Gary Veale

Background

About Gary Veale

I am Executive Director of the Sustainable Value Creation Institute at Melbourne Business School, where I work with boards, executives, and organisations to better understand and navigate the complexities and tensions between business performance, societal expectations, and environmental sustainability. With over 25 years of experience across professional services, academia, and executive education, my work is about equipping leaders to engage with sustainability not as a side issue, but as a defining leadership challenge. This means working through paradoxes that every senior leader now faces - driving growth while decarbonising, balancing efficiency with resilience, delivering short-term results while preparing for long-term transitions, and aligning organisational success with human and societal wellbeing. My expertise brings together three strands- Business & Sustainability: strategy, ESG, materiality, and sustainable supply chains- Human–Nature Relationship: research into how nature shapes decisions, performance, and leadership- Innovation & Engagement: building tools, frameworks, and programs that grow relevance, impact, and capability. I’ve partnered with organisations such as NAB, Bain, Bendigo Bank, Judo Bank, Australian Retirement Trust, Australia Post, Melbourne Water, and the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. I hold a PhD from the University of Melbourne on The Role of Nature in Unlocking Human Potential / Corporate Nature Responses. At its core, my work is about leadership - enabling people and organisations to navigate complexity with clarity, work constructively with tensions, and make decisions that create lasting value for both business and society.