Photographs and biographies of our chairman and commissioners
We have provided photographs of the ACCC Chairman and commissioners below. These photographs are owned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). You are permitted to download and publish the photographs subject to the following conditions:
You may not use the photographs in a manner that suggests their association with or endorsement of any product, service or event, unless you seek and are granted prior permission.
You may not redistribute or sell the photographs.
You may not create improper works with the photographs.
The photographs must be properly attributed. Requests or inquiries regarding photographs should be addressed to the ACCC Publishing Unit.
Rod Sims was appointed Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in August 2011 for a five year term.
Rod has extensive business and public sector experience. Immediately prior to his appointment to the ACCC, he was the Chairman of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales, Commissioner on the National Competition Council, Chairman of InfraCo Asia, Director of Ingeus Limited, and member of the Research and Policy Council of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Rod was also a Director of Port Jackson’s Partners Limited where he advised the CEOs and Boards of some of Australia’s top 50 companies on commercial corporate strategy over many years. Rod relinquished all of these roles on becoming Chairman of the ACCC.
Rod is also a past Chairman of the NSW Rail Infrastructure Corporation and the State Rail Authority and has been a Director of a number of private sector companies. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rod worked as the Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet responsible for economic, infrastructure and social policy and the Cabinet Office. He also worked as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Transport and Communications.
Rod Sims holds a first class honours degree in Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Economics from the Australian National University.
Michael Schaper
Deputy chair
Michael Schaper was appointed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in July 2008 for a period of five years as Deputy Chair with knowledge and experience of small business issues.
Dr Schaper brings extensive experience in the area of small business through his previous roles as ACT Small Business Commissioner, Dean of Murdoch University Business School in Western Australia and head of the School of Business at Bond University in Queensland.
A previous president of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand, he has been a member of the board of directors of the International Council for Small Business and has held the foundation professorial chair in Entrepreneurship and Small Business at the University of Newcastle. Prior to this, he was employed as a senior lecturer at Curtin University, responsible for the university’s entrepreneurship degree programs.
Between 2001 and 2003 Dr Schaper held several posts as visiting Professor at the Ecole de Management Lyon, France, and the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. In Australia he has served as an Adjunct Professor at both Curtin University and the University of Canberra.
In addition to his extensive academic career, Dr Schaper has worked as a professional small business advisor and as the owner of a number of new business start-ups.
In 2009 he was recipient of the “National Small Business Champion Award” by the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia.
The author or co-author of eight business management books, he has been a regular columnist in a number of national magazines, newspapers and journals on business issues. He has also worked as a policy advisor to government at both the state and federal level.
Dr Schaper is a member of the ACCC’s enforcement and adjudication committees.
He holds a PhD and a Master of Commerce degree from Curtin University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia.
Delia Rickard
Deputy chair
Delia Rickard was appointed to the position of Deputy Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in June 2012 for a period of five years.
Delia brings extensive public service experience in the area of consumer protection.
Immediately prior to her appointment to the ACCC, Delia was the Senior Executive Leader for Consumers, Advisers and Retail Investors at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. She was also ASIC’s ACT Regional Commissioner.
Delia led much of ASIC’s consumer protection work covering areas such as financial literacy and education, vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers, dispute resolution schemes, stakeholder relations and industry self-regulation. She was responsible for developing the National Financial Literacy Strategy and led ASIC’s role in the implementation of the Government’s Super Choice policy. More recently she became responsible for the supervision of financial advisers. Delia was also the founding Chair of ASIC’s Corporate Social Responsibility program.
Delia is a former head of the ACCC’s then Consumer Protection Branch and was a member of the Secretariat to the Wallis Inquiry into the regulation of Australia’s financial system. She was also a member of the Australian Payments System Board for a number of years and has been on the Steering Committee for all four ANZ National Financial Literacy Surveys.
She is a trustee of the Jan Pentland Foundation – an organisation dedicated to supporting the financial counselling sector and a Judge for the annual MoneySmart Week awards.
In January 2011 Australia Day Awards Delia was awarded the Public Service Medal for her contribution to consumer protection and financial services.
Delia holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law from the University of New South Wales.
Edward Willett
Commissioner
Edward Willett was re-appointed in June 2008 for a five-year term. Before his appointment to the ACCC, he was the inaugural executive director of the National Competition Council for seven years.
Before that he worked as an assistant commissioner with the Industry Commission and helped develop the federal Department of Industry, Science and Technology’s role in business law and regulation, spent three years as deputy head of the Commonwealth Office of Regulation Review and was involved in other Industry Commission inquiry work and research.
He also spent three years with the New Zealand Ministry of External Relations and Trade as an adviser on international economics and trade and eight years as an economist with the Department of Defence. Mr Willett has degrees in law and economics and a postgraduate diploma in international law.
Sarah Court
Commissioner
Sarah Court was appointed a Commissioner of the ACCC in April 2008 for five years.
She is a full-time commissioner, and a former senior executive lawyer and Director with the Australian Government Solicitor. She brings to her role extensive experience in Commonwealth legal work, including restrictive trade practices, consumer protection and law enforcement litigation.
Ms Court oversees the ACCC’s enforcement and litigation program and she is chair of the Commission’s Enforcement Committee. Ms Court also sits on the Commission’s Merger Review Committee and Adjudication Committee.
Ms Court holds a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) and a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of Adelaide as well as a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the ANU.
Joe Dimasi
Commissioner
Joe Dimasi was appointed a commissioner of the ACCC in December 2008 for five years. Before his appointment, Joe Dimasi was the Executive General Manager of the Regulatory Affairs Division of the ACCC, a position he had occupied since 1996. Before that, he was an assistant commissioner of the Industry Commission (now the Productivity Commission).
Mr Dimasi has been a senior economist in a number of organisations, including the Victorian departments of the Treasury, Premier and Cabinet, and Business.
He has Bachelor and Masters degrees in Economics.
Jill Walker
Commissioner
Jill Walker was appointed as a Commissioner of the ACCC in August 2009 for a five year term.
Dr Walker is the Chair of the ACCC’s Mergers Review Committee and Adjudication Committee and is also a member of the Enforcement Committee. Dr Walker is also an Associate Member of the New Zealand Commerce Commission and Chair of the International Air Services Commission.
Dr Walker has extensive experience in the fields of trade practices and antitrust economics. Prior to joining the ACCC, Dr Walker was a member of the Australian Competition Tribunal and worked as an economic consultant for LECG Ltd. Dr Walker has also worked for the Network Economics Consulting Group (NECG) and CRA International. Dr Walker has also been a member of the South Australian Government's panel of expert assessors assisting the District Court in hearing appeals under the Essential Services Commission Act 2002 and the Gas Pipelines Access (South Australia) Act 1997.
Dr Walker has previously been employed as an economic adviser by the ACCC and its predecessors, the Prices Surveillance Authority and the Trade Practices Commission. During this time Dr Walker provided advice on significant cases, investigations, and authorisations.
Dr Walker holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a PhD in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge. She also holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.
