CV

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Date of Birth:              15 July 1949
Place of Birth:             Brisbane, Australia
Citizenship:                 Australian
Spouse:                        Dr Greer Honeywill (married 1977)

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Social Theory & Philosophy (University of Tasmania) 2014

Bachelor of Arts (incomplete)
University of Queensland 1968-69

Senior Certificate (Queensland Certificate of Education)
Kedron High School (Brisbane) 1967

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Best known for my creation of the NEO premium consumer classification and its international applications in the marketplace, workplace, community, and politics, I am a social researcher whose books have been published on three continents.

I specialise in desire economics, social equity and the understanding and application of value theory. My latest business books, published in North America, is an Amazon top-100 bestseller in the business/consumer category.

In 1997 professional services firm KPMG bought my Values Bank Research Centre and renamed it the Centre for Consumer Behaviour. As its head in Asia / Pacific, and subsequently through international work with the NEO Group and now the Centre for Social Economics, I am an internationally recognized authority on the impact of consumer value on business. I advise global and national corporations.

Personally, I have served as chairman of Tasmania’s Festival of Voices and as a board member of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

My two mainstream books were both bestsellers and the most recent, Wasted, is currently under development as a major motion picture.

Executive Director
Centre for Social Economics
September 2011 – Present (Australia)
Desire Economics: peak-value NEO consumer research & strategy
Social Intelligence: cultural change & workplace equity

CEO
NEO Group
March 2001 – September 2011
Management consulting

Director
KPMG
November 1997 – March 2001
Head of KPMG Centre for Consumer Behaviour (Asia / Pacific)

CEO
Values Bank Research Centre
January 1995 – November 1997 (Melbourne, Australia)
Consumer and social research firm (acquired by KPMG)

Director
Buchan Consulting
October 1990 – November 1997 (Melbourne, Australia)
Management consulting & market strategy

CEO
Honeywill Reid
March 1983 – October 1990 (Adelaide, Australia)
Strategy consultancy specialising in market intelligence & creative execution

Head of Marketing
MYER
November 1979 – March 1983 (Adelaide, Australia)

National Retail Manager
Walter Kristensen
February 1977 – November 1979 (Adelaide, Australia)

Executive Officer
Australian Society for Education through the Arts
February 1974 – February 1977 (Hobart / Adelaide, Australia)
Arts management

General Manager
Queensland Ballet
March 1969 – November 1973 (Brisbane, Australia)

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Adjunct Associate Professor
School of Business & Economics
University of Tasmania
December 2014 – Present (Australia)

Advisory Board Member
Social Equity Institute
University of Melbourne 2016 – Present

Chairman of Judges
Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013

Short-List Finalist
Ned Kelly Award for True Crime Writing 2011

Chairman
Festival of Voices (Tasmania) 2010 – 2013

Board Member
Melbourne International Film Festival 1993 – 1997

PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • 2001: I-Cons: the essential guide to winning and keeping high-value customers (with Verity Byth) Random House
  • 2004: (Chinese edition) I-Cons: the essential guide to winning and keeping high-value customers (with Verity Byth) Citic Publishing, Mainland China
  • 2006: NEO Power: how the new economic order is changing the way we live, work and play (with Verity Byth) Scribe Publications
  • 2008: Managing the Innovation Faultline – chapter in Inside the Innovation Matrix (with Verity Byth) Australian Business Foundation
  • 2008: Lamarck’s Evolution: two centuries of genius and jealousy. Pier 9 (a Murdoch Books imprint)
  • 2010: Wasted: the true story of Jim McNeil, violent criminal and brilliant playwright. Viking (a Penguin imprint)
  • 2012: One Hundred Thirteen Million Markets of One: How the New Economic Order can remake the American economy (with Chris Norton) Fingerprint, USA
  • 2014: It’s Not a Glass Ceiling; It’s a Masculine Fault Line – chapter in Gender Discrimination and Inequality, The Spinney Press (editor J Healey)
  • 2015: The Man Problem: Destructive Masculinity in Western Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, New York

Recent Journals & Papers

  • 2011: ‘Water in the Wires’ – fiction – Island Magazine edition 126 (Spring 2011)
  • 2011: ‘A Radical Dimension of Normality: Beauvoir as diviner of masculine madness in ordinary men’. Sapere Aude – Journal of Philosophy, Vol 3, No 6. (Brazil)
  • 2013: ‘PM Takes a Stalinist Stance on Science’ – Australasian Science, Vol 34, No 10 (December 2013)