Danny Samson
Professor of Management
Danny Samson is Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne, was Head of the Department of Management in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce (2002-4), and is Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Economic Development there. He has an honours degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in management from the Australian Graduate School of Management.
His work history includes three years as an engineer at ICI Australia, appointment as a lecturer at AGSM, five years as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Illinois and ten years as the Professor of Manufacturing Management at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. He has been a Board member of the TAC in Victoria for 9 years, an insurer with $6 billion in assets.
During his academic career, Danny has been a consultant to senior executives in most manufacturing industries and in numerous service sector organisations. These include major companies in the food, building products, paper and printing, chemicals, processing, banking and other industries, in Australia and elsewhere.
He has published in a wide variety of journals which reflect the breadth of his research interests including the Journal of the Operational Research Society, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Management Science, ASTIN Bulletin, Journal of Operations Management, Interfaces, International Journal of Technology Management, Australian Accounting Review, Decision Support Systems and the International Journal of Production and Operations Management. He has also published a number of books in recent years, Managerial Decision Analysis (Irwin, 1988), Management for Engineers (Longman Cheshire, 1989 and 1994) Manufacturing and Operations Strategy (Prentice Hall, 1991), Production and Operations Management in Australia (Longman Cheshire, 1995), Patterns of Excellence (Pitman 1999).
Danny regularly provides industry and executive seminars and has participated in a number of committees and industry bodies including appointment as a member of the Australian Manufacturing Council and the Commonwealth Government Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management (Karpin committee). He has undertaken numerous studies in technology management including the major DIST sponsored study on “International Best Practices in Technology Management”.
He is a charismatic presenter of ideas who can draw audiences into discussing and reflecting on key issues in leadership and management. Over ten years he has been given the highest ratings of any expert presenter in our learning programs.