Les Cupper
Independent Advisor
Les is an experienced company director, corporate advisor and leadership mentor with a diverse career in financial services, superannuation, mining, manufacturing and education. He has held Board and senior executive leadership roles in Australia and internationally. In 2006 Les founded Invisible Hand Consulting Pty Ltd which currently provides independent advisory and mentoring services to Boards, CEO’s and their senior leadership teams across a wide range of industry sectors. He has had a long association with Oppeus International. Between 2010 and 2018 he was a part owner and Chairman of the business and continues to provide advice to Oppeus and its clients. Les spent the first 10 years of his career in academia specialising in employee relations and human resources. This included senior teaching and research appointments in Australian, UK and American universities. He joined CRA/Rio Tinto in 1984 and held senior industrial relations, organisation development and effectiveness roles before his appointment to Managing Director of Comalco’s Extruded and Foundry Products in 1994 reponsible for businesses in Australia, New Zealand and America. In 1996 Les was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as Group Executive Human Resources retiring in 2006. In this role he led the transformation of the bank's leadership, workplace and people systems to enable it to compete successfully as a private sector business. Les served for 10 years as a Director of the ASB Bank and Insurance businesses in New Zealand and 7 years as Chairman of Commonwealth Investments Pty Ltd. He is a former Director and Chair of the Scheme Compliance Committee of ING Investment Management and Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee of Monash College Pty Ltd (2009-2017). His past governance experience also include 12 years as Chair of one of Australia's largest corporate superannuation funds and 8 years as a trustee of a UK based corporate fund.