Adjunct Professor Harvey Lister
Harvey Lister commenced his career in the public relations industry in 1971, initially with Myer and then with Ray White Real Estate (shopping centre management). His career progressed to the entertainment industry in Brisbane with leading rock music radio station 4IP in 1973, and in 1975 he launched a concert and event management business titled Tour Promotions.
Mr Lister and various business partners also opened successful disco night club, General Jacksons at the former Crest International Hotel in Brisbane in 1978 and then took over management of the famed Brisbane Underground Nightclub in the old Boot Factory on Hale Street opposite Brisbane’s old Lang Park Stadium, as well as operating the leading entertainment agency, Premier Artists Queensland which booked hundreds of local Australian bands into clubs, hotels and live music venues across the state during the ‘70s and ‘80s.
During the past 45 years, Mr Lister and his business partners have been involved in the presentation and management of events spanning all forms of sport, the arts, conventions and exhibitions, concerts and general entertainment and has a wealth of knowledge and practical experience in the design and operation of major public assembly facilities, the events they host, and of the tourism and leisure industries generally.
Mr Lister was responsible for initially establishing Queensland Leisure to expand into the specialised area of managing major venues, firstly with the Brisbane Entertainment Centre upon its opening in 1986, and later the development of the business into a global network of venues in partnership with the US-based AEG Facilities – a division of global industry giant Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG).
Following the 2019 merge of AEG Facilities and SMG, two of the world’s leading venue management and services companies, Mr Lister became CEO of ASM Global (Asia Pacific), responsible for overseeing ASM Global’s portfolio of business activities in Australia, New Zealand, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Today, ASM Global’s family of facilities comprises the operation of over 300 of the industry’s pre-eminent venues worldwide, across 5 continents, including iconic venues such as the Staples Center and Microsoft Theatre @ LA Live; Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York; London’s O2 Arena; Accor Hotels Arena, Paris; Mercedes Benz Arena, Berlin; Mercedes Benz Arena, Shanghai; Cadillac Arena, Beijing; T. Mobile Arena, Las Vegas; Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai; and Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney.
To date, Mr Lister has been involved in the presentation of over 40,000 major events including multiple Olympic and Paralympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Invictus Games, Goodwill Games, South East Asia Games, World Title boxing matches, Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, G20 meetings, World Expos, World Cup Rugby League, World Cup Rugby, Rugby League and Rugby Union International Tests, Asian Cup Football, Test Cricket, One Day and 20/20 Cricket, AFL Football, Basketball and Netball Internationals, major Tennis Tournaments, and literally thousands of global and national conferences, major indoor and outdoor concerts, family events, exhibitions, and touring spectaculars.
ASM Global (Asia Pacific) has also provided public assembly facility feasibility, design, operational consultancy or management services for a large range of existing and proposed projects in Abu Dhabi, Adelaide, Auckland, Beijing, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Christchurch, Darwin, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Macau, Mumbai, Perth, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taiwan, Wellington, and Zhuhai.
Music though has been the mainstay of Mr Lister’s venue management business – thousands of major concerts spanning André Rieu to the Bee Gees; from Bette Midler to Andrea Bocelli; from Bublé to Bieber to Bowie; from Cold Chisel to Celine to Clapton; from Dire Straits to Dolly to Neil Diamond to Dylan; from Elton to The Eagles to Eminem; from Fleetwood Mac to Farnham to Lady Gaga to Guns N’ Roses; from INXS to NSYNC to Billy Joel; from KISS to Kylie to Katie Perry to Keith Urban; from Madonna to Metallica to Sir Paul McCartney to Tim McGraw to Michael Jackson; from The Osmonds to Pavarotti to Prince to Pink to The Police; from Queen to Queens Of The Stone Age; from Rod Stewart to Robbie; from Sherbet to Skyhooks to Springsteen to Streisand to Sinatra to The Supremes to Ed Sheeran; from the Rolling Stones to Shania Twain to Taylor Swift to Tina Turner to Justin Timberlake; from The Who to Stevie Wonder to Led Zeppelin; and from One Direction to U2 to Three Dog Night to The Four Seasons to The Jackson 5 – Mr Lister and the AEG Ogden venues he leads have been fortunate enough to have been involved in the presentation of nearly every major concert act that has toured Australia during the past 45 years.