Richard Pratt, is Chairman of Visy, a privately owned Melbourne based packaging and recycling company employing more than 9000 people in Australasia and the U.S.A.

Richard Pratt was born in Poland in 1934. At the age of four he immigrated to Australia with his parents, Leon and Paula as they escaped the gathering storm in Europe. Richard was educated at University High School in Melbourne. In 1952 he joined Visy Board - the company his parents and their partners founded in 1948 - and worked in sales and marketing.

In 1969 he succeeded his father as head of the company and became the dynamic force behind the expansion of the Pratt group.

Under his direction the company expanded from one factory in suburban Melbourne to a network of more than 160 plants across Australia, the USA, New Zealand, and South East Asia.

Originally centred on corrugated containers, Visy now has interests in paper making, recycling, steel and aluminium cans, liquid paperboard cartons and PET plastic bottles.

Each year since 2000 Visy has been named Australia’s leading company for environmental performance in corporate reputation surveys.

Through the Pratt Foundation, the Pratt family is among Australia's major private philanthropists.

In May 2004, the world’s largest childrens’ charity, Variety International, bestowed its Humanitarian Award on Richard and his wife Jeanne. It was the first time the award has been presented to Australians and only the second time it has ever been presented to a couple. The award honours people who have demonstrated “unusual understanding, empathy and devotion to mankind.”

Mr Pratt was the Foundation Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology and is a former President of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust and former Chairman of the Australia Business Arts Foundation.

He holds Honorary Doctorates from Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and Melbourne University in Australia. In May 2005, Mr Pratt was presented with his fourth honorary doctorate by Ben Gurion University in Israel.

Between 2002 and 2006 Richard Pratt focused his attention on water and the challenges of better managing Australia’s water resources.

In February 2007 Richard Pratt became President of Carlton Football Club, one of Australia’s oldest and most respected sporting institutions.

In March 2007 Richard and Jeanne Pratt were presented with the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the United States Smithsonian Institution.

The award recognises leaders in business and public service from across the United States and around the world.