Gary Neat

Gary Francis Neat (born 27 October 1948) is an Australian business leader and company director. He is a former journalist and senior political figure.

Neat attended Newcastle Boys' High School. He was a Chevening Scholar^[1] at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has a master's degree in management from the Norwegian School of Management.^{[citation needed]}

Neat was a senior journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for 16 years, including assignments as a foreign correspondent in Asia during the 1970s in Indochina, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines^[2] and work as a political correspondent^[3][4] including on Nationwide.^[5] He was also a producer with the BBC in London.

Neat is a former national president of the Australian Institute of Management,^[6][7] of which he is a life fellow, and is chair of the ADSHAN Group.^[8]

He was a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors,^[9] the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Vic) and the Australian Marketing Institute. He has been awarded five Australian Marketing Awards and was chairman of the Australian Marketing Industry Review.^[10]

In politics, Neat was state director of the Liberal Party in Queensland for seven years beginning in 1982^[5][11] and directed more than 20 election campaigns. He was a member of the Liberal Party's Federal Executive and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1987.^[6][12] He published The New Politics in 1987.^[13][14]

Among some 20 directorships, he was formerly a director of Greening Australia, a director of the Adult Community & Further Education Board,^[15] a director of the Joint Accreditation System for Australia & New Zealand and a vice president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in Victoria.^[13] He was also Australia's representative on AAMO, the Asian business forum.

Neat's son Adam Gary Neat worked as a DJ under the name Adam Sky and died in 2019.^[16]