Andrew Forrest

Biography

 Mr Forrest is Fortescue’s Founder and Chairman and has led the company to its A$14 billion market capitalisation as the fourth largest seaborne iron ore producer in July 2016. Under Mr Forrest, Fortescue has made significant investments in the Australian resources sector of more than US$20 billion. In 2001, Mr Forrest co-founded the Minderoo Foundation with his wife Nicola, which has supported over 230 initiatives across Australia and internationally in pursuit of a range of causes including education, ending slavery, research, indigenous disadvantage, disaster response and the arts. The Foundation operates GenerationOne, which strives to end Indigenous disparity in Australia, and the Walk Free Foundation, which is working globally to eliminate modern day slavery. In 2013, he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Australia to Chair the Review of Indigenous Training and Employment Programmes, with the specific aim of ending Indigenous disparity through employment. In 2014, Mr Forrest was named Business Leader of the Year at the Australian Institute of Management Western Australia Pinnacle Awards and was awarded an honorary doctorate by The University of Western Australia for outstanding service to the community, to his nation and beyond. In 2017, he was named West Australian of the Year for his outstanding contribution to the community. In the same year, he was also a national finalist for the Australian of the Year. One of Mr Forrest's proudest achievements is the facilitation of the coming together of the world's major faith and spiritual leaders in the Vatican in December 2014 and in New Delhi and Canberra in December 2015 to produce a global religious proclamation against modern slavery. An Adjunct Professor of the China Southern University and a longstanding Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr Forrest is a leading representative of and advocate for the resources sector globally. He is Co-Chairman of the Senior Business Leaders' Forum, the leading formal dialogue for China and Australia's most senior business leaders. Mr Forrest is Vice-Patron of the SAS Resources Fund and a Councillor of the Global Citizen Commission, which reported to and made a series of human rights recommendations to the United Nations Secretary General in April 2016. He is Commonwealth Ambassador for employment and engagement with disadvantaged communities and Chair of the Foundation of the Art Gallery of Western Australia. 

Research Interest

 Civil Engineering