Andrew Forrest AO is the 2017 Australian of the Year (WA).
In addition to being the founder, former CEO and Chairman of the world-leading Fortescue Metals Group, Andrew Forrest is widely considered one of Australia’s greatest philanthropists, business leaders and agents of change. Andrew founded Fortescue Metals Group in 2003, and has led the company to its July 2017 $16 billion market capitalisation as the fourth largest seaborne iron ore producer. Under his leadership, Fortescue has made significant investments in the Australian resources sector of more than $20 billion.
Through the Minderoo Foundation, established with his wife Nicola in 2001, Andrew devotes his energy to society’s most vulnerable citizens, with a focus on ending Australia’s Aboriginal disparity and drawing attention to and liberating 45.8 million people trapped in modern slavery around the world. Andrew has invested considerable resources in alleviating Aboriginal disadvantage using Fortescue Metals Group’s Vocational Training and Employment Centre. This equips Aboriginal communities for employment in the mining industry.
Andrew and Nicola are the first Australians to join The Giving Pledge, vowing to give away the overwhelming majority of their wealth. In addition to ending Aboriginal disparity and modern slavery, the Forrest’s actively champion arts and culture, as well as early childhood development, working in collaboration with the corporate sector, government and broader community. Andrew is on the Board of the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), and he and Nicola are major donors to AGWA. The couple have donated millions of dollars to major artistic bodies, such as the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the West Australian Ballet, in a personal capacity and through the Minderoo Foundation.