David Cooke
David Cooke
Konica Minolta
David Cooke was appointed as the first non-Japanese Managing Director of Konica Minolta in Australia in 2013. The company is a global firm operating in the technology sector.
He completed his doctorate in 2008. David’s dissertation was titled “Building Social Capital though Corporate Social Investment” which dealt with the role of profit–making corporations in furthering the work of the NGO sector. His work was awarded the Globally Responsible Leadership award for Social Impact in 2011 and in 2014 he was awarded the Top Alumnus of the last 20 years by the Southern Cross University Business School.
David’s area of practice is as a voice for the marginalized and vulnerable in our world to those with the resources and power to uplift them. Drawing on his experience of 30 years of leadership in corporate roles, David supports large corporations and organisations to transform their CSR practices to be truly responsible to their broader ecosystems and become agents of positive transformation for our world. This knowledge is applicable to any board or board committee or senior executive team who are willing to engage in a fearless and courageous way, to transform their corporate culture, achieve true sustainability and advocate for the values that the world today is so greatly in need of at this time.
As the former MD of Konica Minolta, David established an ethical sourcing program to eradicate modern slavery from our supply chain, which was acknowledged with the Freedom Award by Anti-Slavery Australia in 2017 and the Australian Human Rights Commission Business Award for 2018.
David was a member of the Federal Government Advisory Committee on the Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights in 2017 and panellist at the DFAT & Attorney General's conference on Human Trafficking & Human Rights in Business 2016. On the basis of this work, David was invited to present at the United Nations in Geneva at the "Business & Human Rights Conference" in 2018 and invited to participate in the "Private Sector CEO Forum" at the United Nations during UN General Assembly Week, in New York in 2019 and to present at "The Trailblazing Women Conference" during that week.
David holds the positions of Adjunct Professor UTS Business School, Chair UN Global Compact Network Australia, the world's largest corporate sustainability network, Chair UNSW Australian Human Rights Institute Advisory Committee and Non-executive Director Sustainalytics, a global ESG research and advisory firm (part of Morningstar).
David was a recipient of the Global Social Impact Award for academic publishing presented by Emerald Publishing & the Global Responsible Leadership Initiative and was awarded Top Alumnus of the last 20 years 1994 - 2014, by Southern Cross University Business School.
Other accolades include National iAwards (AIIA) judge - Sustainability & Green IT, e-Inclusion & e-Community 2010 - 2015. Finalist CEO Magazine IT Executive & Managing Director of the Year, 2015.