2021 Pearcey Medal
David Thodey AO, was presented the prestigious Pearcey Medal as part of the 2021 Pearcey National Awards. The Pearcey Medal recognises a distinguished lifetime achievement and contribution to the development and growth of the ICT industry in Australia.
The Medal was presented by Wayne Fitzsimmons, Chairman of the Pearcey Foundation, at the annual Pearcey National Awards held on Wednesday evening, 24th November 2020, via a virtual link-up across the country with over 100 people on the Zoom call.
"David Thodey has consistently demonstrated sincere and sustained interest in supporting many organisations in the Australian ICT industry, including the Pearcey Foundation, especially where the focus is on attracting the next generation into the ICT industry," said the Pearcey Foundation's Chairman, Wayne Fitzsimmons.
The 2021 Pearcey Medallist: David Thodey AO
David Thodey has been an outstanding contributor in both the public and private sectors of the Australian ICT industry over many years. Born in Perth, Thodey's family moved to New Zealand where he finished his secondary education at Nelson College and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English from Victoria University in Wellington. He first joined IBM in New Zealand in 1978 working in sales and marketing roles in NZ, Australia, Japan and the US, where he attended the Kellogg School of Management postgraduate general management program at Northwestern University in Chicago. He returned to Australia permanently in the late 1990s with IBM, holding the position of managing director for IBM Australia-New Zealand between 1999 and 2001.
He joined Telstra in 2001 as Group Managing Director of Telstra Mobiles, before taking on the role of Group Managing Director Telstra Enterprise and Government in late 2002. Thodey was appointed CEO of Telstra in May 2009, retiring from that role in April 2015.
Since retiring from Telstra, David Thodey has taken on several high-profile roles for State and Federal governments including Chair of the CSIRO Board from November 2015 to October 2021, and Chair of the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service (APS). The review's purpose was to produce "an ambitious program of transformational reforms to ensure the APS is fit-for-purpose for the coming decades, and to guide and accelerate future reform activities", with the final report released in December 2019. In 2019, the NSW Government asked hom to chair an independent review of the State's revenue system as it relates to federal funding and its interactions with the State tax system. Most recently, in March 2020 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as Deputy Chair of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, set up to coordinate advice to the government about the social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2017, David Thodey was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to business, notably to the telecommunications and information technology sectors, to the promotion of ethical leadership and workplace diversity, and to basketball.
He is currently Chair of Tyro Payments, and Xero, as well as being an independent non-executive director of Ramsay Health Care. David Thodey has exerted his competence and positive influence in many areas inside and outside the tech industry.
Press
ACS - David Thodey wins 2021 Pearcey Medal (Nov 25, 2021)
