Simon McKeon

Simon McKeon is Executive Chairman of Macquarie Group's Melbourne office and specialises in mergers and acquisitions. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and also of FINSIA.


Simon is Chair of MS Research Australia and previously served on the Boards of MS Australia and MS Victoria. He is also a member of the Victorian Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee.

He is Chairman of Business for Millennium Development which is focussed on encouraging business to pursue opportunities in the developing world.

Simon is Chairman of the Essendon Football Club's Hutchison Foundation and served on the Advisory Board for Melbourne's successful tender for the 2008 Homeless World Cup. He is also a Patron of Melbourne's successful tender for the 2009 World Parliament of Religions.

He is a Director of the Global Poverty Project which is responsible for the "1.4 Billion Reasons" campaign.

Simon is on the Board of VisionFund which has responsibility for World Vision International's micro economic development activities. He was also a Patron for the United Nations Year of Microcredit 2005 (Australian Committee). Simon served on the Board of World Vision Australia from 1994 until 2005 and prior to this was a Director of the Archbishop of Melbourne's Relief and Development Fund.

Simon is a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the University of Melbourne's Graduate Program in Law. He has also been a part time lecturer with the University's Masters of Applied Finance and Masters of Laws courses and has been a member of the Advisory Board of the University's Centre for Energy and Resources Law. He has also been on the Editorial Board of the Company & Securities Law Journal since 1988 and has responsibility for its Takeovers Section.

Simon is on the Board of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria and served as its Chairman from 2005 until 2008. He has previously served on the Council of St Leonard's College and the Board of Beaconhills Christian College.

He serves on the Board of Red Dust Role Models which connects well known Australians with indigenous youth.

Simon served as Chairman of the Federal Government's Point Nepean Community Trust from 2004 until 2009 and has been the Business Ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour initiative. He was also Chairman of MYOB from 2006 until 2009.

Simon is the helmsman of Macquarie Innovation which is the world's fastest sailboat. In March 2009 it became the first sailboat to sustain more than 50 knots and in so doing, peaked at a speed of 100 kmh (54 knots). Previously he was the helmsman of the Yellow Pages Endeavour which held the outright world sailing speed record between 1993 and 2004.

He was also the helmsman for Australia's Little America's Cup syndicate which held the trophy from 1985 until 1996. He is a Patron of the Australian Olympic Sailing Team which won 2 gold and a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Simon sails out of McCrae Yacht Club and served as Club Captain from 2004 until 2006.

Simon is married to Amanda Jane and they have four boys.


June 2009

(source: Adapted from Welcome to Australia Day Victoria Website July 2009.