PwC has appointed Amy Auster to the high-profile role of Chief Economist. She succeeds Jeremy Thorpe, who is sliding off the role after six years and is remaining with the firm as a senior partner.
Amy Auster has been with PwC as a partner since the summer of last year, focused on consulting work to government and other public sector institutions. She helps clients develop and implement public policy in her areas of expertise: public finance, public goods (energy, water, waste), housing and financial services.
In her new role, Auster will head PwC’s economic research unit (which regularly teams up with Strategy&) and lead the firm’s economic related work with governments, businesses and communities. “Amy’s deep experience will help us to continue to provide unique insights that help to illuminate and solve some of the important problems facing our clients, the economy and our wider society,” said PwC chief executive Tom Seymour.
Auster brings a wealth of economic experience to the role. Before joining PwC, Auster she as chief executive officer of the Infrastructure and Project Financing Agency, and was a Chief Adviser for the Commonwealth Treasury. She was previously a Department of Treasury and Finance Deputy Secretary in Victoria, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and senior executive and economist at ANZ.
Earlier she delivered consultancy assignments to the World Bank and Asia Development Bank, and worked for JPMorgan Chase and Merrill Lynch.
During her career, Auster has published numerous papers, including on the development of banking and financial markets across the Asia Pacific region; the opening of China’s economy and its impact on Australia and the region; and most recently on the digitisation of banking and finance.
Commenting on her new role, Auster said: “I feel a tremendous sense of privilege to be stepping into this role at such a critical juncture in Australia. There are so many challenges we must step into… a housing challenge, an energy transition challenge, a mental health challenge, a challenge with resilience to extreme weather events, and more.”
“PwC as Australia’s largest professional services firm is connected right across the business community. I’m looking forward to working with our wide breadth of valued clients, partners and the wider community to step into addressing our most important challenges and deliver sustained outcomes.”
Alongside her role at PwC, Auster is a member of the Advisory Board to the APEC Study Centre at RMIT, a Research Fellow at Monash University Business School, a member of the Melbourne Economic Forum, and Women in Economics.