the MCA Board
SIMON MORDANT AM
Chair, Board
Simon Mordant is Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Greenhill & Co., Inc., a leading independent corporate advisory firm. Simon specialises in advising local and multinational companies and Government on their capital markets strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
Simon has been a practising corporate adviser in Australia since 1984 having trained as a Chartered Accountant in London.
Simon is a passionate collector of contemporary art with a long history of benefaction to the Arts. In 2007, he was appointed Chairman of the MCA Foundation which was re-established to raise funds for the $53 million capital campaign for the redevelopment. In 2010 Simon was appointed Chairman of the Board of the MCA.
In addition to the above, Simon is Australian Commissioner for the 2013 Venice Biennale, a director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a member of the International Leadership Council of the New Museum and a member of the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, a member of the Executive Committee of the Tate International Council, a Director of the Sydney Theatre Company and the Garvan Research Foundation, a member of the Wharton Executive Board for Asia and was Deputy President of Takeover Panel 2000-2010.
Simon was awarded an AM, being made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for 'Services to the Arts and to the cultural environment of Australia through philanthropic and executive roles, and to the community’.
DOUG DEAN AM
Chair, Finance Committee
Doug Dean is Managing Director, Veolia Environmental Services. Joining Veolia, then Collex in 1989, Doug Dean is responsible for the strategic direction and performance of Veolia Environmental Services, and is the longest serving CEO in Australia’s Waste Management and Industrial Services sectors; Doug is also Chairman of the Veolia Environment Group in Australia and New Zealand.
Previously holding the position as Senior Executive with a major Australian transport group for 10 years, Doug has an extensive background in accounting with one of Australia’s top business service firms, and is also a committee member on many leading industry groups.
Doug Dean has held many Company Director roles throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the United States, in the areas of waste management, transport and water supply; he also holds outside directorships with the RSPCA.
In 2012 Doug was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) by the Governor General for ‘service to business and commerce through the development and provision of sustainable waste management and resource recovery solutions, and to the community’.
ROSEMARY LAING
Chair, Artist Advisory Group
Rosemary Laing is a Sydney-based artist. Over the past decades, she has presented work in numerous museums worldwide. In 2005, a large exhibition of Rosemary’s work was mounted at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and travelled to Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark in 2006. Rosemary’s work is present in numerous public collections worldwide. She has participated in several international biennials, including the Biennale of Sydney (2008), Venice Biennale (2007), Busan Biennale (2004), and Istanbul Biennial (1995).
GEOFF DIXON
Geoff Dixon stepped down in 2008 after eight years as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Airways Limited. Geoff is currently Chairman of Tourism Australia, the Garvan Medical Research Foundation and Queensland Major Events. He sits on the board of publicly listed companies Crown Limited, Consolidated Media Holdings Limited and Facilitate Digital Holdings Ltd, as well as the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
ARI DROGA
Ari Droga is Head of Australasia for Global Infrastructure Partners, one of the world’s largest privately managed infrastructure investment funds. His background is in law, finance and investment banking. He has a keen interest in the visual arts and is a former deputy chairman and board member of the Biennale of Sydney.
Ari has been a benefactor of the MCA since the mid ’90s and in earlier years was President of the MCA’s Young Patrons Council. He is also on the board of the Port of Brisbane and is chair of the MCA Foundation.
SARAH MORGAN
Sarah Morgan is currently a Director, Corporate Finance with independent advisory firm Grant Samuel. Sarah joined Grant Samuel in 1998 after completing her Masters of Business Administration at the Melbourne Business School. Over the past 12 years, she has been involved in a broad range of assignments including capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions, and independent expert reports across a diverse range of industries including resources, petroleum, financial services and property.
Sarah has a strong interest in contemporary art. After completing her Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering degree at Melbourne University, she completed a Post Graduate Diploma of Contemporary Art at the Victoria University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, including an internship at Flowers East Gallery in London. Sarah spent seven years on the Board of Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, a not-for-profit art gallery focused on emerging artists, including three years as the Chair. She is an avid collector of contemporary art.
LACHLAN MURDOCH
Lachlan Keith Murdoch is the Executive Chairman of Illyria Pty Ltd, a media investment company founded in 2005. He is the Executive Chairman of DMG Radio Australia, Chairman of Ten Network and a member of the board of News Corporation.
LISA PAULSEN
Lisa completed a Bachelor of Arts at the UNSW in 1979. She has since become an avid collector of contemporary art and is instrumental in coordinating the Art AM event at the MCA each season and is Chair of the MCA Director’s Circle. From 2002-2004 Lisa was the Coordinator of the Photography Collection Benefactors group for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Lisa is currently a member of the Venice 2013 Commissioners Council.
KATIE PAGE-HARVEY
Katie Page-Harvey started with Harvey Norman in 1983 when the company comprised of just one store in Western Sydney. She is now Managing Director of Harvey Norman, which includes 193 Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne stores nationally and 61 stores in six countries overseas. Katie is a Director of Pertama, in Singapore. Until last year, she sat on the board of the NRL, the first woman to sit on a sporting board in Australia.
HETTI PERKINS
Chair, Indigenous Advisory Group
Hetti Perkins is a member of the Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon Aboriginal communities and currently resident curator at Bangarra Dance Theatre. Perkins has worked with Indigenous visual art for twenty five years and was previously senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Hetti is chair of the Charlie Perkins Trust for Children and Students and a trustee of the Michael Riley Foundation. She is a board member of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and deputy chair of Ninti One, a not-for-profit company that builds opportunities for people in remote Australia.
SCOTT PERKINS
Scott Perkins is Managing Director and Head of Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Finance business in Australia and New Zealand. He is a member of the Asia Pacific Executive Committee and has a 20-year career advising local and multi-national companies on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising. Scott has a long-standing commitment to the arts, both as collector and as a Patron and former Trustee of the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.