Leader in entrepreneurship is new Dean of Business

Wednesday, 16 January 2019

A University of Adelaide professor who has played a leading role in entrepreneurship and business education in South Australia for more than a decade has been appointed Dean of the University's Adelaide Business School.

Professor Noel Lindsay will take up his new role as Dean of Business on 4 February and will continue in his existing role as the University's Pro Vice-Chancellor (Entrepreneurship).

A Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Professor Lindsay's career in business academia spans 33 years across the fields of commerce, management, family business, entrepreneurship, innovation, commercialisation and marketing.

Professor Lindsay was first appointed to the University of Adelaide in 2006 as Professor and Director of the Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC).

He will join the Adelaide Business School, part of the University's Faculty of the Professions, under the leadership of Professor John Williams, Executive Dean of the Faculty.

"We're thrilled to have Noel take on this critical role at the University, and I am certain that our students and staff will benefit from his depth of experience and leadership in business and entrepreneurship," Professor Williams says.

"Noel's appointment as Dean is the result of a recent review into the Business School; one of his first tasks will be to implement the recommendations of that review, which will produce an even stronger, forward-facing School, building on past successes.

"There is no doubt that Noel has an excellent reputation in his field, a reputation that extends to government and key business and industry stakeholders.

"He has built our Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC) from a small operation to one that now makes a major contribution to the culture of business innovation in this State. Under his leadership, ECIC's highly successful Australian eChallenge program has now been exported to France, and into schools right across the State.

"Noel also led the process in which the University of Adelaide became the first in Australia to be awarded dual accreditation for being both an Entrepreneurial and Engaged university," Professor Williams says.

Professor Lindsay says he's humbled by the appointment but also excited about the opportunities ahead.

"The University of Adelaide's Business School has made a major contribution to the State's business community over many years. We have helped to set young students on the path to business success, and enabled experienced members of business and industry to take their careers to new heights," Professor Lindsay says.

"I look forward to leading the Business School over the coming years, and helping to create something quite significant and relevant for our community. For our students, they need to know that we're not just looking after them, that we're not just satisfying them, but that we're delighting them by what we offer.

"Our students must also understand that not only will they obtain a great education under the guidance of world-class staff in the Adelaide Business School, they also gain opportunity in the form of networks – their peers and fellow alumni, and mentors – as well as exposure to real-world experiences, which can benefit them for the rest of their lives."

Professor Lindsay says a spirit of entrepreneurship and creative thinking will be a key component of graduates' success in the wider world, and this also has a strong role to play in the future and ongoing prosperity of the State.

"Entrepreneurship is as much a way of thinking as it is a way of doing – it's a mindset, but it's also about being entrepreneurial," Professor Lindsay says.

"At the Adelaide Business School, we will be driving that culture and helping to create a pipeline of talent with the right, can-do attitude.

"What's important is to have that culture and pipeline being created from the school room up, from the State's youngest students, to those who are already well established in their careers, and even further: among the senior members of our community who still have so much to offer our society and our economy at all levels."

Professor Lindsay is a graduate of the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and a PhD in Commerce. His past roles have included positions at the University of Queensland, Bond University, and UniSA. He has been a member of CPA Australia since 1984, and of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand since 2012. He is also a member of the Society for Trustee and Estate Planners.

Professor Carolin Plewa will be appointed interim Director of ECIC from 4 February.

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