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Mr Murray McLean OAM has been appointed the new Chair of the Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF) for a five year term from 1 January 2012. He succeeds Mr Peter Corish AM who was AJF Chair from 2007 to 2011.
Peter Yates is Chairman of the Royal Institution of Australia, the Australian Science Media Centre and the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. From 2004-07, Mr Yates was Managing Director of Oceania Capital Partners, and from 2001-04 the Chief Executive Officer of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited. Until 2001, he worked in the Investment Banking industry, including 15 years with Macquarie Bank. He holds a Doctorate from Murdoch University and a Masters degree from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Commerce degree from Melbourne University. He speaks Japanese, having studied at Keio University in Tokyo. He is Deputy Chairman of Asialink and Asia Society AustralAsia Centre; a Board Member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation (Victoria), the Melbourne International Art Festival and The Centre for Independent Studies.
Tim Lester is a specialist in corporate and finance matters and co-leads the M&A and Capital Markets practice of Allens Arthur Robinson in Perth. He returned to Australia in early 2008, joining Allens from an international law firm where, after practising in Perth for several years, he worked between 1995 and 2008 across Hong Kong, Tokyo and London and where he was elected a global partner in 2001 and made Managing Partner of its Tokyo office from 2004. Mr Lester is also a Japan specialist, having been associated with Australia Japan relations for approximately 25 years. Of this period, at different times, Mr Lester has lived and worked in Japan for over 12 years. He initially studied there at high school as a recipient of a 12-month Rotary Exchange Scholarship and then at Keio University as the sole recipient of a 12-month scholarship from the Government of Western Australia. While most recently in Japan, Mr Lester also served as the Honorary Chairman of the Australia and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan between 2004 and 2008, working with leading corporations and senior business and government figures on a range of matters, including legislative issues, treaty matters and matters of trade and commerce. Mr Lester is also a member of the Executive of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee and is Chairman of the University of Western Australia's Business School's Ambassadorial Council.
Mr Ellwood is the Director of the Queensland Art Gallery which includes the Gallery of Modern Art. Prior to taking up this position in June 2007, he was Deputy Director, International Art, at the National Gallery of Victoria for seven years. He has, since 2004, been building substantial connections with leading Japanese arts institutions. He was Director, Bendigo Art Gallery, from 1996-99 and also worked as a Curator at the National Gallery of Victoria from 1993-96, specialising in major international curatorial projects. He has also been an Aboriginal Art Coordinator, working at Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra, from 1991-92. He has been on numerous State and Commonwealth boards including the Visions of Australia Committee, Museums Australia National Board, and Victorian College of the Arts (Board and Academic committee) and was on the selection committee for the 2005 and 2009 Venice Biennale. He has written and edited numerous publications and articles.
Professor Darian-Smith is Professor of Australian Studies and History at the University of Melbourne. She is author of numerous books and articles on Australian identity and culture, is the leader of several funded research teams bringing together industry partners and academic expertise, and was a convenor of the national ARC Cultural Research Network (2005-09). Over the past decade Professor Darian-Smith has held a range of senior administrative positions within the Faculty of Arts and the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House; is a Research Associate at Museum Victoria; and serves on the editorial boards of leading international journals, including Meanjin Literary Journal, Journal of Australian Studies, Australian Historical Studies (Reviews Editor) and History Compass (Section Editor). She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Professor Darian-Smith is immediate past President (2002-07) and current Vice President of the International Australian Studies Association (InASA). She has a long involvement in Australian Studies activities in Europe, North America and Asia; has directed government-funded Australian Studies projects in Taiwan and Indonesia; and advises on Australian Studies grants for the Australian-China Council. On behalf of InASA, she has received AJF funding to manage the recruitment of the Visiting Professor in Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo since 2004. In 2008, in collaboration with Japanese colleagues, she edited an anthology of Australian contemporary short stories published in Japan, and received a grant to conduct an Australian literature symposium in Tokyo.
Greg Earl is the Asia-Pacific editor and national affairs editor of the Australian Financial Review. He has more than 20 years experience working as a business/political reporter and editor in Australia, Asia and North America. He was the Australian Financial Review's Tokyo-based Japan and Korea correspondent in 2005-06. In 1994-99 he covered South East Asia from a base in Jakarta. He has also worked as a political and business reporter in Australia, opinion page editor and was the Australian Financial Review's deputy editor in charge of national and international news in 2002-04. Mr Earl studied journalism at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and economics at the Australian National University.
Ms Brock is an Australian entrepreneur resident in Japan. Her company Agenda specialises in gourmet food or beverage import and distribution for the Japanese market. Agenda provides representation and consulting services for several Australian companies and peak-body associations in Japan. Services include client liaison, brand management, sales and marketing promotions and market entry assistance. Ms Brock has established a wide network among Japan's leading chefs, retailers and hotels. She received an AJF grant in 2008-09 to establish an Australia-Japan chef and hotelier exchange program aimed at promoting Australian food and wine in Japan. Prior to establishing Agenda in Japan, Ms Brock worked at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo as an interpreter and translator and later as the Deputy Director of Australian Education International. Ms Brock was recently elected as Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
As per the Orders Constituting the Australia-Japan Foundation, the Secretary or a representative appointed by the Secretary, holds the position of DFAT ex-officio Board Member. The Deputy Secretary responsible for North Asia normally represents the Department in this role.