Before his tenure at Telstra, Switkowski was chief executive officer of Australia's second largest telecommunications company Optus and the photographic equipment company Kodak. He also served as chairman and managing director of Kodak from 1992 to 1996. During this time, he served as a non-executive director of the multinational packaging company Amcor from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Switkowski received the Advance Australia Award for outstanding achievement in industry and commerce.
Telstra
On 1 March 1999, Switkowski was appointed chief executive officer of Australia's public and largest telecommunications company Telstra, and to the board of directors of Telstra's pay television partner Foxtel. Before his appointment, he was group managing director of Telstra's Business and International Development division. During his tenure at Telstra, Switkowski oversaw the introduction of a number of services to the company; such as its major internet service provider subsidiary BigPond, and substantial expansion of others; such as its advertising and directories subsidiary Pacific Access. Switkowski oversaw the implementation of the second tranche sale of Telstra on the Australian Stock Exchange, New Zealand Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange that began in September 1999. The first tranche sale of Telstra took place before Switkowski was appointed CEO of Telstra. He also oversaw the planning for the third tranche sale of Telstra. Switkowski resigned from Telstra on 3 December 2004, and was replaced by Solomon Trujillo.
On 6 June 2006, Switkowski was appointed to chair a Commonwealth Governmentinquiry into the viability of a domestic nuclear power industry. He was later appointed chairman of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation by federal Minister for Science Julie Bishop on 4 March 2007. Switkowski was originally appointed to the board of ANSTO on 1 January 2006, but stood down when appointed to the inquiry. After the completion of the inquiry, he was then reappointed to the board as chairman on 1 March 2007. His term as chairman concluded at the end of 2010. The inquiry concluded that Australia is well positioned to increase its production and export of uranium as well as adding nuclear power to its own energy mix. 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
On 19 September 2005, Switkowski took a non-executive director role with Suncorp-Metway – his first position after resigning from Telstra. Since then he has become the chairman as of the 2011 Annual General Meeting. 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. He also took non-executive director roles with Healthscope on 19 January, and with Tabcorp Holdings on 2 October. In 2011 Switkowski was serving as a director of Rare Earth's miner Lynas Corporation as per the director's Share Purchase Notice. Switkowski also currently serves as chairman of Opera Australia and on the board of directors of the Business Council of Australia. Switkowski currently serves on the Board of Oilsearch.
RMIT
On 27 October 2010, it was announced that Switkowski would become the Chancellor of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was officially appointed to the position on 1 January 2011.
