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.
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] of which he is a life fellow, and is chair of the ADSHAN Group.[7]
He was a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors,[8] 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.[9]
In politics, Neat was state director of the Liberal Party in Queensland for seven years beginning in 1982[5] [10] 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.[11] [12] He published The New Politics in 1987.[13]
Among some 20 directorships, he was formerly a director of Greening Australia, a director of the Adult Community & Further Education Board,[14] a director of the Joint Accreditation System for Australia & New Zealand and a vice president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in Victoria.[15] 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]