International Sportsman/ Businessman & Philanthropist

Jphn Bertrand is the Australian who skippered the winged keel Australia 11 to victory over Dennis Connor’s Liberty to win the 1983 America's Cup, breaking 132 years of American domination and in the process, breaking the longest-running record in the history of modern sport.The Confederation of Australian Sport voted the Australia 11 victory as the “greatest team performance in 200 years of Australian sport" A World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist (Montreal ’76), John represented Australia in two Olympic Games and five America’s Cups. In over 25 years of America's Cup campaigning (1970-1995), he was involved in all areas of creating and leading these high performance teams including skipper of the Australia 11 team and chairman of oneAustralia.John is both a businessman and philanthropist. Over a 30 year business career, he successfully built companies in the marine industry, property development and the digital media industries.

John co-founded and chaired Quokka Sports, the online sports broadcast company, which in 1999 was successfully floated on NASDAQ in the United States.

Since 2004, John has been chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, inaugural members being Sir Don Bradman and Dawn Fraser. National Patron is the Prime Minister and co-Patrons are Bob Hawke and John Howard. He is also chairman of the Prime Minister's Alannah and Madeline Foundation, a world leader in anti-bullying and cyber-safety programs within Australian schools.

In 2008 John was named Melbournian of the Year and in 2011 he received Monash University's Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, each for his community leadership.

John holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Monash University and a Master of Science from MIT in Boston.

A Vice Chancellor Professorial Fellow of Monash University, in 2013 he launched a new high-end leadership program benchmarking Australia's most successful leaders from within commerce, technology, military and sport.

John was chairman of selectors of the #1 world ranked Australian Olympic sailing team for London, he is a mentor to many aspiring young Olympians and continues to compete at the highest levels, in 2010 winning the World Etchells class sailing championships and placing 3rd in 2012.

In August 2013, John was appointed President of Swimming Australia.

Presentation Topics Include

• Patriotism
• Sailing
• Winning the 'America's Cup'
• Business

Testimonials

“John had the room breathless, very suitable for the audience. The video he used brought out patriotism we haven't felt for a long time. Incredibly inspirational."
Goldman Sachs JBWere

“John was one of the better speakers we've had so far. He showed a genuine interest in our company and it's workings prior to the conference so he was able to tailor his presentation around relevant issues for us. He held our audience captivated, which is no easy task."
Swann Insurance

“John provided valuable insight into the complexities of leading a high performance team for an extended period with a specific goal in mind. He provided his views on leadership in relation to that task and how issues including team morale were maintained over that period. He related that to a law enforcement environment reflective of the current challenges faced in respect to Australia's national security issues. Apart from being mesmerized by your views and values, the lasting impression I have of our meeting is your capacity to "listen". It is a leadership trait I try to emphasise throughout our Program - "first seek to understand - and then, to be understood." 
Australian Federal Police

“John was most thorough in his approach to understanding the clients needs."
Eventures

“Feedback received was very positive. John was down to earth and realistic in his views. He shared information and thoughts that the audience could relate to."
Australian Institute of Management

“John took time to understand our people, our business and engaged the topic with a real passion that enabled our people to live the experience. This directly translated into our training program and enlivened their view of the leadership opportunity and challenges our business has ahead of it. In addition it was a powerful message that helped further unite our senior leadership team from the perspective of gaining a commitment to each other."
Nilsen Electric

“John was fantastic, thank you. The delegates were extremely positive with their feedback, with some quoting he was the best presenter they had ever seen."
Genesys Wealth Advisors

“Your messages certainly reinforced the key underpinning aspects of how as a business we can move forward. From my perspective the highlights that were the importance of the: belief, confidence, and braveness as demonstrated by Brody, the Power of the mind in taking you where you want to go as demonstrated by Ben from the technical perspective and the many other examples that you need such as Herb Elliot’s Positioning yourself to win through understanding the psychology of the event. The guys during the next day certainly relived your presentation with enthusiasm and ownership."
Nilsen Electric (Vic) Pty Ltd