SIMON DAVIES

Led major business improvement projects in coal, chemicals, smelting as well as turnarounds in financial services and airlines Senior executive roles in banks and airlines 15 years consulting experience with PIP, Booz Allen and McKinsey & Company Commerce (Marketing major) (University on NSW); Master of Business Administration (Bond University)

Simon has worked with PIP since 2002. Prior to this he consulted with McKinsey & Company and with Booz Allen & Hamilton. He has also consulted independently to clients such as Zurich Financial Services Australia and Air New Zealand.

As well, Simon has held various senior executive roles including Group General Manager, Strategic Development, at Qantas Airways – where he was responsible for building the Qantas/BA Joint Services Agreement (the precursor to today’s Oneworld Alliance) and CEO of the regional airline division of Australian Airlines (now Qantas domestic) – where he was responsible for turning around several under-performing regional subsidiaries

CAREER SNAPSHOT

Highlights of Simon's career with PIP include:

• Delivered a 30% throughput improvement in 9 months for BHP Billiton’s Bayside Aluminium smelter in Richards Bay, South Africa. Unit cost per tonne fell by 9% over the same period and Bayside’s EBIT performance has been enhanced by almost US$20m – with more still coming down the pipeline
• Delivered a 10% increase in throughput in 5 months for Port Waratah Coal Services, a major Australian rail/port export coal logistics system. The capacity improvement grew to 20% by month 10 – all of it without recourse to major capital expenditure. The Steering Committee for this work included the CEOs of all the major mining companies, the railways, and the coal terminal itself. Port Waratah is now the world’s largest export coal system in terms of tonnage
• Working within the business improvement program of Pasminco’s Cockle Creek Smelter, delivered over $12m of bottom line savings in discretionary spending in 5 months. Highlights included 35% - 60% reduction in various expense items such as contractor expenditure, utilities expenditure and commodities expenditure

Highlights at Booz Allen and Hamilton included:

• Leading an Ansett/Air New Zealand integration team looking specifically at aircraft maintenance services
• Brokering strategic alliances for the Australian arm of a global funds management company;
• Analysing sales force effectiveness and marketing strategies/tactics for the same company
• Implementing a business improvement program for a major Australian chemicals company

Highlights at Qantas Airways included:

• Creating & implementing the “Joint Services Agreement” to integrate the sales activities and route network of Qantas and British Airways (precursor to today’s Oneworld Alliance)
• Commissioned an external consulting project to establish Qantas’ “cost of sales” and update the airline’s Australian distribution strategy
• Developed a world-class telesales ticket/e-ticket fulfilment system for Qantas that incorporated real-time online credit card authorisation

Highlights at McKinsey & Company included:

• Overhead reduction and re-organization at a ‘big-4’ Australian bank and for its New Zealand subsidiary
• Developing innovation strategies for an Australian transport company
• Developing an Asia-Pacific warehousing strategy for a US turf equipment manufacturer
• Developing and implementing the distribution master-strategy for the Australian arm of a global funds management company; and
• Developing market/segment solutions for the same company

Highlights as CEO of regional airlines at Australian Airlines included:

• Restructuring Sunstate Airlines and leading it through an all-encompassing business turnaround
• Establishing two profitable greenfields operations from the ashes of Air Queensland to service Australian Airlines-owned island resorts, and the Cape York Peninsula region of Queensland
• Successfully managed the shut-down of Air Queensland
  

QUALIFICATIONS AND INTERESTS

Simon has a degree in Commerce with a Marketing major from the University of NSW (1983) and a Masters of Business Administration from Bond University (1992). His interests include aviation, fitness training and theatre.