Toowoomba to host RBA Governor

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia will visit Toowoomba for the first time next month (April).

Mr Glenn Stevens will address 400 local business people, politicians, media representatives and USQ academics during the Regional Business Leaders Forum at Picnic Point on April 23.

The forum stems from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between USQ and the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2009.

'Professor Allan Layton, who is the Dean of the University’s Faculty of Business, is also a business delegate on the Chamber Board. It is with Professor Layton’s commitment and support of the USQ that we can combine to provide world-class speakers to discuss relevant business issues', Chamber President Geoff McDonald said.

USQ Faculty of Business Deputy Dean, Associate Professor Geoff Cockfield, said the forum was attracting widespread interest.

'People are very aware of the importance of RBA decisions and are interested in getting an insight into that decision-making process’, he said.

'It is a great opportunity to host Mr Stevens for a rare regional visit.'

Mr Stevens regularly travels around Australia to give public speeches. A graduate of the University of Sydney and the University of Western Ontario, Canada, Mr Stevens joined the Bank’s Research Department in 1980 and held various senior positions in the 1990s, including heading the Economic Analysis and International Departments.

Appointed Governor in 2006, Mr Stevens is Chair of the Reserve Bank Board and Payments System Board and Chair of the Council of Financial Regulators. He serves as Chair of the Financial Markets Foundation for Children and is a director of The Anika Foundation.

He has been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a member of the Advisory Boards of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne and the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales.