QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS
Gongs for our top footy doctor and Geelong dance legend
SUCCESS in business and academia is reflected in the AM for David Morgan.
The one-time president of Ford Australia also served with Austrade before finishing his working career in 2015 after a decade as Deakin University chancellor.
The lifelong Collingwood fan was also an ambassador for the City of Geelong, once a research and manufacturing hub for Ford, in an irony not lost on the 78-year-old Mr Morgan.
“It was strange to support Collingwood when I used to give the big cheque from Ford to Geelong,” he said.
“Geelong has successfully transformed through some very difficult times. It has progressed massively with the close of the various manufacturing businesses and the growth of Deakin.”
His Member of the Order of Australia was a surprise and said, “I’ve been involved in other people getting them but it never struck me that it would happen to me”.
He started his career with Ford in 1959 as a graduate trainee with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne.
He said he “was lucky to be working there when Ford was going well and making money”, and eventually got the top job.
He also served as chairman of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and he was also a governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
After Ford, he served in a variety of roles at Deakin University, culminating in the chancellorship.
“My time at Deakin was in a very different world . . . but a very satisfying time as well,” Mr Morgan said.
He is married to Miranda, with a daughter and two grandchildren, and drives a Ford Everest.