David Andrew Newington Epstein is an Australian public affairs specialist, company director and corporate adviser who is Chair of , an independent consumer compliance monitoring body for the telecommunications industry.
Biography
He was educated at The Geelong College, Australian National University, and The Wharton School. Epstein began his career as a political adviser, serving as Private Secretary to John Dawkins in the Employment, Education and Training portfolio, where he was involved in the campaign to introduce Australia's Higher Education Contribution Scheme, then serving as Director of the Ministerial Media Group and National Media Liaison Service for Australian Labor Party politicians Bob Hawke and Paul Keating during their terms as Prime Minister of Australia. He was then Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Federal Opposition Kim Beazley. In 1999, he left politics to head both the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association and Australian Telecommunications Industry Association. He was then recruited to Macquarie Corporate Telecommunications, to whom he remained an adviser after becoming a partner and Director of , a corporate advisory firm. In June 2007, he was appointed Chief of Staff and Principal Adviser to Australian Labor Party politician Kevin Rudd, first heading the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, then the Prime Minister's Office. US State Department officials reported on his "significant" role in the Australian Labor Party campaign during the 2007 Australian Federal Election. In 2008 he was ranked second in the Australian Financial Review's Covert Power list. Epstein resigned as Prime Minister's Chief of staff in late 2008 before accepting the position of Group Executive for Government and Corporate Affairs at Qantas Airways Limited, and served on the QantasExecutive Committee. While at Qantas he managed the company's public response to the QF32 engine explosion incident, later attracting recognition from the pilot of the aircraft. Reportedly, he was also involved in negotiating the release of Jetstar executives in Vietnam in the wake of Jetstar Pacific losing $US31 million on disputed fuel-hedging contracts in 2008. Epstein was recruited to BHP Billiton in late 2010 by CEO Marius Kloppers, to a new role as company's Head of Group Public Affairs This was speculated to be part of a response to the failure of $US40 billion bid for Potash Corp following a backlash over foreign ownership from Canadian politicians. During Epstein's tenure, BHP Billiton overtook Microsoft in size, by market capitalization, and reported a $22 billion annual profit. He left this role in September 2011, but remains a strategy and public affairs adviser to companies and was most recently Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for Singtel Optus. David Epstein is a company director of the , and The Asia Society Australia Centre, and sat on boards of the and the until 2018, and for three terms at Opera Australia until 2019. He is also a member of the advisory board for the and was appointed an Adjunct Professor in the Deakin Business School by Deakin University in January 2019.
