Meet the chartered accountant steering UOW through its biggest crisis yet
UOW leadership shakeup before ICAC hearing
The University of Wollongong has named Greg West as Acting Chancellor after Michael Still stood aside pending a public inquiry by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.
A chartered accountant with governance expertise spanning investment banking, higher education and ASX-listed boards, West steps into the role as the university prepares to face significant institutional scrutiny at ICAC. His appointment took effect on Friday when a statement was a released.
UOW has two Deputy Chancellors, both UOW alumni: former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner of 26 years Merran Dawson, and technology business leader Syed Ahmed. The university council instead appointed West, a longer-serving figure in the UOW governance structure, to the Acting Chancellor role.
West also sits on the university’s People and Culture, Performance and Remuneration, and Risk, Audit and Compliance committees.
Still’s decision to stand aside came three days after ICAC’s announcement of Operation Scandi, a public inquiry into allegations at the highest levels of UOW’s leadership.
Former interim Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar, not a direct target of the inquiry but whose behaviour regarding a potential conflict of interest is under examination, stepped aside from his position on the Griffith University Council and its Audit & Risk Committee the day after the ICAC inquiry was announced.
The current status of the university’s chief governance officer and secretary Alyssa White, who also is being investigated, has not been confirmed by the university. However, on the UOW website, Ellenie Petrou is named as the Acting Chief Governance Officer and Secretary to Council.
A community petition calling on Still to stand aside attracted more than 150 signatures before the Chancellor confirmed he would step aside. Posted on Change.org by Lisa Simmons, a former UOW employee and former chair of the university’s work, health and safety committee, an update on the petition described June 5 as “an emotional day for many of the UOW community.”
The ICAC hearing is scheduled to begin in Sydney on June 22, 2026.
The ICAC inquiry
Operation Scandi will examine three distinct areas of alleged conduct.
The first concerns UOW’s chief governance officer and secretary, Alyssa White, who faces allegations that she intentionally subverted recruitment processes for governance roles to benefit people in her professional network.
The second focuses on whether Still, White, or other university staff or contractors dishonestly exercised their official functions by improperly awarding or influencing the award of work to Aspirall Consulting International Pty Ltd - a strategy consulting firm.
The Commission will also investigate whether Michael Still, or any other University of Wollongong staff or contractor, partially exercised their official functions by failing to manage the conflict of interest relating to the employment of John Dewar as interim Vice-Chancellor and the engagement of KordaMentha Pty Ltd. The consulting firm engaged by UOW on a $2.9 million contract to review and restructure the university while Dewar was its acting head. Dewar was a partner at KordaMentha at the time.
The ICAC has made no findings. All allegations remain subject to investigation, and all parties are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Who is Greg West?
West’s career spans financial services, higher education governance and ASX-listed company boards.
He is a chartered accountant who built his early career at PriceWaterhouse before moving into investment banking, where he held senior finance executive roles at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank, as well as Bain & Company, the management consulting firm. More recently, he served as CEO of a biotechnology company dual-listed on the ASX and Nasdaq.
West was appointed as a non-executive director of Education Australia Limited in March 2006 - a company whose shareholders are Australia’s universities - and has served as its chair since September 2016. Education Australia owns 49 per cent of IDP Education, now one of the largest global student placement and English language testing businesses and a top-100 ASX company.
West has been a member of the University of Wollongong Council since 2018, with a term running to late 2027. He is deputy chairman of UOWGE Limited, the university’s international business subsidiary, which operates university campuses in Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and Saudi Arabia. Within the university, he sits on the Risk, Audit and Compliance; People and Culture; and Performance and Remuneration committees.
In a statement, the University Council said West’s “governance background and knowledge of the University will provide steady and experienced leadership” while the ICAC investigation proceeds.
What happens next
Commissioner Paul Lakatos SC will preside at the public inquiry. Counsel Assisting the Commission will be Emma Bathurst. The hearing is scheduled to begin on June 22 and is expected to run three weeks. Still has said he will reconsider his position at the conclusion of the public inquiry.
The Pulse Illawarra will continue to cover Operation Scandi as the hearing progresses. ICAC has made no findings and all allegations remain subject to the inquiry process.
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