Business School

Our vision is:

To be one of the most influential Business Schools in Australia and Asia.

Our mission is:

To “advance the welfare and the prosperity of the people through excellence in business education”.
Through the achievement of its mission the School will: 
(a) inspire and propel some of the most talented students from around the world to become the respected and innovative academic, community and business leaders of tomorrow; 
(b) provide an energising culture of international excellence in research, teaching and learning; 
(c) promote an ethical and entrepreneurial spirit; and 
(d) be a strong positive influence for alumni, business, industry, government and the professions.

Assurance of learning

The UWA Business School is strongly committed to enhancing the student learning experience through comprehensive assurance of learning procedures embedded within the curriculum. Each program has broad goals and specific objectives that align with the Australian Qualifications Framework, Discipline based learning standards and the UWA Educational Principles.

The program learning goals include:

• discipline specific knowledge and understanding
• cognitive, technical research skills for lifelong learning
• oral and written communication skills
• ability to work as part of a team
• reflective skills
• awareness of ethical, cultural, social and sustainability issues
• leadership and strategic capabilities in a local and global context (MBA)

Find out more

BE 1969 BCom 1973 Hon DCom 2014 (The University of Western Australia); MBA 1975 (Harvard Business School)

David MacKinlay is a former executive and independent corporate adviser in the UK engineering sector.

He has first degrees in Engineering and Commerce from UWA and spent his early career in the mining industry in Western Australia. After receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School, he worked with management consultants, McKinsey & Co in London. Much of the remainder of his career has been spent in London, working with listed UK international engineering and technology companies in divisional chief executive, M&A and strategy roles. However, in 1985 he relocated to Perth to take the position of Managing Director of Western Australian Development Corporation, which he held until 1989. 

In 1990, David returned to London to join Vickers PLC as Director of Development. This was followed by senior executive roles at Vitec plc and Roxboro plc. Between 2000 and 2013 he carried out advisory assignments in M&A and strategic product/market evaluation and undertook evaluations of private equity investment opportunities. At that time, he was an Associate Fellow at Oxford University's Saïd Business School where he helped MBA students shape their careers.

While a student at UWA, David was Sports Council President in 1967 and President of the Guild of Undergraduates in 1968. 

He was a member of the UWA Senate from 1985 to 1989. He has been Chairman of Friends of UWA in the UK and Europe since 2007 and Chairman of UWA Business School’s Ambassadorial Council UK Chapter (ACUK) since 2009, for which he represents ACUK on the UWA Business School Board. He also advises UWA MBA students on their careers.

BA 1979; MBA 1985 (The University of Western Australia)

 

Chris Walton is the Chairman of KazMunayGas NC, a large, vertically integrated oil and gas company. In addition, he is the Audit Chair of the UK MoD’s Submarine Delivery Agency and a non-executive member of the Royal Navy’s National Shipbuilding Strategy Client Board. 

 

Pro bono, Chris is a trustee of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London Charity. He has recently stepped down as the Interim Chairman of the UK Institute of Directors. 

 

He is an experienced company chairman: Lothian Buses Plc, the operator of Edinburgh’s bus and tram network; Goldenport Holdings, a former UK-listed shipping company; and Asia Resource Minerals Plc, a former UK-listed coal miner. In addition, he was the Senior Independent Director and Audit Chair of Rockhopper Exploration Plc, a listed oil exploration company, and Audit Chair of the Kazakhstan State Railways, the world’s 19th-largest railway system. 

 

In the past, he has been a non-executive member of the Audit Committee of the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which was responsible for the “digital economy”, broadcasting, arts, sport and the 2012 London Olympic Games. In addition, Chris was a member of the Bank of England’s Regional Economic Advisory Panel (SE England & Anglia) from 2002 to 2005. 

 

As Finance Director of easyJet Plc, Chris successfully directed its IPO. He has held senior finance and commercial posts at Qantas, Air New Zealand, Australia Post and Australian Airlines. Chris has also worked for BP Australia, as a staffer in the Australian Senate and for Hamersley Iron.

 

Chris is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Fellow of the UK Institute of Directors and is a Court member (and Treasurer) of the Guild of Freeman of the City of London. He served for almost a decade in the Australian Army Reserve, in Norforce and 2 Commando.

LLB 1993 LLM 1996 (The University of Western Australia)

Christine is a former lawyer who moved from private practice at Clayton Utz and Freehills in Australia to in-house counsel for an international conglomerate listed on the London Stock Exchange. Her remit broadened to encompass responsibility for HR. 

Based in London, her international business experience, gained over more than 20 years, has included the oil and gas, aerospace and general industrial sectors and took her to the US, Brazil, Europe and the Far East.

Christine’s business background informs the coaching practice of her company Cap Consulting Ltd which supports senior and fast track executives in their personal and professional development. 

Christine is accredited with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) and is also an accredited commercial mediator. She is a former Board member of the International Women’s Forum (UK chapter) and mentor with the Prince’s Trust. She is currently undertaking a part time doctorate in coaching.

Hon DCom 2014 (The University of Western Australia)

Dick Porter is Chairman of the Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, Director of the Australia Day Foundation UK, Member of the Global Implementation Group and Honorary Fellow at University College London (UCL), President of the British Educational Travel Association, and a director of and investor in a number of companies.

Dick was a co-founder of STA TRAVEL and worked as CEO and/or Director for 35 years until 2011. Dr Porter was enrolled at UWA from 1969 to 1973. While at UWA, Dr Porter was President of the UWA Student Guild in 1973 and Society Council President in 1972. He played rugby and rowed intervarsity for UWA, and was a Kings Cup rower for Western Australia. Dr Porter is a Trustee of Friends of UWA in the UK and Europe.

Dick's podcast

BCom 1976 (The University of Western Australia)

Glen Travers studied at UWA and trained as a chartered accountant in Perth and London. He co-founded Western Capital Ltd, an equity bank in Perth supported by Fletcher Challenge group and Paterson Ord Minnet, which in 1987 achieved a market capitalisation of $700 million, three years after being established. Among international interests in leveraged buyouts, fashion retail and heavy engineering, the group developed and marketed products from inventors of two of the 15 most important Australian medical breakthroughs since 1900 (according to the AFR).

Glen relocated to London to pursue developments in the biopharmaceutical industry. He listed Cortecs International Ltd, major shareholders Banque Paribas and Nomura on LSE and Nasdaq. Cortecs achieved a peak market capitalisation of $1.2 billion in 1996. Cortecs was ranked as the best performing Australian stock market company over three years with the LEK/Australian Newspaper award. After leaving in 1998, he co-founded Proxima Concepts Ltd and Diabetology Ltd which won the 2011 Frost and Sullivan Award for best emerging diabetes company in Europe.

He was the recipient of the European Healthcare Entrepreneur of the Year 1996 sponsored by Ernst and Young and Atlas Ventures, and his company was co-royalty holder with inventors who became Nobel Laureates and Officers of the Order of Australia. Glen’s commitment to education drove him to serve on the European and International Boards of the USA-based Young Presidents’ Organization (now YPO), representing 1,000 European CEOs across 15 countries, and on the international board dedicated to improving 10,000 CEOs via education. 

Glen's podcast

BCom '92 (The University of Western Australia), EM ’15 Consulting and Coaching for Change (INSEAD)

Hilton Nathanson is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. 

He is currently Chairman and Founder at Marble Bar Asset Management, where he focuses on using technology to enhance trading performance. 

Originally from Perth, Hilton arrived in London in 1992 and spent his first years trading the stock market at several leading financial institutions in the UK, including Goldman Sachs. 

In 1996, Hilton started his first business, a stock broking firm, which was later sold to Canaccord Genuity. In 1998, he began trading at a London hedge fund and subsequently founded Marble Bar Asset Management, which became one of London’s most successful hedge funds. Hilton sold Marble Bar to Swiss bank EFG in 2008.

He later reacquired Marble Bar and completed an Executive Masters in Consulting and Coaching for Change at INSEAD. Hilton researched the personality traits of asset managers linked to optimal investment strategies, and methods that asset managers can deploy to measure and enhance trading performance. The research cemented his view that trading success lies in combining a supportive culture with the full-scale adoption of technology – a philosophy that has been the driver behind Hilton’s vision for Marble Bar. 

He later launched a separate business, Red Deer, which specifically focuses on developing technologies that help investment managers and their firms manage the growing challenge of information overload.

Hilton lives in London with his wife and children. In addition to his involvement in technology and financial markets, Hilton has a creative passion for the silver screen and produced a feature film in partnership with Screen Australia called Chasing Wonders, which follows the coming-of-age story of a 12-year boy and was filmed over five years in the South Australian Outback and in Spain.

Hilton founded the Rosemarie Nathanson Charitable Trust in 2004 to support charities that focus on tolerance and helping young people gain critical life skills through non-formal education and training. The Trust supports The Duke of Edinburgh International Award Programme, the Prince’s Trust and the Holocaust Educational Trust, amongst others.

Hilton's podcast

BJuris LLB 1984 (The University of Western Australia)

Jacqui Nelson has been active in transportation and transportation-related infrastructure financing, particularly in the rail sector, since leaving the legal profession. 

Over the course of her career as a corporate finance advisor, Jacqui has acted for many infrastructure funds, pension funds and private equity groups on both greenfield and brownfield infrastructure investments in the transportation sphere in the UK and continental Europe. These include some of the largest transportation projects brought to market in the UK such as Thameslink, Crossrail and the Intercity Express Programme. She has also been a direct investor in a portfolio of regional aircraft that was managed and successfully traded by her company.

The advisory business of Jacqui’s company, MDT, was acquired by a London and Dublin-based advisory business, Centrus Advisors, in 2017 in order to develop the Centrus transportation capability.

After graduating from UWA, Jacqui worked for King & Wood Mallesons in Perth and Sydney. She then joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, where she specialised in banking, capital markets and asset financing transactions. 

BCom (Hons) 2003 (The University of Western Australia)

Olivia Markham, CFA, director and portfolio manager, is a member of the Natural Resources team within the Fundamental Equity division of BlackRock’s Active Equity Group. She is responsible for coverage of the gold and mining sectors and co-manages the BlackRock World Mining Trust, the BGF World Mining Fund, the BlackRock Circular Economy Fund and a number of the team’s segregated portfolios.

Olivia joined BlackRock in 2011. Previously, she was head of the European Mining team at UBS with lead coverage of the UK diversified miners. Before moving to London in 2009, she worked for Merrill Lynch in Sydney covering the Australian mining sector. She also spent four years working within the Mergers and Acquisition team at BHP Billiton.

Olivia earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with honours, in finance, from The University of Western Australia in 2003.

BCom '79, MAcc '98, PhD '03 (The University of Western Australia)

Emeritus Professor Ann Tarca qualified as a chartered accountant in 1985 and graduated with a PhD in accounting at UWA in 2003.

She was an accounting teacher and researcher at the UWA Business School from 1996 and a professor from 2011 to 2017, heading the Finance and Accounting Discipline from 2012 to 2016.

She served as a member of the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) from 2014 to 2017 and was research director for the AASB from February 2017. She was an academic fellow of the IFRS Foundation from 2011 to 2012. She has authored a text book on accounting and written a wide range of research papers related to IFRS Standards, for which she has received many awards. She is an active member of the international accounting academic community, having served on several boards and committees.

In July 2017, Ann was appointed as a member of the International Accounting Standards Board based in London. 

Ann's podcast

Perron Foundation Scholarship in Business Leadership

Scholarships to assist and encourage high-achieving students, who demonstrate educational disadvantage or financial hardship, to commence and pursue a Bachelor of Business at the University. 

$30,000

Closes: 28 February 2021

Apply now

David Mack Indigenous Undergraduate Commencing Scholarship

Scholarship to assist and encourage a meritorious Indigenous Australian student to commence a Bachelor of Commerce at the University.

$10,000

Closes: 28 February 2021

Apply now

 

John Willinge Regional and Remote Scholarship in the UWA Business School

Scholarship is provided to assist and encourage high-achieving students from a rural, regional or remote area of Western Australia who demonstrate leadership potential to commence a full-time course for the degree of Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) with a degree-specific major from the UWA Business School.

$10,000

Application closes:28 February 2021

Apply now

 

John Willinge Scholarship in the UWA Business School

Scholarship is provided to encourage and assist high-achieving commencing students who demonstrate leadership potential and are experiencing financial hardship to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) with a degree-specific major from the UWA Business School.

$10,000

Application closes: 28 February 2021

Apply now

C.A. Vargovic Memorial Scholarship

Scholarship to assist and encourage high achieving students to undertake honours in macroeconomics at the University.

$6,000

Application closes: 28 February 2021

Apply now