About Evan Thornley

Evan is a technology and social entrepreneur who has been a property investor for 30 years in Australia and the US. For the last 8 years he has been consumed with seeking solutions to Australia's housing problems and started learning from the ground up – building firm focused on buying and managing investment grade residential property. LongView has grown to become a recognised industry leader in residential property buying and management and is pioneering the development of a  funds management industry  in the existing dwelling asset class.  

Evan founded and led one of the first Australian high-tech companies to achieve a NASDAQ listing and “unicorn” status – and a peak market value of AUD$14.2 billion. He was Co-Founder & CEO of LookSmart Ltd from 1995 to 2002, a pioneer of internet search advertising that returned venture capital investors 100 times their original investment. Evan was a co-founder of GoodStart – Australia’s largest social venture and the worlds’ largest early childhood education provider.  

Evan was personally recruited by Premier Steve Bracks of Victoria to be his Parliamentary Secretary, where he held the Innovation portfolio and added Federal/State Relations under Premier John Brumby. He was Secretary of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel and led a trade mission to Israel in 2008. He was a co-founder of public policy think tank, Per Capita and activist network, GetUp! He began his career at McKinsey & Company in Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur & New York.  

Evan is equally proud of what he's learnt from early stage ventures that did not succeed – including global electric car charge network pioneer, Better Place and recruiting industry disruptor, BetterView. 

Evan has degrees in Law and Commerce from The University of Melbourne where he was student body President.