Geoff Harris

Geoff Harris (born ca. 1952) is an Australian businessman and philanthropist.

For the Canadian middle-distance runner, see Geoffrey Harris.

Geoff Harris
Borncirca 1952 (age 70–71)[1]
Occupation(s)Businessman, philanthropist
Known forCo-founder of Flight Centre
Spousediv.
Children3

Biography

Born circa 1952,[1] Harris is the son of a grocer and World War II veteran who served in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.[2] He was bullied at school as a teenager, and later dropped out.[3]

Harris is a co-founder of Flight Centre with Graham Turner and Bill James in 1981–1982.[1][3] He served as a company executive until 1998 and as a non-executive director until 2008.[1][4][5] In 2013, he was its biggest shareholder.[4] He was also an early investor in Boost Juice.[5] In 2003, he acquired Top Deck Travel UK with five other investors.[4]

He served as the Vice President of the Hawthorn Football Club.[5]

Personal life

Harris lives in Melbourne.[1] He is interested in military history, and has visited war sites in Malaysia, Vietnam and France.[2]

Personal wealth

In 2019, Harris' net worth was estimated to be A$851 million, listed on the Financial Review 2019 Rich List[6] and, in 2015, US$550 million, listed last on Forbes list of Australia's 50 Richest people.[7] Harris' net worth did not meet the A$472 million cut-off for the Financial Review 2020 Rich List.[8]

Year Financial Review
Rich List		 Forbes
Australia's 50 Richest
Rank Net worth (A$) Rank Net worth (US$)
2011
2012
2013 49 Increase $800 million Increase
2014[9][10] 40 Increase $975 million Increase 41 Decrease $700 million Decrease
2015[11][7] 53 Decrease $881 million Decrease 50 Decrease $550 million Decrease
2016
2017[12][13] $637 million
2018[14] 84 Increase $867 million Increase
2019[6] 111 Decrease $851 million Decrease
Legend
Icon Description
Steady Has not changed from the previous year
Increase Has increased from the previous year
Decrease Has decreased from the previous year

Philanthropy

In 1999, Harris acquired an A$2.5 million house for the Reach Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to provide unprivileged young people with access to mental health, co-founded by football player Jim Stynes and film director Paul Currie.[3]

Similarly, in 2013, he acquired Cromwell Manor, an A$2.5 million historic mansion in Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, to rent it for A$5 per annum to STREAT, a non-profit organization which teaches the homeless skills to start a career in hospitality.[5][3] He has also donated A$450,000 to STREAT.[5] The non-profit is run as a business, and Harris is also an impact investor, having invested A$55,000.[5]

Harris covers the annual rent for the headquarters of Whitelion Open Family, a non-profit organization for at-risk young people.[3]

Harris also provided financial support for the treatment of Hawthorn Football Club player Jarryd Roughead during his fight against cancer. Roughead had previously found cancerous melanoma in his lip in the 2015 season, only to have it come back in the 2016 season. This required an expensive immunotherapy treatment, for which Harris paid.[15]

References
  1. "2015 Australia's 50 Richest: #50 Geoff Harris". Forbes Asia. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  2. Coates, Pip (July 2014). "To Have And To Hold: Geoff Harris. Worth: $975 million. Rank: 40". The Australian Financial Review Magazine. p. 22.
  3. Short, Michael (31 March 2014). "Geoff Harris: Helping youth take off". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. "BRW Rich 200: 49. Geoff Harris". BRW. Sydney. 22 May 2013.
  5. Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (23 January 2014). "Why rich lister Geoff Harris is letting this Melbourne mansion for $5 a year". BRW. Sydney. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  6. Bailey, Michael (30 May 2019). "Australia's 200 richest people revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  7. "2015 Australia's 50 Richest: #50 Geoff Harris". Forbes Asia. March 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  8. Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (30 October 2020). "The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  9. "2014 BRW Rich 200 list". BRW (A Fairfax Media Publication). Sydney. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  10. "2014 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  11. "2015 BRW Rich 200 list: Geoff Harris". BRW. Sydney. May 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  12. Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2017). "Financial Review Rich List 2017". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  13. Mayne, Stephen (26 May 2017). "Mayne's take: The top 25 Australian billionaires, as claimed by Fairfax". Crikey. Private Media. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  14. Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2018). "2018 AFR Rich List: Who are Australia's richest people?". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  15. "PCM Speech: Alastair Clarkson". Hawthorn FC. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
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