JPMorgan has appointed Sir Rod Eddington as its new non-executive chairman for Australia and New Zealand. Eddington officially starts his new role with JPMorgan in January 2006 and will remain in his non-executive roles with News Corporation, John Swire & Sons and Rio Tinto, the world's second largest diversified miner.
The global banking firm scoops Eddington from British Airways, where he has served as chief executive for five years. Prior to this role, the Australian also operated as managing director for Cathay Pacific between 1992-1996, following this position with a three-year stint as executive chairman of defunct domestic carrier Ansett Airlines.
Before these high-flying positions, Eddington earned his aviation wings with The Swire Group, operator of Cathay Pacific, in a variety of roles in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.
Outside of the aviation industry, Eddington recently accepted an invitation from the British government to advise the Treasury and Department of Transport on the long-term impact of transport infrastructure decisions on the UK's productivity, stability and growth.
Commenting on his hire, Eddington states that, "JPMorgan has scale, breadth of product offerings and a truly global network- advantages that can only lead to great opportunities for the business. I am particularly delighted to be working with such a high-calibre team of investment banking executives led by Rob Priestly and Andrew Pridham in Australia and Ralph Parks as chairman of JPMorgan for Asia-Pacific."
