Bundanon

Mr Samuel Edwards grew up on the south coast and has raised a family here. As the Managing Director of Edwards Constructions, he brings global experience in project procurement and delivery.

Educated in engineering, building, and law he also provides skills in governance, contracts and construction, and practical experience in community and public facility stewardship. Edwards has an abiding commitment to the region and to the arts.

He is a past chair of Crown Lands Killalea State Park Trust Board and sits on various advisory committees for NSW Government and the private sector.

Philip Bacon is Director, Philip Bacon Galleries Pty Ltd; Deputy Chairman, Brisbane Festival; Chairman of Opera Australia Capital Fund; Trustee, Gordon Darling Foundation; Trustee, Margaret Olley Art Trust; Trustee, Historic Houses Trust and Sydney Living Museums, NSW; Member of the Board of the Foundation of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Member of the Board of the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia.

From 1996 to 2003 he was a Council Member, National Gallery of Australia. From 1994 to 2011 he was a Director of Opera Australia, and was reappointed to that board in 2014.

He was made a Member, Order of Australia in 1999 receiving in the same year a Doctor of Philosophy (honoris causa) from the University of Queensland. In 2002 he received a Doctor of the University from Griffith University, and Doctor of the University from Queensland University of Technology in 2005. In 2021 he was made an Officer (AO), in the Order of Australia.

Holly is the founder of HB Migration Pty Ltd and has over 10 years’ experience in Australian immigration law and practice.

Holly Byrne previously worked with the Australian Government as a Ministerial Adviser to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for the Arts. Her role included developing public policy relating to immigration and industrial relations and the Arts.

Byrne is a current national committee member of the Migration Alliance and a former national vice-president.

Professor Patricia M. Davidson joined the University of Wollongong as Vice-Chancellor in May 2021. Prior to her current role, Professor Davidson was Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore in the United States.

As a global leader in nursing, health care, and advocacy, Professor Davidson’s work focuses on person-centred care delivery and the improvement of cardiovascular health outcomes for women and vulnerable populations.

Professor Davidson serves as counsel general of the International Council on Women’s Health Issues, and was a past board member of CUGH and secretary general of the Secretariat of the World Health Organizations Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery. She also serves on the Board of Health Care Services for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States.

Anne Flanagan was the former Deputy Director of the Art Gallery for New South Wales. Her academic background includes visual arts, interior design and education. For more than two decades she has worked in arts organisations, including the Crafts Council of NSW, Powerhouse Museum, Biennale of Sydney, Australian Bicentennial Authority and Historic Houses Trust of NSW.

Ezekiel Solomon is Senior Adviser at international law firm Allens, and is a member of the Board of Directors, National Gallery of Australia Foundation as well as Patron of the Australia World Orchestra. Formerly, he was longstanding partner at Allens, including 7 years as Resident Partner in New York; consultant to the Indonesian Government and a member of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia. He has been member of the Boards of Directors of the US Studies Centre at Sydney University, American Australian Association Ltd, Griffin Theatre Company and the Australia Indonesia Institute. Ezekiel graduated Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Sydney University Law School and holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar.

Courtney West is a Partner in KPMG’s Enterprise tax, transactions and accounting practice. Courtney has over 20 years’ experience in the delivery of tax compliance, business and advisory services to privately owned businesses, not-for-profit organisations and family groups.

Courtney works directly with business owners and key decision makers to ensure their accounting, tax and business advice needs are met. Supporting them through the challenges they face as they focus on running a successful business.

Courtney is a University of Wollongong alumni, a member of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and serves on not-for-profit boards.

Rachel Kent is an experienced arts leader, art historian and curator with extensive experience working with international museums and cultural institutions. Prior to joining Bundanon, Rachel was Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Rachel is an outstanding advocate for contemporary and First Nations art, nationally and internationally, as well as being highly effective at building philanthropic and government support for the arts.

Mark was recently the COO for Unisys where he had oversight of the GovConnectNSW Account Management Office, supporting nine separate Government agencies including Treasury and the Office of Children and Guardian. Previous roles include Director of Finance and ICT at the University of Sydney and consulting roles with Qantas, ISG, JDE, Westpac, Chubb, and Fujitsu among others. Mark began his career in the UK where he was trained as a chartered accountant. Mark is based at the Trust’s Illaroo offices in the Shoalhaven.

Sophie O’Brien is a curator, director and writer. She has previously worked in senior curatorial leadership roles at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Aotearoa New Zealand, and at the Serpentine Galleries and Tate Britain in London, UK. Sophie has worked on numerous large-scale commissions with artists including Marina Abramović, Ruth Buchanan, Fiona Connor, Jimmie Durham, et al., Gustav Metzger, Richard Hamilton, Susan Norrie, Thomas Schütte, Javier Téllez, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel and Adrián Villar Rojas, as well as architects Peter Zumthor, SANAA and Herzog+deMeuron+AiWeiwei. She has previously led the exhibition teams for the Australian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale (2005-2007) and the Biennale of Sydney (On Reason and Emotion, 2003). In the curatorial teams at Artspace Sydney and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Sophie delivered numerous exhibitions and publications, and curated the visual arts programme for the Perth Festival (1999-2001). She has a MA in Directing Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne (2018-2019).

Hetty Wilson joins Bundanon from the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), where she was responsible for managing the Contemporary Collection Benefactors as well as communications for the Foundation. Her career in the arts has encompassed philanthropic, communications, project and grants management roles at organisations including Sydney Theatre Company, the National Art School, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art. Hetty holds a Bachelor of Art History and Journalism from the University of Queensland, and a Masters in Art Business from the University of Manchester/Sotheby's Institute of Art.