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Dr Jana Matthews, founding director of the Australian Centre for Business Growth

Sad news about our founding director, Dr Jana Matthews

  • March 2, 2026

We are writing with very sad news. Dr Jana Matthews, a leading advocate for entrepreneurial leadership and business growth and the founding director of the Australian Centre for Business Growth at Adelaide University, passed away late last week in Adelaide following a brief illness.

Over her distinguished career, Jana had global influence in reshaping how people think about business, through her work at Kauffman Foundation’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the US, her eight books, her countless published articles and her work across the UK, Europe, Russia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, and Canada.

In her adopted home of Adelaide, South Australia, Jana was best known for founding our Centre and advocating for small and medium sized businesses. Her work here had a huge national impact, with over 1,500 growing businesses graduating from the programs she developed. After stepping down from her role as the Centre’s ANZ Chair in 2024, she took up the role of Chief Growth Officer at TRUCK TECH, a graduate of the ANZ Business Growth program.

Jana was a person of rare calibre, who worked tirelessly to unlock the potential of business leaders and the people around her. Those who spent time with Jana speak not just of her professional excellence, but of her kindness, dedication, and willingness to mentor and encourage. She had the ability to connect people, to elevate standards without ego, and drive positive change in those around her. She understood that business success was measured not only in milestones reached, but in lives influenced and communities strengthened.

Australia, and the world, is better for Jana’s contribution. Her legacy endures in the people she inspired and the institutions she built.

Her family and friends are planning a celebration of her life to take place in Adelaide in early August, with more details to follow.

Our sincere condolences to daughter Carolyn, step-daughters Lisa (and her husband Mark) and Ann (and her husband Rubin) and grandchildren Anna, Matthew, Melissa, Max and Skye.

May she rest in peace.

“The idea is not to live forever,
it is to create something that will.”
Andy Warhol