Edward (Ted) Pretty (born 1957, Darwin, NT, Australia), is an Australian businessman and lawyer.[1][2][3]
He is the current chairman of Sustainable Metal Cloud (SMC) and Firmus, two companies leading the transformation in AI infrastructure and sustainable GPU solutions.
Pretty obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Arts (Economics) and First Class Honors Degree in Law.[1]
Pretty was a Partner at the Media and Telecommunications Law Firm, Gilbert & Tobin. From there, he moved to Optus, serving as an adviser and director of Optus Communications and Optus Vision.[1]
In October 1997 Pretty was appointed managing director of Australia's public and largest telecommunications company Telstra.[4][5]
During his time at Telstra, Pretty served in a number of roles, including head of Telstra's Convergent Business Group, and the head of Telstra Retail.[6] In 2003 he became group managing director of the Telstra Technology, Innovation and Products Group.[7][8]
During his tenure at Telstra, Pretty oversaw the entry and early steps of the company in its internet and online business,[9][10] before resigning from Telstra in 2005.[11]
In 2006, Pretty became a consultant at the Macquarie Group and continued on with the company, becoming executive director of Macquarie Capital. He was instrumental in Macquarie's bid to build the National Broadband Network.[12]
Pretty joined Gulf Finance House as CEO of Investment Capital. In December 2009, was appointed group chief executive officer.[13][14]
On 3 September 2012, Pretty was confirmed as the group managing director of Hills Limited.[15][16] In association with a major restructure of the company[17][18] Pretty oversaw its transformation.[19][20]
With a number of South Australian universities, the SA Government and Premier Jay Weatherill, Pretty established two centres in Adelaide to foster innovation and support start-up companies.[21]
On 27 May 2015, Pretty resigned from his position as group managing director and chief executive officer.[22]
On 23 December 2016, Pretty was confirmed as managing director and CEO of Covata Limited.[23] Later on, Covata was renamed to Cipherpoint Limited and altered its governance structure. Pretty then moved to part-time executive chair.[24][25]
Pretty was a director of ASX listed NextDC Limited[26][27][1] and was advisory chairman, Australia and New Zealand, of Indian IT company Tech Mahindra Group.[28][29][1]
He was chairman and on the Board of ASX listed RP Data Limited for 8 years.[30][1] He was chairman of Fujitsu Australia and NZ.[31]
Pretty is a co-investor, shareholder and director of Bevan Slattery's undersea cable company, SubPartners.[32]
Pretty is on The Ministerial Advisory Council on Communications[33] for the Honorable Malcolm Turnbull MP, then Minister for Communications.[34]
He advised on the "E-commerce expert group"[35] set up by the then Minister for Financial Services and Regulation, the Honorable Joe Hockey[36] and served as one of the "Members of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Cultural Councils"[37]
In February 2022, Pretty was appointed Chairman of Firmus, the world's first scaled immersion-cooling platform.[38] In May 2023, he was appointed chairman of Sustainable Metal Cloud (SMC), the world's most energy efficient GPU cloud.[39]
As chairman, Pretty oversees two cutting-edge companies that provide AI infrastructure and super-compute solutions using liquid immersion and advanced technologies.[40]