in the Australian Public Service for two decades, working with Prime Ministers and Ministers from both sides of politics. In 1987 he established the Office of Multicultural Affairs. From 1991 he headed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and from July 1994 he was Chief Executive Officer of Comcare. He was appointed Public Service Commissioner from September 1995 to February 1998. He served as Secretary of the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business from 1998 until 2002 and then became the Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training.

In February 2003, Peter was asked by the Prime Minister, John Howard, to serve as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, becoming the nation’s most senior public servant.  He did so for 5 years. During that time the so-called ‘Shergold Report’ (actually the report of the Task Group on Emissions Trading) was presented to – and accepted by –  the Commonwealth government.

Peter was made a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for public service on Australia Day 1996 and received the Centennial Medal in 2003. In 2007, he received Australia's highest award, the Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) for service to the community. The honour acknowledged Peter as a significant leader of change and innovation in the public sector, particularly through the development and implementation of a whole-of-government approach to policy development and program delivery.

In addition to his UWS role Peter now serves on the Boards of AMP (a major, publicly-listed wealth management company) and Corrs Chambers Westgarth (a leading law firm). He is the Chair of a capital start-up in the area of quantum security, QuintessenceLabs.  In the not-for-profit field he is on the Board of the General Sir John Monash Foundation and is the Deputy Chair of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. In the government arena he chairs the National Centre for Vocational Education Research and the Aged Care Reform Implementation Council. He headed the Ministerial Expert Group on Gambling for the Commonwealth Government, the Social Investment Expert Advisory Group for the NSW government and, in Western Australia, the Premier’s Partnership Forum. Peter remains Chair of the NSW Public Service Commission Advisory Board, serves on the Queensland Public Sector Renewal Board and recently completed a report on community service sector reform for the Victorian government.  He is also on the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.