Peter Shergold

Professor Peter Shergold AC
Shergold (right) in his capacity as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; with then Prime Minister John Howard at a 2005 meeting in the United States.
Chancellor of Western Sydney University
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2011 (2011-01-01)
Preceded by	John Phillips
Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
In office 10 February 2003 (2003-02-10) – 28 February 2008 (2008-02-28)
Preceded by	Max Moore-Wilton
Succeeded by	Terry Moran
Personal details
Born	Peter Roger Shergold (1946-09-27) 27 September 1946 (age 70) Crawley New Town, England
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Hull; University of Illinois; London School of Economics
Occupation	Academic; Public servant; Company director

Peter Roger Shergold AC (born 27 September 1946) is an Australian academic, company director, and former public servant. Shergold has been the Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney since 2011.

Between February 2003 and February 2008, he was the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and as such was the most senior official in the Australian Public Service.

Shergold was born in Crawley New Town, England. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (first-class) in politics and American studies from the University of Hull, and later a Master of Arts degree in American History from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle and a PhD from the London School of Economics. After moving to Australia, he became a lecturer in economics at the University of New South Wales in 1972. He was appointed as head of the university's economic history department in 1985. His dissertation in comparative labour history was published as Working-Class Life: The "American Standard" in Comparative Perspective, 1899-1913 in 1982.

In 1987 he began working for the Australian federal government, firstly as head of the newly established Office of Multicultural Affairs. Having become deputy secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1990, he was appointed the CEO of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1991–1994) and Comcare, a federal government workers' compensation authority (1994–1995). From 1995 to 1998, he was the Commissioner of the Australian Public Service. He has also been the Secretary of the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (1998–2001) and the Department of Education, Science and Training (2001–03). In 2003 he was appointed Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.