Name David Travers | ||
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David Travers is a businessman from Sydney, Australia.
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Education
Travers graduated from Harvard University, Flinders University and the Cleve Area School. His family arrived in Australia from Kilkenny, Ireland and Somme, France in 1848. Four generations later, Travers' father encouraged him to leave the family farm and obtain a tertiary education.
Career
Travers began his career as a cadet journalist at the Fairfax Media group. He left Fairfax after rising to editor-in-chief of its South Australian agricultural division.
Prior to his 2010 appointment at UCL, Travers worked for more than a decade in the public service, for the Government of South Australia. He held senior executive roles in the Department of Further Education, Employment and Training, Department of Education and Children's Services, the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
He was appointed Deputy Agent-General for South Australia in 2006, whereby he fostered State Government relationships within finance, energy and research sectors in Europe, including Acciona, Babcock, Bank of England, BTG plc, International Power and Ultra Electronics. He also developed agricultural projects in Russia, including promoting the export of live cattle and wine. Travers has led government investment, export and migration initiatives in Europe, the USA, Russia and the Middle East. Travers served as Chief of Staff for ministers in both major Australian political parties, working for the Hon Graham Ingerson MP, Liberal Deputy Premier and Minister for Industry and Trade in 1998 and for the Hon Dr Jane Lomax Smith, Labor Minister for Higher Education and Tourism in 2002.
As of 2015, Travers is a corporate partner at VUCA, which was formed in 2014, and is one of the organisation's five founding directors. Travers joined from UCL Australia, quitting also his role as a governor of the UCL Qatar campus. He is a non-executive director of Scope Global and in 2015 joined the advisory board of biofuel feedstock producer Ausgave. Travers was the CEO and Head of Department of University College London's campus, UCL Australia, between 2010-2015. He joined UCL in mid-2010, after four years as the Deputy Agent General for South Australia in London, working under Agents General Maurice de Rohan OBE and then Bill Muirhead AM. Travers had previously spent more than a decade in the South Australian public service, including senior executive roles in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
Privately, Travers owns a vineyard and winery Bourke & Travers in South Australia’s Clare Valley wine region, also selling winegrapes to Penfolds. He chairs his family's agriculture property trust and was the founding chairman of Sundrop Farms, which brought private equity firm KKR into Australian horticulture in 2014.
Travers is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Political views
Travers supports the deregulation of Australia's tertiary education sector and has encouraged debate on the future possibility of nuclear power in Australia. Travers has said that "nuclear energy must form part of the future [energy] solution, but gas and renewables must play a part in this transition, so politicians need to get serious, show some courage and take responsibility for leading this debate, not shutting it down." Under Travers' leadership, UCL Australia's researchers have investigated nuclear fuel leasing potential and the possibility of nuclear submarines for Australia. Travers believes that climate change is real, is mostly due to human activity and will have adverse impacts. In June 2013, while speaking on the subject at a CEDA event he said "unless we are prepared to move back to caves and burn candles (adding levels of personal CO2) I don’t accept the view that Australia could be completely powered by renewable energy. It’s hopelessly unrealistic and impractical." He believes that Australia should do more with its "natural advantages" including increasing "support for plant functional genome, GMO, nano manipulation of seeds, nano-technology for interactive agricultural chemicals, or chemical release packaging."
Honours
Travers is a former Young South Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year finalist. News Limited listed him as one of Australia’s top 40 future leaders.