Former Wesfarmers finance chief, Terry Bowen, and former Macquarie boss, Nicholas Moore, are sailing opposite tacks as they chart a post-executive career, with the former sticking to large corporates.
Neither needs to work financially, so the issue is mainly one of interest. Moore has chosen to join the well-run, not for profit, The Smith Family, and a growing software group, Willow, as his starting base.
He has 3.1 million Macquarie shares worth around $360m and paying $16.3m in dividends, so the rent will be handled.
Like a lot of senior executives of listed companies, he appears to have decided to keep well clear of them for any non-executive role he takes.
The thinking is, big company boards are high-risk with little upside and he would much rather join something he can be closely involved in and be part of the team.
Former CBA boss and now AMP chair David Murray took the view he didn’t want to be on the board of a company over which he had little influence.
The revival of AMP is a challenge, and one in which he can clearly play a big role.
Bowen enjoys big company boards and has relished his time at BHP, being Ken MacKenzie’s first appointment.
On Tuesday, the company said Bowen would take Lindsay Maxsted’s place as chair of the key audit and risk committee.
Maxsted, after the regulation nine years as BHP director, will step aside at year’s end.
Bowen will also join the Transurban board and is on the path to taking over from Maxsted as chair of the company.
Maxsted, who will step down from the Westpac chair in the next few weeks has also signalled this is his last term as Transurban chair.
He is clearly stepping down from the public company spotlight.
Bowen, in contrast to Moore, likes working with big public companies and his BHP experience has proved invaluable as the company transfers to a new chief executive, Mike Henry.
His role at private equity concern BGH Capital is also changing to play a lesser role now former KKR executive Matt Claughton is on the job.
After travelling 38 weeks from his Perth base last year, he is keen to travel less.
The key, he figures, is to do your own due diligence and in BHP and Transurban he has two well-run companies in very different sectors.
If, as expected, he assumes the Transurban chair, his key task will be to find a replacement for Scott Charlton, who after eight years in the top job, is due to step down shortly.
A good CEO generally lasts between seven and 10 years, but the average tenure is 4.8 years.
The conflicting career paths come down to a question of choice, with different people seeking different roles.
While public company boards are seen as being all downside, there are plenty who enjoy the experience that comes down, in part, to having a good chair and board and a well-run management.
Private companies have their share of snafus. It’s just we don’t always hear about them.
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