Ross Adler
Norman Ross Adler was an Australian business executive and managing director of Santos from 1986 to 2000. He also chaired the board of Austrade from 2001 to 2006.
Background
Adler was born on 13 December 1944. He went to the University of Melbourne and graduated with Bachelor of Commerce in 1966. He received a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University and the University of Adelaide.
Adler died on 30 July 2025, at the age of 80.
Career
In 1975 Adler became Managing Director of Brown and Dureau Ltd a company that had been associated with the Adler family for many years. When the company was purchased by APM Ltd in 1980 Adler became Managing Director of APM. After a major restructure of APM Ltd Adler joined Santos Ltd as Managing Director in 1985 where he spent the next 15 years until his retirement in 2000. In 1990, Adler was made director of the Commonwealth Bank, after holding various management positions in other companies for fifteen years. He left the position in 2004. Adler later became the Director of Telstra between 1996 and 2001. Afterwards, he was appointed by the Minister for Trade and Investment, Mark Vaile, to Chair the Australian Trade Commission. He served in this role from 2001 to 2006, after the sudden resignation of Alan Jackson in 2001. In this period, Adler also became the Chairman and CEO of Amtrade International Pty Ltd from 2001 to 2005 as well as the Chairman of Domino's Pizza Enterprises in Australia and New Zealand for two years in 2005 and 2006. After this, he had a short stint as the Chairman of the Adelaide Festival in 2006/2007 and was also the Deputy Chancellor of the University of Adelaide in 2007. For a couple of years in 2007/2008, Adler was the Chairman of both the Port Adelaide Maritime Corporation and the Defence SA Advisory Board. From 2008, Adler held senior board positions at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and the University of Adelaide in the university's Management Advisory Committee and Alumni Association.
Honours and awards