The author is a former Cabinet Secretary in the state government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, who spent seven years as a non-executive director of Serco Group plc (1993-2000) and eleven years living in the UK (2000-2011) for most of that time as the executive director of the Serco Institute, a think-tank funded by the Serco Group.
In 2002, he helped to establish the Public Services Strategy Board of the Confederation of British Industry, the first industry association in the UK representing companies specialising in the delivery of public services. He served as a board adviser from its establishment in 2002 until his return to Australia in 2011, working with chief executives across the leading public service companies, and participating in meetings across a wide range of departments and agencies.
Professor Sturgess severed all ties with Serco in early 2011 and returned to Sydney. He now holds the NSW Premier's ANZSOG Chair of Public Service Delivery at the University of New South Wales. The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) is collectively owned by the national and state governments of Australia and New Zealand, and has working partnerships with sixteen universities. He is also Professor of Public Service Innovation at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland. He has chaired a number of government inquiries for the NSW government, and has served on government boards, councils and committees across the three eastern states.
He was a guest lecturer for several years at the UK Commissioning Academy, teaches a commissioning academy once a year in Ontario for the Institute of Public Administration Canada, and advises the New Zealand government on commissioning for outcomes.