Thodey gets a nod in Australia Day honours

Ex-Telstra boss David Thodey has been named in 2017’s Australia Day honours list, joining the ranks as an officer in the Order of Australia (AO).

Thodey, who retired from the top job at Australia’s largest telco in May 2015, was recognised 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 joined other prominent business leaders such as Australia Post’s Ahmed Fahour and Virgin’s John Borghetti in the 2017 list of recipients.

While CEO at Telstra, Thodey inked the $11 billion definitive agreements for the national broadband network, pushed the telco into the cloud market, and drove the business’ expansion into Asia.

He also received a nod for his work with the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Jobs for NSW, and Basketball Australia.

Thodey is currently chairman of the board at the CSIRO. He was CEO of IBM’s Australia/New Zealand operations between 1999 and 2001.

Thodey wasn’t the only prominent technologist to be recognised amongst the 2017 honours.

The brains behind the NSW state government’s data centre consolidation - GovDC - Dr Pedro Harris received a public service medal “for outstanding public service in New South Wales through the design and delivery of information technology solutions”.

Harris left the NSW public service late last year to focus on his research work and new opportunities.