Glenn Withers

Professor Glenn Withers AO is Professor of Economics at the Australian National University, Adjunct Professor at UNSWCanberra, and a former President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and of the Australian Council of Learned Academies. He has chaired various public Inquiries and has headed bodies such as the Economic Planning Advisory Commission and the National Population Council. He was chair of the Expert Working Group for Australia’s Comparative Advantage, a report for the Australian Council of Learned Academies

He was founding CEO of Universities Australia. Prior to that he was Professor of Public Policy at ANU and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. He is a Monash and Harvard graduate and has held academic posts in Australia and overseas including at Harvard and Cambridge and at La Trobe and Macquarie Universities.

He has produced a significant number of books, academic papers and government and consultancy reports. He has worked in and for government, including as chair of various Australian government bodies such as the National Population Council and the Economic Planning Advisory Commission, and he has chaired public inquiries regarding population issues, immigration, and infrastructure financing and was a member of the Faulkner inquiry into child care and Co-Commissioner of the Productivity Commission's Stocktake of Micro-economic Reform. He was a Board member of CEDA and founding Chair of CEDA's Council on Economic Policy.

Professor Withers helped to establish the Productivity Commission, the Crawford School, ANZSOG and Universities Australia. He has been an adviser to private sector and community sector organisations in Australia and overseas, ranging from the North West Shelf Consortium and the Business Council of Australia to the OECD and UNDP. He is Advisory Board Chair of the Global Development Learning Network and of Blended learning International. He is Co-Founder of the Social Cyber Group. Professor Withers was awarded an Order of Australia for services to applied economics, including for design of the Australian immigration points system.