Don Argus

Who is Don Argus?

Donald Robert Argus AC is an Australian businessman, Chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Australia Advisory Board and Member of the Bank of America Global Advisory Council. He is the former Chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles, former Director of the Australian Foundation Investment Company and former CEO of National Australia Bank. He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School.

Argus spent much of his early career in the banking industry. He was credited with leading National Australia Bank to recovery from a difficult period in the late 1980s and was the Executive Director Banking at NAB prior to succeeding Neil "Nobby" Clark as Chief Executive Officer on 1 October 1990, having been at the bank since the 1956. During his leadership market capitalisation grew from A$5.5 billion to a peak of A$37 billion. EPS growth in that period grew at a rate of 128%.

Argus joined the board of BHP in 1996, assuming the role of Chairman in 1999 at which time the market capitalisation was A$17.28 billion. During his stewardship he oversaw the formation of a dual listed companies structure between BHP and Anglo–Dutch miner Billiton and at the time of his retirement in 2010, BHP Billiton had a combined market capitalisation of A$226.5 billion.