Mr Peter J Wills AC
Deputy Chairman, Research Australia Limited

Mr. Wills founded Custom Resources International in 1981 which changed it’s company name to CRI Australia in 1986. CRI became one of Australia’s leading property companies with Mr. Wills as its Executive Chairman. His involvement in property and business management spans more than three decades and he is an acknowledged leader in the Australian property industry 

Mr Wills is a registered architect and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Senior Executive Program. He is an Associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and Fellow of the Company Directors' Association.

Mr Wills’ other activities have included a term as Local Government Alderman on Mosman Municipal Council, and as Commissioner and Deputy Chairman of the Tourism Commission of NSW, Member of the Australian Opera National Council and Deputy Chairman of The Committee for Sydney. He was Chairman of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Director of the Garvan Research Foundation. He recently chaired the Health and Medical Research Strategic Review and its Implementation Committee. Mr Wills recently served on the Committee, chaired by the Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham, which led to the Federal Government’s Innovation Statement announced in 2001. He was also appointed a member of The Biotechnology Consultative Group, formed in 1999, to advise Biotechnology Australia and the Commonwealth Biotechnology’s Ministerial Council on the development of the National Biotechnology Strategy. In 2002 Mr Wills retired as Chairman of the Australian Research Council.

In June 1996 Mr Wills was appointed as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the community. In June 2001, he was appointed as a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to social and economic advancement through the development of public policy in relation to biomedical research and biotechnology.