Lindsay Tanner has occupied senior leadership roles in government, small and large business, professional sport, trade unions, universities, industry associations and not-for-profit bodies. He has an acute appreciation of the technological, regulatory and political changes shaping the financial services industry.

Lindsay Tanner got some sage advice when he retired from politics in 2010 — think about what you want to spend your day doing instead of what occupation or company you would like to work for.  

"I have shared that advice with others many times since because it was insightful and led me to the right place," said Lindsay.   

He began his career as an articled clerk and solicitor in Melbourne, representing consumers in disputed personal injury and motor insurance claims.   

He went on to lead the Federated Clerks' Union, building one of the biggest, liveliest and most open and democratic trade union rank-and-file groups in the country.  

Lindsay decided to follow the path from union leadership to Parliament and won the seat of Melbourne in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2010, serving as Minister for Finance and Deregulation from 2007 to 2010, where he played a significant role in regulatory reform in the financial services sector. He also served as Minister for the Future Fund during the Global Financial Crisis.   

SUCCESSFUL PORTFOLIO CAREER 

“When I decided to retire from politics at the 2010 federal election, I’d been working for more than 25 years and wanted to spend my days doing something different,” he said.   

For him, the answer was finance, football, further education and a bit of fiction. He has built a successful portfolio career around them all.  

He wrote a couple of books about the media and politics after leaving Parliament but wanted to write a novel. “I have always had an enthusiasm for crime fiction and thrillers,” says Lindsay, who has all 79 of Agatha Christie's books.   

The novel, called ‘Comfort Zone’, tells the story of Jack, an Anglo-Aussie who's living life in his comfort zone. “I wanted to throw a few things at him, make him reassess his life, how he sees the world and how he sees people,” says Lindsay.  

On the finance side, he was a Special Adviser for financial advisory firm Lazard Australia for more than 10 years, where he had extensive involvement in the financial sector and with mergers and acquisitions. He is now a non-executive Director for SunCorp Group and IFM Investors, a global institutional asset manager owned by pension funds.

PASSIONATE FOOTBALL FAN 

He is a passionate and longstanding supporter of AFL team Essendon and was brought in as President to oversee the recovery from a drugs scandal. He rebuilt trust in the playing and coaching ranks, ensured a sustained period of club stability and increased women’s representation on the Board.  

In 2022 he became Chair of AFL Victoria, which supports community football across the state.   

“I was honoured to take on this important leadership role in community football which is the heartbeat of so many towns and communities in Victoria.  

“I want to take community football to a new level and address challenges and opportunities associated with engaging new participants, creating inclusive environments, making it easier to participate and volunteer and develop a new oval per week, every week for five years to cater for the game’s growth.” 

STRENGTHEN INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT   

It is these broad interests that means Lindsay has a wide range of insights about all aspects of leadership. He brings these to the Future Skills Organisation Board, together with an acute appreciation of the technological, regulatory and political changes shaping the financial services industry.   

“I look forward to strengthening engagement with the financial services sector in particular and ensuring that the future skills it needs are being delivered by the VET system,” he said.   

Previous roles in further education have included being the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at Victoria University and chairing the Advisory Board of the Mitchell Institute – a Victoria University institute financed jointly by the University and the Mitchell Foundation.   

“I have four children and two are teenagers. They have been making choices for the next stages of their education, so I understand the dilemmas parents and students go through when deciding on the next pathway to take. I hope to encourage more people into financial technology.”   

As the man who was Minister for Finance and Deregulation during the global financial crisis and was Chair of Essendon, overseeing the recovery from a drugs scandal, it’s easy to think these were the two biggest leadership challenges he has faced.  

"Actually, the biggest challenge was at the Federated Clerks Union (FCU) back in 1988. We’d had an entrenched old-DLP-style leadership for 40 years. We didn’t win control of the federal body of the FCU but ended up with a peace deal and power-sharing agreement with our opponents.  

“It was very character-forming. I remember thinking when I went into federal Parliament, it doesn't matter how challenging federal politics gets, nothing will be as challenging as that, and I was right."

3 QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS

What's the best advice you’ve been given?  

When I was getting out of parliament and sorting out what I was going to do, the advice was don’t think about what occupations you want to do or what company you want to work for, think about what functions you want to perform. What do you want to spend your day doing? That will lead you to the right place. 

A simple thing that makes you happy?  

Essendon winning

What book are you reading currently?  

Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for a New World 1848-1849 by Christopher Clark. He is a world leading historian. Not many people know he is Australian.