Garry Bowditch

Chief Executive Officer

Garry is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the SMART Infrastructure Facility at the University of Wollongong.

With almost 20 years of commercial and Government experience spanning Australia, Asia and the OECD, Garry has a wealth of experience, insight and 'blue chip' networks to help SMART achieve its goals with government and business within Australia and internationally.

Garry has a unique mix of government and private sector experience in building greater partnership among the key stakeholders involved in infrastructure planning and investment, public service delivery and foreign investment.

He was the Founding Executive Director of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA). Established in September 2005, IPA grew rapidly under his leadership to be Australia's peak body for infrastructure development. Garry built a corporate and government membership exceeding 160 organisations of leading financiers, builders, service providers and government to advocate greater private sector involvement in infrastructure. He is widely recognised as a leader in the infrastructure sector and is highly influential in shaping public debate and community opinion.

He has also held senior executive positions in commercial organizations including Tenix as Senior Vice President, Marketing & Business Development. Garry achieved significant success in establishing and growing its traffic business in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and East Asia.

Garry also founded Vmax Consulting in 1999 with the specific purpose of helping to bridge the gap between commercial and Government imperatives that emerge in the context of shaping future policy directions, regulatory changes, public-private partnerships, privatisation and outsourcing.

Prior to entering the private sector he held the post as Head of International Economics and Finance at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has served as Australia’s Export Credit Trade and Finance representative at the OECD in Paris. Garry was a senior Commonwealth Treasury Official for several years involved in economic forecasting and policy development concerning macroeconomic and Commonwealth-State financial relations.

Currently he is an Expert Panel Member of the ITRC (Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortia) at Oxford University; Board Member of AURIN (Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network) at Melbourne University and Member of the University of Wollongong Research Council. He also is an adviser to the new government body, Infrastructure NSW and is an appointed member of the Australia Pacific Economic Cooperation Committee (PECC) to advise on regional trade and investment initiatives in APEC.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie Graduate School of Management and an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Wollongong. He also studied at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.

Media Release

Garry Bowditch appointed as SMART Director (3 May 2010)