Alan Jackson

Alan Robert Jackson (30 March 1936 – 4 August 2018) was an Australian businessman who was the CEO of BTR Nylex between 1984 and 1991 and CEO of BTR plc between 1991 and 1996 as well as Chairman of Austrade between 1995 and 2001. He was also a board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia between 1991 and 2001.

Personal life and education

Alan Jackson was born in Drouin but grew up in Bunyip, in the Western part of the Gippsland in Victoria.

As a child, Jackson attended Warragul High School, leaving in 1952, when he was 15 to train to became a pastry chef but became an office boy or clerk in Melbourne. At 19, he took accountancy studies by correspondence at Hemmingway Robertson Institute. He did not complete his High School Certificate, but did a brief management course at Harvard's Business School in 1977.

On 20 January 1962, Jackson married Esme Jackson (née Giles). The couple had four daughters together. He died on 4 August 2018 in Malvern East.

Career

Jackson began his career as a pastry chef but once he was old enough, he became an office boy at Kelly and Lewis Pty Ltd in 1955, but soon moved to Mather & Platt, in which he became a clerk. Mather & Platt was the Australian arm of a British pump manufacturer. After his studies, he progressed to become an accountant then, chief accountant and later, finance secretary and finance director. He became managing director of the company during the 1970s, until 1977.

Jackson became managing director and later CEO of the conveyor belt manufacturer Hopkins Odlum between 1977 and 1984 (which would become the precursor to BTR Nylex when the name of Hopkins was changed in 1986 after Nylex was purchased in 1984). This occurred after BTR purchased Nylex in 1984 and placed Jackson as its CEO. Jackson completed the hostile takeover of the Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI) in 1988, following the 1987 stock market crash.

Jackson became managing director and chief executive officer of BTR plc from December 1990 until February 1996. In 1995, Jackson completed the acquisition of the remaining 37% of Nylex shares that were not already owned by BTR shareholders. This was one of the largest conglomerates in Australia and the largest hostile takeover in Australian history at that point in time. Ultimately, under his leadership, stocks grew by 40% with the highest profits in over 70 years recorded for BTR due to Jackson’s takeovers and methods as CEO.

In August 1995, Jackson was asked by the Australian Minister for Trade, Bob McMullan, to be a member of the board of Austrade. He was invited by the board and by Tim Fischer in late 1995, to Chair the Commission. He served in this role for six years until July 2001. Jackson was an early supporter of developing economic connections with Mainland China after opening to western trade in the 1980s. He furthered economic ties with Japan and South East Asian countries as well as reinforcing economic connections with the United Kingdom and the United States on behalf of Australia.

He also became a Non-Executive Director of Kerry Stokes's Seven Network, a board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia and of Cabrini Hospital in Malvern East after leaving BTR in 1995, positions he held until 2001.

Between 1998 and 2001, Jackson chaired Austrim Nylex, following the selling of BTR’s remaining shares in Nylex, which was supported by Dick Pratt and Kerry Stokes. Ultimately, however, Jackson was forced to resign in 2001 due to ill health, which corresponded in the decline of Austrim due to high levels of debt accumulated from the acquisitions.

Honours, awards and fellowships

• 1991 – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "For service to business, to industry and to government"
• 2001 – Centenary Medal "For outstanding service to Australia's international trade"

• 1985 – Australian Business Magazine's Businessman of the Year in Australia Award
• 1989 – Australian Business Magazine's Businessman of the Year in Australia Award
• 1993 – Fortune's European CEO of the Year Award

• 1970s – Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (FCA)
• 1970s – Fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants, (FCPA)
• 1970s – Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (FAIM)
• 1990s – Companion of the British Institute of Management (CBIM)