Dr Samer (Sam) Shahin is the Executive Director of Peregrine Corporation, His road to the corporate world and to strategic finance and investments has been, however, a most unusual one.
Born to refugee Palestinian parents, Sam migrated to Australia in 1984 at the age of 16. He spent one year at Woodville High School before gaining entry to the University of Adelaide’s Medical School. After completing a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1991, Dr. Shahin worked in the public hospital system for a few years, during which he completed a Diploma of Child Health, a Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and attained fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Dr Shahin then worked full time in general practice for 10 years in both metropolitan and rural South Australia.
Driven by a deep desire to explore the world of business and a deeper desire to one day work alongside his visionary father, Sam attained, in early 1999, a Graduate Certificate in Business from the University of South Australia. By late 2000, Sam joined the family business, Peregrine Corporation which at the time, was only involved in retail and fuel, alongside a small property portfolio. He graduated through the organization through roles in retail and property, later taking on the role of Director of the property business, as well as CEO of the retail business of Smokemart & Giftbox. In 2006 he completed his MBA at the University of South Australia.
Sam always saw that a solid background in management accounting was required as a cornerstone to sound business management. The MBA was good, but he needed more depth, an applied focus, and a stronger strategic finance background to run a large corporation. That led him back to the University of South Australia where he attained the qualification of ‘Certified Management Accountant’ (CMA) in 2013. By then, he had been attending a University in one form or another for the past 27 years!
In 2013, he started the ambitious project of building the world’s largest motorsport park, The Bend Motorsport Park, which opened its doors in April 2018 at Tailem Bend, an hour’s drive from the City of Adelaide. Construction of The Bend is still underway and is earmarked for completion by mid-2020.
Today, Peregrine Corporation is Australia’s 11th largest private company. It is South Australia’s largest private company and that State’s largest private employer with 4300 staff across various industries; in fuel, food, convenience, retail, tobacco, giftware, commercial property and motorsport! Peregrine remains headquartered in South Australia and remains in the private ownership of Sam and his two brothers.
He currently occupies the role of Managing Director of Peregrine Property, CEO of SMGB, Peregrine’s national retail business, Executive Director or Peregrine Corporation, and Managing Director of The Bend Motorsport Park. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (FCMA).
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants is honoured to induct Dr Sam Shahin to the Global Management Accounting Hall of Fame® for his services to the profession in Australia.