Peter Church was born in Sydney and has spent almost his entire career as a lawyer and corporate adviser in the markets of South East Asia and India.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (University of New South Wales), a Bachelor of Laws (University of Sydney), a Master of Laws (London) and a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management, New Delhi. He has been admitted as a Solicitor in several States in Australia as well as Hong Kong and England.
In 1994 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) by the Australian Government for promotion of business between Australia and South East Asia and in recent years was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).
In addition to being appointed an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University he has been appointed a Distinguished Professor at Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management in New Delhi and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai.
He holds a number of directorships and advisory roles including Executive Chairman, AFG Venture Group (an Australian and Asian corporate advisory firm), Special Counsel, Stephenson Harwood (an English law firm with operations in multiple jurisdictions including Asia), Non Executive Director, OM Holdings Limited (a manganese miner and producer of manganese alloys), Non Executive Director, Elara Capital PLC (an Indian investment bank, broker and asset manager), Non Executive Director, Domacom Limited (a fractional property investment technology platform) and is a Member of the South East Asia Advisory Board of GMR Infrastructure Limited (Airports, Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure).
He is also an Honorary Adviser, Asia Pacific to The Duke of Edinburgh Award/The International Award for Young People (an international leadership in action programme, available to all young people aged between fourteen and twenty five).
He recently commenced producing an oral history podcast on the lives of elderly Myanmar citizens who born during the British colonial period and have lived through the tumultuous times since then. He has written four books – A Short History of South East Asia” (now in its 6th edition published by Wiley & Sons in 2017), “Added Value – The Life Stories of leading South East Asian Business People” (published by Murmeli in June 1999), “Added Value – The Life Stories of Indian Business Leaders” (published by Roli Books in April, 2010) and “Profiles in Enterprise – Inspiring Stories of Indian Business Leaders” (published by Roli Books in March 2015). Away from the above activities he has a deep interest in the philosophy of Buddhism and was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Myanmar in 1995.