John Rothwell AO, Founder, former Exec. Chair & Non-Exec. Director of Austal

Our very special guest is John Rothwell AO, the Founder and Director of Australian ship building success story Austal. John arrived in Australia from the Netherlands around age 10 and didn’t speak English, he left school at age 15 and followed his entrepreneurial spirit that kicked in early. John worked out early that he loved making things and was good with his hands. He built his first boat at age 13 and wacked a motorcycle engine in it to make it go. Austal was founded in 1988 and the rest is history. It is now Australia’s largest defence exporter and the first ASX listed shipbuilder with a current market cap of more than $2bln and has designed and constructed over 350 vessels for commercial and defence operators in 59 countries worldwide. It has major defence contracts with the US Navy. John provides a detailed insight into this remarkable story and growing Austal to be the phenomenal company it is today. This story is one that will no doubt be told for many, many years to come.