Kathryn Therese Callaghan was born in 1946, the second daughter of
Bede Callaghan (1912–1993) and Mollie née Brewer. Her father was a merchant banker, Chairman of the
Commonwealth Bank and Chancellor of the
University of Newcastle, and was knighted in 1976. In 1980 Nick Greiner was elected to the
NSW Legislative Assembly for the
Liberal Party, becoming Leader of the Opposition in 1983, and defeating the
Labor Party's
Barrie Unsworth in 1988 to become
Premier of New South Wales. He was forced to resign as Premier in 1992. Kathryn Greiner first contested the
Sydney City Council election in 1995 as an
independent aligned with the Liberal Party. She outpolled sitting
Lord Mayor of Sydney Frank Sartor on the primary vote, but lost to him on preferences. In 1999 she led the Sydney Alliance team but again failed to become Lord Mayor. Sydney Alliance was voluntarily deregistered with the
New South Wales Electoral Commission in 2003. In 2003, she resigned as chair of the
Sydney Peace Foundation and as a member of the executive council of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific, both associated with the
University of Sydney. This was done in response to her husband's enforced resignation as chair of the university's Graduate School of Management in the wake of academic protests against his simultaneous chairmanship of British American Tobacco (Australia). In September 2012, Kathryn Greiner was appointed Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing by the NSW Minister for Ageing, Andrew Constance. Her numerous other directorships and involvements have included: Financial Planning Association,
John Singleton Advertising, Deputy Chancellor of
Bond University,
Pacific Power, Carlovers Ltd,
L.E.K. Consulting, Chair of Biotechcapital Ltd, member of the Schools Funding Review Panel (Gonski Review),
Bell Shakespeare,
Save the Children Australia, Asia Society Austral Asia Centre, Australian Ireland Fund,
Salvation Army Executive Committee, and
Musica Viva Australia National Advisory Council. She has also been a media presenter for radio station
2UE and for television's
Nine Network. ==Personal life==