Kodak Switkowski joined
Kodak as a research scientist in 1978. He moved to
New York, becoming Kodak's director of business planning in 1985. In 1988, he returned to Australia, becoming deputy managing director of Kodak's Australian subsidiary, and in 1992, became its
CEO. He would later say about his time as CEO of Kodak Australasia, "that's when I morphed from being a technologist to being a business executive … and I do think they were my character-forming years." In 1995, Switkowski received the
Advance Australia Award for outstanding achievement in industry and commerce.
Optus and Telstra In 1996, Switkowski became CEO of Australia's second largest telecommunications company
Optus. The first tranche sale of Telstra (the 'T1' sale) took place before Switkowski was appointed CEO of Telstra. He also oversaw the planning for the third tranche sale of Telstra (the 'T3' sale). Switkowski resigned from Telstra on 3 December 2004, and was replaced by
Solomon Trujillo.
NBN On 3 October 2013, Switkowski was confirmed as the new chairman and interim CEO of NBN Co by
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and reverted to the role of Non-Executive Chairman from 2 April 2014 following the appointment of
Bill Morrow as chief executive officer. This followed a decision to deliver the NBN with 'alternative technologies' such as
Fibre to the node and the use of a Multi-Technology Mix (MTM).
Nuclear research On 6 June 2006, Switkowski was appointed to chair a
Commonwealth Government inquiry into the viability of a domestic
nuclear power industry. However, an independent panel of Australian scientists and nuclear experts have been critical of these findings, claiming that they relied upon flawed assumptions while
dodging important questions such as the disposal of
radioactive waste and the potential
greenhouse gas implications of increased mining.
Other directorships Switkowski served as a non-executive director of the multinational packaging company
Amcor from 1995 to 1999. On 19 September 2005, Switkowski took a non-executive director role with
Suncorp-Metway – his first position after resigning from Telstra. In 2006, Switkowski was appointed president of the board of directors of the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image on 1 January – for a three-year term. In 2011 Switkowski was serving as a director of
rare earth miner Lynas Corporation as per the director's Share Purchase Notice. Switkowski was elected chairman of
Opera Australia and on the board of directors of the
Business Council of Australia. Switkowski was later appointed to the Board of Oilsearch. In August 2021, Switkowski was appointed as Chairman of
Crown Resorts, Australia's largest gambling, gaming and entertainment company.
RMIT On 27 October 2010, it was announced that Switkowski would become the
Chancellor of the
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University). He was officially appointed to the position on 1 January 2011. On 7 September 2021, Switkowsi announced that he would step down from the position of Chancellor of RMIT by the end of October 2021, two weeks after he was appointed as Chairman of Crown Resorts. ==Honours==