Vicki Thomson, Group of Eight Australia
chief executive
Vicki Thomson is the chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8) – Australia’s eight leading research-intensive universities. Before that, she served as executive director of the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN). Thomson has a diverse background that covers print and electronic journalism, politics, issues management, and the higher education sector. She is a member of the European Australian Business Council board, the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan Reference Group, and MS Research Australia’s leadership council. She was also previously chief of staff to a South Australian premier and was a board member of the Australia-China Council. In 2019, The Australian Financial Review named Thomson as the second most powerful person in Australia’s higher education sector for the second year running.