Ronald Bird

Professor Ron Bird completed a master's degree in Economics at Monash University prior to taking up a lectureship at Macquarie University in 1970. In 1973, he moved to the Economics Faculty at the Australian National University where he headed up the Commerce Department and taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in accounting and finance. He left the ANU in 1988 and was subsequently awarded the title of Emeritus Professor by that University.

After leaving the ANU in 1989, Professor Bird embarked on a career in the private sector. His first position was with Towers Perrin where he was in charge of their asset consulting practice and also of their global research unit. Professor Bird left Towers Perrin in 1992 to enter funds management. His first position was with Westpac Investment Management where his responsibilities extended to the development and application of quantitative techniques to funds management, the development and implementation of derivative strategies and all aspects of performance. From Westpac, Professor Bird moved to establish a new Sydney-baded quantitative funds management firm, in a joint with Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (Boston) for whom he also coordinated their global research activities.

From Westpac, Professor Bird moved to establish a new funds management firm, as a joint with Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (Boston). This firm concentrated on developing quantitative techniques for the equity markets in the region, marketing the GMO funds in Australia and being part of GMO's global research activities. Besides being the manager of the local activities, Professor Birds was also responsible for coordinating GMO's global research activities.

Professor Bird returned to academia at the beginning of 1999 and joined the Finance School at the University of Technology Sydney. However for several years until the end of 2002 he continued on in his role of coordinating GMO's global activities. Since the beginning of 2003, he has conducted several projects for organizations in the financial services sector which included devising the investment strategy for MIR Investment Management. AT UTS, he has taught honours and masters subjects in the areas of corporate finance and investments, coordinated the Schools’s honours program and more recently taken on the role of Director of the Director of the Paul Woolley Centre for Capital Market Dysfunctionality.

Professor Bird's research has largely been concentrated in the investments areas and that areas interface with financial reporting. His research up to 1988 concentrated in areas such as the market for accounting information, various aspects of portfolio insurance and the efficiency of gambling markets. Since 1999, his interest have progressively moved towards increasing our understanding of the extent to which markets fail and the costs imposed on the community as a consequence of these failures. He has published numerous articles in Australian and overseas journals, made conference presentations in numerous countries and held visiting positions at several prestigious American and British Universities. He was the co-author of the first Australian corporate finance textbook in Australia and also more recently has co-authored an Australian version of a very successful US corporate finance text.