Stefan Ackerie

Stefan Ackerie (born 1941), usually known by the mononym Stefan, is a businessman and hairdresser from Brisbane, Australia. He was born in 1941 in Batroun Lebanon. His family migrated to Adelaide, South Australia, when he was 15, where he trained as a hairdresser and learned to speak English at nightschool. He owns a chain of approximately fifty hairdressing salons throughout Queensland and New South Wales, as well as the Brisbane restaurant Jo Jo's, a large thematic restaurant and bar located above the Queen Street Mall and Stefan's boating world in Coomera on the Gold Coast. Stefan's Brisbane headquarters is located in South Brisbane, underneath the Skyneedle, a prominent landmark which Stefan bought in order to prevent it being moved overseas after World Expo '88. The company is also known to be planning expansion into Hong Kong.

In 2013 Stefan was presented a Queensland Greats Award from the Queensland Government.

Stefan was a finalist in the 2004 Australian of the Year awards. He is also a keen power boat racer and holds the records for the fastest crossing of Bass Strait and the fastest crossing of the Straight of Malacca.

Stefan lives in Brisbane. He has two sons, Mike and Steven Ackerie. In the 1980s he had a highly publicised relationship with Australian journalist Liz Hayes. In 2009, he began a relationship with his long-time personal assistant, Rose King.