New Board Members
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Simon Crean, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, and the Arts, today announced two new appointments to the Board of Bundanon Trust.
“We welcome the appointment of Mr Simpson as the Trust’s new Chairman. He will bring extensive experience of the Australian arts and Government sectors to the Board,” Bundanon’s CEO Deborah Ely said.
“The Trust’s outgoing Chairman, Peter Keel, has made a tremendous contribution to the work of the Trust - his personal commitment and support will be greatly missed. He has presided over a period of unprecedented growth and change at Bundanon. The company has doubled its revenue and its audience participation; invested in major built infrastructure and grown its profile nationally and internationally under his Chairmanship.”
The incoming Chairman, Shane Simpson has built a strong reputation as one of Australia’s most highly regarded intellectual property and entertainment lawyers. He was founder of the Arts Law Centre of Australia and has been the Chairman of the NSW Film and Television Office (Screen NSW); Museums NSW and Museums and Galleries NSW. Mr Simpson is currently Chairman of the Song Company and the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composers’ Trust; a councillor of the National Maritime Museum and the Australian National Academy of Music; and a trustee of the Freedman Foundation and the Aboriginal Benefits Foundation.
Shane Simpson acts as a consultant to governments, NGO’s, other law firms, institutions and major corporations, both nationally and internationally. He headed the Federal Government Inquiry into Copyright Collecting Societies in Australia and has lectured extensively on the law relating to intellectual property, new technology, publishing, visual arts, music and collecting institutions and has written and edited numerous books.
Retiring Vice Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Gerard Sutton AO, has also been appointed to Bundanon’s Board, bringing high level education and regional connections to the work of the Trust. Professor Sutton has an engineering background, holding a PhD from the Catholic University of America. Before moving into his senior administrative posts he worked as a naval research scientist. He has served as Chair of Universities Australia and President of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee. He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering & Innovation Council and as a member of this Council in 2007, he chaired the Working Group on Regional Impacts of Climate Change. Additionally, Professor Sutton has been a Board member of the Illawarra Technology Corporation Limited since 1990.
The Chair of the Trust’s Artist in Residence Committee, arts consultant Michael Snelling, will also be stepping down from the Board after seven years. “Michael has made a huge contribution to the arts program at Bundanon. His measured guidance in relation to the work of our Artist in Residence Committee has been invaluable,” said Ms Ely.
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