Board & Directorate

Director
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor began her career in the arts world as curator - and driver - for the Scottish Arts Council's travelling gallery. Using a converted bus to take exhibitions to local villages, inner city estates, schools, hospitals and prisons ignited her commitment to engaging new audiences with the work of living contemporary artists. Macgregor moved to the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1985, and in 1989 she was appointed director of one of the UK's leading contemporary art galleries, the Ikon Gallery.

In 1999, Elizabeth Ann took up the Directorship of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). One of her key objectives in moving to Sydney was to develop broader and new audiences for contemporary art at the MCA. She introduced free admission in 2000 and since then attendances have increased dramatically to over 545,900 in 2009. The Museum has gone from strength to strength, with visitor figures continuing to climb, a large increase in the number of school groups visiting and excellent reviews in the press.

Macgregor is committed to taking the work of the museum out to new audiences as well as attracting more visitors to the Circular Quay site. She was particularly concerned to attract the younger demographic and to engage with audiences from Western Sydney and regional New South Wales. As the MCA is the only museum in Australia dedicated to exhibiting and collecting contemporary art in Australia, she has also developed the MCA’s national profile.

Macgregor is a regular contributor to conferences, seminars, radio and television programs on arts issues. She is currently on the board of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation and the Council of Art Museum Directors. In 2003 she was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to the Australian public and contemporary art and in 2007 she won the Significant Innovation category in the Equity Trustees Not for Profit CEO awards. In 2008 she was awarded the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award and the Australia Business Arts Foundation Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Arts Business Leadership Award.

MCA Board

ANDREW LOVE
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, MEMBER OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

Andrew Love has been a partner of Ferrier Hodgson Chartered Accountants since 1978. The firm is the largest specialist insolvency and reconstruction firm in Australia. Andrew is also Chairman of a public company and a director of several other public companies in the resources, financial services and international real estate sectors . The positions include Chairman of ROC Oil Company and Director of PUMA Finance Limited and POLAR Finance Limited

Andrew Love has a passionate interest in Contemporary Art. He is a foundation supporter of the Museum of Contemporary Art and a Foundation Member of the Committee for Contemporary Benefactors with the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

DOUG DEAN
CHAIRMAN OF THE 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 Environnement 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.

PROFESSOR LARISSA BEHRENDT

Prof. Larissa Behrendt is Professor of Law and and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. Larissa is a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Equal Opportunity Division and the Alternate Chair of the Serious Offenders Review Board. She has published on property law, indigenous rights, dispute resolution and Aboriginal women’s issues. Her book, Achieving Social Justice: Indigenous Rights and Australia’s Future was published by The Federation Press in 2003. She won the 2002 David Uniapon Award and a 2005 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for her novel Home.

Larissa is a Board Member of the Museum of Contemporary Art and a Director of the Sydney Writer’s Festival and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.

CATHERINE HARRIS AO PSM

Catherine Harris is the Chairwoman of Australia’s largest independent fresh produce retailer, Harris Farm Markets.

Catherine also sits on a number of Boards for the Australian Government and the NSW Government. She is a Trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground, a Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Australia -Japan Foundation, The National Gallery Foundation and also sits on the Advisory Board of the Australian School of Business UNSW. Catherine is the Honorary Consul General for Bhutan.

Catherine was the Deputy Chancellor of UNSW and the Federal Director of the Affirmative Action Agency. She has an Honorary Doctorate in Business UNSW, and is an Officer in the Order of Australia; and been awarded The Centenary Medal and the Australian Public Service Medal.

Catherine and her husband David have a property in the Blue Mountains where they are developing an experimental farm in sustainable farming practices and ride their horses and play with their grand children!

MIKALA DWYER

Mikala Dwyer is a Sydney-based artist. She began studying art at the Sydney College of the Arts in 1981, and continued on to complete her Masters in Fine Arts at the College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales, in 1993. Over the past two decades, her works have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, in Australia and overseas, working along side well known curators. In December 2000 a large exhibition of Mikala’s work was mounted in the level 4 gallery space at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. In 2004, Mikala was awarded the Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship and was given a commission by Docklands.

Mikala has written for numerous journals and exhibition catalogues. Her works are included in museum and private collections in Australia and New Zealand.

SUE CATO

Sue Cato is a corporate communications professional and is the principal of Cato Counsel, a firm with deep experience in the planning and execution of the media side of corporate transactions and public affairs campaigns for leading Australian and international companies and entities.

She has worked on business-critical issues and transactions with many of Australia's top 100 companies including matters such as energy industry consolidation, waterfront reform, property trusts, gaming and wagering industry consolidation, national petrol strikes, the building industry, banking and financial sectors and the media.

She is one the Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the Foundation of the National Gallery of Victoria, and is on the Council of the Sydney Theatre Company. Sue has also been an Executive Director of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation.

LISA PAULSEN

Lisa completed a Bachelor of Arts at the UNSW in 1979. She has since raised a family while nurturing her burgeoning passion for contemporary art. From 2002-2004 Lisa was the Coordinator of the Photography Collection Benefactors group for the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Lisa is an avid art collector and supporter of various arts institutions in Australia. She is currently instrumental in coordinating the Art AM event at the MCA each season. Lisa brings her enthusiasm and passion for contemporary art to the MCA and in turn helps to broaden the MCA’s audience through her involvement in other committees and groups.

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 last 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 Morgan 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 7 years on the Board of Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, a not-for-profit art gallery focused on emerging artists, including 3 years as the Chair. She is an avid collector of contemporary art.



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