Dr Nicholas Gruen

Described as “Australia’s foremost public intellectual” by former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, Dr. Nicholas Gruen is a leading policy economist, entrepreneur, and commentator. Nicholas earned First Class Honours in History and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, followed by a Graduate Diploma in Economics and a PhD in Public Policy from Australian National University. Initially a school teacher and cartoonist in the 1980s, he later shifted his career towards economics and policy. As the CEO of Lateral Economics, Nicholas leads a team of international experts in economic reform. He is also the Chairman of Health Metrics, a global software provider for aged care services, and the Australian Chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation. Nicholas was the founding Chairman and a major shareholder of the successful start-up Kaggle, which was sold to Google. He continues to invest in innovative start-ups like Breezedocs and HealthKit.