Board of Directors
Jillian Segal AO
Chairman
Jillian is Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in Australia, Chairman of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce (NSW), Chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA), a Director of the Grattan Institute and Member of the International Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Previously, she was a Director of ASX Limited, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, NAB Limited, Rabobank Australia and Rabobank New Zealand Limited and the Sydney Jewish Community Centre Limited as well as a member of the Federal Government’s Remuneration Tribunal, President of the Administrative Review Council, a member of the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council and a Trustee of the Sydney Opera House Trust. She has been involved with a number of other not-for-profit organisations. Jillian is a graduate in arts and law from UNSW and has a Masters of Law from Harvard Law School. Jillian was a partner and later consultant at Allen Allen & Hemsley solicitors from 1986 to 1996 and was a Commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) from 1997 to 2002, being Deputy Chair from 2000 to 2002.
Lee Liberman AM
Deputy Chairman
Lee is Principal and Chair of the Lee Liberman Foundation, which provides strategic funding to non-profit partners in Australia, Israel and the United States.
Lee previously served as Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation from 2019 to 2022 and is now an Honorary Past Chair, Life Member and is on the Board of Councilors for the USC Shoah Foundation. The Shoah Foundation preserves a Visual History Archive of more than 55,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides; the largest digital collection of its kind. The Shoah Foundation works to counter identity-based hatred by developing empathy, understanding and respect through teaching with testimony.
As a committed supporter of the arts, Lee has served on the Council of the Australian National Gallery and the Australian National Gallery Acquisitions Committee. Lee is publisher and editor of A Day in the Life of Africa, A Day in the Life of Israel and Jerusalem in the Shadow of Heaven. She also is Chair of the Day in the Life of Africa AIDS Education Fund.
Emeritus Professor
Paul Wellings CBE
Deputy Chairman
Emeritus Professor Paul Wellings CBE joined the University of Wollongong in January 2012 and held the position of Vice-Chancellor for 10 years until he retired from the role in June 2021. Prior to this role, Professor Wellings held the position of Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University from 2002-2011.
Educated in the UK, Professor Wellings’ career experience includes a NERC research fellowship and senior positions at the CSIRO and Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
He is currently a Board Member for the University of Wollongong Global Foundation, Trustee of the University of Wollongong USA Foundation and a member of the Australian Research Council Board.
Professor Wellings also serves on the Ministerial Advisory Council for Free Trade Agreements, NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, NSW Domestic and Family Violence and Sexual Assault Corporate Leadership Group, the Global Foundation Advisory Council and the Bundanon Trust.
Simon Atkinson
John Monash Foundation Leadership Academy Advisory Board Chair
Simon Atkinson has extensive experience in public policy, national security and economic affairs. He has held major leadership roles delivering policy reforms, including the establishment of Infrastructure Australia in 2007, the 2009 Defence White Paper and 24 Commonwealth economic updates.
As former Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, Simon led the delivery of the largest infrastructure pipeline in Australian history, while managing a portfolio of 28 corporations.
He is uniquely capable of advising and guiding Chairs, CEOs, Secretaries and investors on strategies for navigating complex future market issues and investments, including the impact of rapidly changing geopolitical and global economic circumstances.
Carolyn Kay
Investment, Audit and Risk
Committee Co-Chair
Carolyn has had more than 30 years of experience in the financial sector as an executive and non-executive director. She has recently been appointed as independent non-executive director to National Australia Bank Limited. In addition, she has been and remains a non-executive director of enterprises across a broad range of industries. She is currently the Chair of Rothschild & Co Australia; Director of Scentre Group; Director of Myer Family Investments, a Member of the Foreign Investment Review Board and Trustee for the Sydney Grammar School. In the past Carolyn has served as a Guardian of Australia’s sovereign fund, The Future Fund and was and a panel member of the Commonwealth Retirement Income Review.
As an executive Carolyn worked as a banker and lawyer at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Linklaters & Paines in London, New York and Australia. She holds Bachelor Degrees in Law and Arts (University of Melbourne), a Graduate Diploma in Management (AGSM) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to Australian society in business leadership. She is married with 3 children.
Peter Nash
Investment, Audit and Risk
Committee Co-Chair
Peter spent his executive career at KPMG where he was admitted as a partner in 1993. Most recently he served as National Chairman from 2011 to 2017, during which he was responsible for the overall governance and strategic positioning of the firm. He was a member of the Global Board of KPMG. His previous positions with KPMG include Regional Head of Audit for Asia Pacific, National Managing Partner for Audit in Australia and Head of KPMG Financial Services.
Peter has worked in geographically diverse and complex operating environments providing advice on a range of topics including strategy, risk management, internal controls, business processes, and regulatory change. He has also provided both financial and commercial advice to many Government businesses at both a Federal and State level.
Peter is Non-Executive Chairman of the Johns Lyng Group Limited and a Non-Executive Director of Westpac Group, ASX and Mirvac. He also serves on the Board of not-for-profit organisation The Social Policy Group.
Tonianne Dwyer
Investment, Audit and Risk
Committee Member
Tonianne is an independent non-executive public company director based in Brisbane.
She currently sits on the boards of ALS Limited, a global laboratory testing business and copper mining company; Growthpoint Properties Australia, an Australia-based real estate investment trust (REIT); and Incitec Pivot, a global explosives and fertilizer business. She is Deputy Chancellor and member of Senate of the University of Queensland and is a former director of DEXUS Funds Management and DEXUS Wholesale Property Limited, Metcash Limited, OzMinerals, Queensland Treasury Corporation and Cardno Limited. She is also an independent non-executive director of AUB Group Limited, Australia's second largest insurance broking business.
During her executive career, Tonianne spent over 20 years in London working in investment banking with Hambros Bank and Societe Generale and real estate fund management with Quintain Estates & Development plc, the developer of the two largest urban renewal projects in London – at Wembley and on the Greenwich Peninsula. She built a fund management business focused on healthcare, student accommodation and science parks.
Tonianne moved to Brisbane in 2010 with her partner and two daughters.
Dr Danielle Malek Roosa
Scholars Advisory Committee Chair
Danielle is currently a Senior Counsel at the World Bank and is admitted to practice as a solicitor in NSW. She is a graduate of the University of Sydney (BA (Hons), LLB, PhD) and Harvard University (L.L.M). Prior to joining the World Bank, Danielle worked at the National Native Title Tribunal, as one of four national delegates responsible for making administrative decisions on native title applications country-wide. Danielle began her career at the World Bank as an advisory lawyer for the environmentally and socially sustainable development and international law advisory practice group. She worked on the Bank’s lending operations for 12 years across four regions and currently advises the President of the World Bank, and its Boards of Governors and Executive Directors, on legal institutional and governance matters.
Danielle has served with the Australian Army Reserves and has been President of the Australians in Washington Association (AWA), the largest Australian expatriate association in the Washington DC area. In the U.S, she has worked pro-bono as a court appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children. She is married with five young children, including two sets of twins and lives in Sydney.
Wendy Simpson OAM
Wendy is executive chair of Wengeo Pty Ltd, a private investment group which invests in industrial and commercial property developments. She also serves as Non-Executive Director for Sydney Prayer Breakfast Ltd and Non-Executive Director and Chair of the People Committee at the General Sir John Monash Foundation. She is a council member for Alphacrucis University Council and member of the Advisory board for Taste Creative.
Wendy has been the Chair of the General Sir John Monash Scholarship NSW selection panel and a member of the panel for over 7 years. Her pioneering achievements include – Founding Chairman of Springboard Enterprises Australia, a community-driven accelerator program that recruits, coaches, supports and promotes investment-ready, high-growth companies led by women.
In the 2013 Australia Day honours list she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her work with disadvantaged young people and a range of women’s groups. She has been inducted into the Australian Businesswoman’s Hall of Fame and in 2013 was listed as one of Australia’s 100 women of influence by the Australian Financial Review.
Professor Colin J Stirling
Colin is President and Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University. Throughout his academic career, Colin has established a record of leadership, innovation and successful change management in Higher Education.
Born and educated in Scotland, he gained a BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in genetics from Glasgow University. He was awarded a NATO Research Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the University of Manchester where he was appointed Professor of Genetics in 1998. He was later appointed Education Dean in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Manchester in 2001, Associate Vice-President of eLearning in 2007, and Vice-President for Teaching and Learning in 2008.
In 2011, Colin was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at Curtin University in Western Australia and later served as the University’s Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
Joshua Thomson SC
Joshua was the Solicitor-General of Western Australia between 2018 and 2023. He has had extensive experience in advising senior government Ministers about policy and legal matters, on strategic and significant decisions. He is a member of the national Legal Services Council and was instrumental in assisting with the implementation of the National Uniform Law for the Legal Profession in Western Australia. He is also a member of the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and served for nearly a decade on the Advisory Board for the University of Western Australia Law School. He was the editor and consulting editor of the Western Australian Law Reports for many years. He studied at the University of Western Australia and Oxford University.