Productivity Commission appoints Alex Robson and Martin Stokie

04 April 2022 Consultancy.com.au

Big Four senior leaders Alex Robson and Martin Stokie have joined government economic authority the Productivity Commission, which is chaired by ex-PwC consultant Michael Brennan.

Australia’s Productivity Commission has appointed four new commissioners, including deputy chair Alex Robson and Martin Stokie, respectively of Ernst & Young and PwC.

The duo join former PwC director Natalie Siegel-Brown, who is currently the managing director of child services organisation Child Wise, along with CSIRO sustainability pathways research director Joanne Chong.

Productivity Commission appoints Alex Robson and Martin Stokie

An independent advisory body of the Australian government, the Productivity Commission conducts various inquiries and research at the request of the government on key policy or regulatory matters related to the Australian economy and community well-being. Current chair, Michael Brennan, spent three years as an associate director in the economics and policy practice at PwC.

Seated alongside Brennan for a five-year term as deputy chair will now be former EY associate partner Alex Robson, after having joined the professional services firm in September. Earlier in his career, Robson spent two years as a director at Deloitte, and later as Chief Economist in the Office of the Prime Minister during the Turnbull era. He is also presently a professor of economics at Griffith University.

Previous Commission deputy chair, Karen Chester, also preceded Robson at what was to become Deloitte Access Economics, having served as CEO at the boutique Canberra consultancy for five years prior to its later acquisition by Deloitte in 2011. Chester was also a former partner at Mercer, where she led the human capital advisory’s global infrastructure division. She is now deputy chair at ASIC.

Also appointed for a five-year term, Martin Stokie has been with PwC for the best part of fifteen years, first joining in Melbourne in 2007 but with a one-year leave of absence in 2014 to serve as an economic advisor to then parliamentary secretary Josh Frydenberg. Most recently, he has been the lead partner for PwC’s Economics and Policy team, with a focus on regulatory reform and initiatives.

“The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s principal advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation and its work covers all sectors of the economy,” noted now treasurer Frydenberg in a press release. “These appointments will continue to support the Productivity Commission in providing advice on economic, social and environmental matters affecting the welfare of all Australians.”