University Council

Ms Elisa Fear is an experienced non-executive director with high level financial skills and expertise. She is currently a non-executive director of the Good Samaritan Industries and Financial Toolbox Inc.

Ms Fear is the Chair of the Women At Risk committee, a group seeking to provide financial and other information for women facing domestic violence whose activities include the development of Your Toolkit, a comprehensive web based resource for women facing domestic violence and financial abuse.

Ms Fear has a Bachelor of Commerce, Masters of Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Damian Gordon is an Executive Director of the Hawaiian Group. He is a Director of Amana Living and former Director of Youth Focus.

Mr Gordon is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia & New Zealand with high-level financial skills and expertise. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment. Mr Gordon also has completed the LEAP Program at INSEAD.

Mr Michael Lundberg is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Perth office. He has worked as a litigator for nearly 25 years. Before joining the firm, Michael was a partner at King & Wood Mallesons (formerly Mallesons Stephen Jaques) and was with that firm for almost 18 years, having roles as Partner in Charge of the Perth office and head of the Perth Dispute Resolution Group. Prior to that, Michael worked with the Crown Solicitor’s Office in Western Australia for 7 years.

Mr Lundberg has been recognised as a leading Australian litigator in the areas of Litigation, International Arbitration, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Professional Malpractice Litigation and Commercial Law.

Mr Lundberg has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law (honours) from the University of Western Australia.

Professor Deborah Terry was appointed Curtin’s Vice-Chancellor in February 2014 and is currently a board member of Universities Australia and Australia’s Academic and Research Network. She is also the former president of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and previous Chair of the Australian Council of Learned Academies and the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts in the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences.

Professor Terry completed her PhD in social psychology at the Australian National University. Prior to working at Curtin, she had a distinguished career at the University of Queensland, initially working as an internationally recognised scholar in psychology, before progressing through a number of senior leadership roles, including Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

In June 2015, Professor Terry was made an Officer in the General Division (AO) for distinguished service to education in the tertiary sector.

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Glennda Scully is a Professor in the School of Accounting, Curtin University. She has worked in practice and has wide industry-based experience and was Head of School for 8 years. Currently, Glennda teaches in the areas of Auditing, Ethics, Financial Accounting and Corporate Governance and on the MBA program.

Professor Scully is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ), a member of CPA Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Glennda is also a member of the Chartered Accountant Trans-Tasman Audit Advisory Committee. Her research interests include financial disclosure in developing economies, Not-for profits, corporate governance, performance auditing and behavioural decision making in auditing and ethics.

Professor Scully has a strong interest in the Not for Profit sector and is currently a member of the MercyCare board and finance and audit and risk committee, a Commissioner and Chair of Finance of the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia, a member of the Curtin University Council and Finance committee and a member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council of Perth. Glennda also held the position of Chair of the CAANZ regional council Western Australia.

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Ms Catherine Clark is the University Librarian and Director, John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. In this role, she leads the University’s library and learning skills services across all of Curtin’s learning, teaching and research community.  She has responsibility for library spaces at the Western Australian campuses and for providing advice about library services to Curtin’s campuses in Dubai, Malaysia, Mauritius and Singapore.

Additional leadership roles include as an active member of the Council of Australian University Librarians through membership of the CAUL Board and as the Program Director for the Fair, Affordable and Open Access to Knowledge Program. Other professional activities include as a Member of the Library Board of Western Australia and Chair of the Board’s Policy and Legislation Committee.  Previous roles have included Chair of the Libraries of the ATN Universities Executive Group and Foundation Faculty Member of the Australian Evidence-Based Practice Librarians’ Institute.

In 2017, Ms Clark was awarded the Association for Tertiary Education Management’s LH Martin Institute Award for Excellence in Leadership. Ms Clark has Bachelor of Arts from Murdoch University, Master of Information Management from Curtin University and Graduate Certificate in Public Health from the University of Western Australia.

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Ms Romana-Rea Begicevic is a cancer researcher as a Higher Degree by Research PhD student, in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. She is a postgraduate student member of Curtin University Council, having been elected by the postgraduate students for a one-year term commencing April, 2018.

Romana commenced her studies at Curtin University in 2012 and is very passionate about representing her peers, holding positions at the university such as Research Vice President and President of the Postgraduate Students Committee, Curtin Student Guild. At the national level, Romana has represented postgraduate students as Western Branch President and the current national Women’s Officer at the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA). She is committed to the postgraduate students academic and research excellence, wellbeing and career success.

As a researcher, Romana’s project focuses on ways in which to target vulnerabilities, in highly aggressive pancreatic cancer stem cells, to eliminate them. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Human Biology Pre-Clinical), Honours in Biomedical Science and is a current HDR, PhD student.

Mr Terry Agnew is a highly experienced CEO and non-executive director. He has worked across a range of industries including insurance, financial services, travel and tourism, education, disability and care and membership organisations.

Mr Agnew has been the Group CEO of RAC WA for 20 years.

Mr Agnew is the current Chair of the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals, Curtin Business School Advisory Council and Edge Employment Solutions (a disability employment service). He is also a Director of RAA Insurance and MDA National Insurance (both subsidiaries of mutual organisations), and was a Founding Member of CEO’s for Gender Equity.

Mr Agnew is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (Finsia) and Member of the Australian Institute of Engineers.

Mr Agnew was educated in Adelaide, Perth and Boston and his qualifications include MBA, M.Sc., B.E. (Hons) and the Harvard AMP.

Dr Andrew Crane has over thirty years experience in agriculture, food processing and international trade. He has held executive positions in Marketing, Trading, Manufacturing, Strategy & Business Development and most recently as CEO of the CBH Group.

He is currently non-executive Director on the Boards of Rice Growers Ltd (SunRice), RAC Holdings Ltd and Macquarie Infrastructure Advisory Boards of Lawson Grains Pty Ltd and Viridis Ag Pty Ltd. He was former non-executive Director of Interflour Pte Ltd and former Chairman of the Business Council of Co Operatives and Mutuals.

Dr Crane holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, a PhD in Remote Sensing of Agriculture and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Directors.

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Dr Vanessa Guthrie is a highly accomplished executive and Non-Executive Director with broad and strategic experience across a portfolio of Board positions.

Deputy Chair and Lead Independent Director of Adbri Ltd, and serves as a Director on the boards of Santos Limited, Tronox Holdings PLC, Lynas Corporation Ltd, Cricket Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Substantial experience in the mining industry in diverse roles including operations, environment, community, indigenous affairs and corporate development and sustainability

Active Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Chief Executive Women, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE).

Qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management, including a Doctor of Philosophy in Geology and an Honorary Doctor of Science from Curtin University.

Mr David Southam is a senior business executive and company director of ASX listed and private enterprises spanning a range of industries including Resources, Logistics, Technology, Contracting, Industrials and Banking.

As an existing Managing Director and Non-Executive Director, he brings a wealth of experience and perspectives from the Boardroom, ranging from leading operations, communication with domestic/ international institutional investors and other stakeholders, to being an Audit Committee Chairman and Nomination & Remuneration Committee Chairman.

As a leader, and part of a team, he has executed significant corporate transactions including substantial divestments and acquisitions into both private equity and small to large ASX corporations. In addition, he has executed material capital market transactions, directed operational enterprises, reset and developed strategic plans and negotiated many billion-dollar sales contracts. This background has involved specific global mandates, including Europe, UK, China, Japan, Korea, USA and Canada.

Mr Southam has a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University and is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA).

Dr Kate Stannage is a leading Orthopaedic Surgeon and experienced Board member. She is Head of the Department of Orthopaedics at the Perth Children’s Hospital and the immediate Past President of the Australian Paediatric Orthopaedic Society – the first woman to be president of an orthopaedic subspecialty organisation.

Dr Stannage has previously sat on the Board of Healthy Hips Australia and is currently on the Board of Australian Doctors for Africa.

She has been an Australian Medical Association representative on the Government Working Group looking at sexual harassment within the medical workplace, and is the

Western Australian representative on the Australian Orthopaedic Association’s Orthopaedic Women’s Link.

Her research interests are in the field of neuromuscular muscle morphology and function and she lectures at both UWA and the University of Notre Dame.

Kate has also spent time volunteering and teaching in the Solomon Islands, is an active lecturer with the Pacific Islands Orthopaedic Association and works with Australian Doctors for Africa to establish clubfoot treatment clinics in Madagascar and Somaliland.

In 2018 she was the Western Australian winner of the Excellence in Women’s Leadership award.

Dr Stannage has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor Surgery from UWA and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (Orthopaedics)

Dale Pinto is a Professor of Taxation Law at Curtin University’s Law School in Western Australia and Chair of Curtin’s Academic Board. He currently serves on the Council of Curtin University and is also the elected Academic Representative for Curtin on the UniSuper Consultative Committee.

He is the author/co-author of numerous books, refereed articles and national and international conference papers, and is on the editorial board of a number of journals as well as being the Editor-in-Chief of several refereed journals. Dale has been a member of CPA Australia’s Centre of Tax Excellence and Past President of the WA Division of CPA Australia, is currently a CPA Board member and Chair of the Taxation Institute’s Education Quality Assurance Board (EQAB) and is also a member of TEQSA’s Expert Panel in accounting, taxation and international education. Dale served as an inaugural member of the National Tax Practitioners Board and is a current member of the Board of Taxation’s Advisory Panel and the ATO’s Tax Technical Panel. Dale is also an Executive Member of the Australian Branch of the International Tax Policy Think Tank, the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and a Member of CCIWA’s Economic Development Forum.

Dale is a Life Member of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association (ATTA) and also the Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) and is an Honorary Life Member of the Taxation Institute and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (FAAL), which is the fifth learned Academy of Australia which only admits “persons of exceptional distinction in the discipline of law who are demonstrably committed to the objects of the Academy.” Members of the Academy include members drawn from parts of the legal community, including academia, the practicing profession (including private and public sectors), and the judiciary, including former Chief Justice Robert Shenton French AC.