Mr Maurie McNarn, AO, Chief Operating Officer

Mr Maurie McNarn, AO

BA(Hons), MBA, MDefStuds, GDipTSM, GDipManSt, FAICD, FAIM, FADC

Executive Assistant
Ms Robin Smith
Phone: +61 (7) 3365 1311
Email: robin.smith@uq.edu.au

Areas of responsibility
The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for co-ordinating the University's financial, physical, human, legal, management information, corporate operations, commercial activities, marketing and communications, information technology and occupational health and safety services. He advises Senate on governance and acts as University Secretary and Public Officer. UQ has an operating budget of $1.6B and some 7,500 full time equivalent staff (16,400 people).

The Chief Operating Officer also assists the Vice-Chancellor in regard to strategic planning and the framework of the University's highly successful research commercialisation and technology transfer activities.

Areas under his direct management include Human Resources, Finance and Business Services, the Legal Office, Information Technology, Strategic Planning and Management Information, Corporate Operations, Occupational Health and Safety, Marketing and Communication, Protocol, Investigations, Internal Audit, Enterprise Risk and Property and Facilities.

Biography
Maurie McNarn, AO, took up the position of Chief Operating Officer on 16 March 2009, after retiring from the Australian Army as Major General.

His academic qualifications include a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Defence (Strategic) Studies, a Graduate Diploma of Telecommunications Systems, a Graduate Diploma in Management Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours). He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

He is Chair of Sarv Pty Ltd, a Director of Uniseed Management Pty Ltd, SPIRE Innovations Pty Ltd and UQ Holdings. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He remains an Adjunct Professor at The University of Queensland.

He has previously been a Director of UQ Health Care Ltd and The Centre for Military and Veterans Health.

He has extensive experience in strategic level corporate planning, leadership appointments, communications, IT, HR, media and financial management. He has lived and worked extensively in Asia and the Middle East.

In his previous role Major General McNarn was Director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) and Head of Joint Operational Intelligence. He has also been Head of the Australian Army Training Command – Australia’s largest registered training organisation, Director General Personnel for Army (some 50,000 people) and Director-General Joint Operations and Plans. As National Commander of Australian Forces in the Middle East area of Operations from July 2002 to June 2003, he led 2,300 personnel in air, maritime and land forces across Iraq, the Gulf and Afghanistan.

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