James Strong (Australian businessman)
Australian businessman, chief executive and philanthropist (1944–2013)
James Alexander Strong (31 July 1944 – 3 March 2013) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist.
Education
Born in Lismore, New South Wales, Strong was educated at Lismore High School and Tenterfield High School. At the age of 16, he was selected from 6,000 applicants to undertake officer training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon; however, he dropped out during his fourth year, realising that he was not suited to the military. He then completed tertiary studies at the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He qualified as a barrister, and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar Association in 1976.
Professional and business career
Strong entered the business world as a site manager for the mining company Nabalco in 1981, and in 1983 was an executive director of the Australian Mining Council. From 1986 to 1989, he was CEO of Australian Airlines (formerly TAA)—it was during a round of media interviews for the airline that he first donned the distinctive bow tie he would become known for wearing. In 1991, he became national chairman of partners for the law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, and in 1992, managing director of the DB Breweries Group in New Zealand.
Strong was chief executive and managing director of Qantas from 1993 until 2001, during the time of its merger with his former airline, Australian Airlines. He was appointed to the board of Qantas several years after his departure as CEO. He also held senior roles with several other Australian companies, including: the Woolworths conglomerate, Rip Curl, IAG and Kathmandu.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James Strong (Australian businessman)” as australian businessman, chief executive and philanthropist (1944–2013). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6143764. VIAF identifies the subject as 299880150. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 2013, 1976 and 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “James Strong (Australian businessman)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.