Les Coleman trained as an engineer, and spent 28 years in senior management positions with resources, manufacturing and finance companies in Australia and overseas. During this time he was trustee of three superannuation funds and director of a dozen unlisted companies, along with four years as a columnist with The Australian.
He then completed a PhD on risk management and joined the University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics in 2004. As an academic, Les had part time roles as a director of Australian Ethical Investment and member of the Investment Committee of Insignia Financial, contributes regularly to the media and delivers executive education programs in Australia and overseas. His academic and practitioner background support an applied research agenda, with eight books and over 30 journal articles on topics as diverse as returns from investment in agriculture, behavioural corporate finance, climate change, wagering markets, and risk management. More recently Les has become interested in metaresearch, or research about research, which prompted his latest book Research in Crisis (Routledge, London, 2021) and two multidisciplinary papers on astrophysics (here and here). Through OpEds in Australian Financial Review and other media, Les has laid out strategies to improve university governance and research. He is working on a new book entitled Business Case for Sustainability.