John Bertrand
Australian sporting hero.
Profile
International yachtsman, businessman, and philanthropist, John Bertrand skippered Australia 11 to victory over the US team Liberty to win the 1983 America’s Cup.
The victory was considered by the Confederation of Australian Sport as the ‘greatest team performance in 200 years of Australian sport’.
The victory broke 132 years of American domination, the longest-running streak in modern sporting history.
John competed in five America’s Cups and two Olympic Games over 25 years of international competition. He is a triple world sailing champion.
He has a Master of Science from MIT in Boston, graduated from Monash University with a Mechanical Engineering Honours degree and has an Honorary Doctorate from Victoria University. He is a Vice Chancellor Professorial Fellow at Monash University.
John is an entrepreneur. He built companies in the marine industry, property development and media industries, including co-founding and launching a digital media company on NASDAQ in the United States.
He was chairman and president of Swimming Australia from 2013 until October 2020 with the simple vision of becoming the world’s best in everything they undertook. Athletes, coaches, Administration.
He led the greatest turnaround in Australian Olympic history when as chairman in 2013 he took over a largely dysfunctional organisation coming out of the 2012 London Olympics with one gold medal to becoming the most successful Australian Olympic swim team of all time. The swim team’s 9 Olympic gold medals won in Tokyo represented over 50% of all gold medals won by the entire Olympic team.
John is chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
He continues to mentor young aspiring Olympians and business entrepreneurs.
Feedback
John was most thorough in his approach to understanding the clients needs.
John related extremely well to a diverse audience, some of whom were initially sceptical. His impact was remarkable as he was able to demonstrate the value of thinking beyond our current parameters. His use of the 1983 America's Cup as a case study was excellent and shows what is possible with a highly focused and planned campaign.
A true gentleman with a great story to tell, will tailor his experience to work within clients requirements thus presenting a strong message of team work, ability to change and take risks.
