David Ingle Thodey (born 14 May 1954[1]) is an Australian businessman who is a former chief executive officer of Telstra[2] and current chairman of accounting software company Xero.

[4] He was educated at Nelson College in New Zealand from 1967 to 1971[5] and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English from Victoria University of Wellington.

He was appointed to the position of Group Managing Director Telstra Enterprise and Government in December 2002 and was responsible for the company's corporate, government and large business customers in Australia, TelstraClear in New Zealand and Telstra's International sales division.

[3] In May 2018, the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an independent review of the Australian Public Service as a whole, to be chaired by Thodey.

[3] In 2017 Australia Day Honours, Thodey was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for distinguished service to business, notably to the telecommunications and information technology sectors, to the promotion of ethical leadership and workplace diversity, and to basketball".