Board members

Dr Gerard Vaughan was Director of the National Gallery of Australia from 2014 to 2018. A graduate of the universities of Melbourne and Oxford, his career has been divided between academia and the world of museums and galleries in both Australia and the United Kingdom. As an art historian his interests are broad, concentrating on the social history of art and specialising in the study of taste and art collecting, both private and institutional. In 1994 he became inaugural Director of the British Museum Development Trust in London, where he was closely involved in planning, and funding, the rebuild of the British Museum with Norman Foster’s Great Court at its centre. He returned to Melbourne in 1999 to become Director of the National Gallery of Victoria with a brief to oversee the gallery’s complete redevelopment, also undertaking new programs for major exhibitions and collection development.

After stepping down from the National Gallery of Victoria in 2012, Dr Vaughan returned to academia for two years as the Gerry Higgins Professorial Fellow at the Australian Institute of Art History at the University of Melbourne.

Professor Anne Dunlop was appointed to the Herald Chair of Fine Arts in the School of Culture and Communication in 2015 and is a Co-Director of the Australian Institute of Art History. Her research and teaching focus on the art of Italy and Europe between about 1300 and 1550, including the role of materials and technology in the making of art, and the relations of Italy and Eurasia in the years after the Mongol Conquests. Dunlop is the author or co-editor of six books, including most recently Antipodean Early Modern: European Art in Australian Collections, c. 1200-1600 (2018) The matter of art: materials, practices, cultural logics, c. 1250-1750 (2014) and Andrea del Castagno and the Limits of Painting (2015).

Dunlop has been a fellow of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and the Center for the Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in Washington DC. She has also served as Visiting Professor at both Peking University and Zhejiang University; and in 2016 she was a Visiting Professor at Harvard’s Villa I Tatti Center for Renaissance Studies, working on a commissioned book with the working title Global Renaissance.

Alison Inglis is an Associate Professor in the Art History program at the University of Melbourne, and is a Co-Director of the Australian Institute of Art History. She teaches, researches and publishes in the areas of nineteenth-century British and Australian art; artists’ materials and techniques; and museum studies (especially the history of museum collections and exhibitions).

Her experience in the field of art curatorial studies is reflected in her current membership of the Museums Board of Victoria, and of the Duldig Studio Board. Former Board memberships include Heide Museum of Modern Art (2006-2014); and National Gallery of Victoria Council of Trustees (1995-2004). She is a former Associate Dean for Development in the Faculty of Arts (2005-2007) and Head of the Art History program (2008-2010). Alison was appointed an Emeritus Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria in 2010 and Fellow of Trinity College, Melbourne in 2015.

Fiona has over twenty years experience as a finance and professional services executive. Fiona is the former Client Director at the Myer Family Company, Australia’s preeminent family office providing long-term wealth management advice in the ultra high net worth market. There she was responsible for developing new family client relationships, providing succession and investment strategies, and building brand presence. Prior to this she has held a number of senior executive roles in banking and finance including Chief Operating Officer and Director - Structured and Project Finance for the ANZ Investment Bank. Fiona has both reported to and served on commercial and not-for-profit boards and currently sits on the Australian Institute of Art Historians, Gertrude Contemporary Gallery and the Audit and Finance Committee for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Her extensive experience in strategic leadership, commercial acumen and risk and governance expertise brings a unique and valuable skill set to the family and corporate boards she works with.

Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Michael Brand joined the Art Gallery of New South Wales in June 2012. Prior to his appointment, he was consulting director of the new Aga Khan Museum, which opened in Toronto in 2014.

From 2005 to 2010, Dr Brand was director of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, leading both the Getty Center and Getty Villa sites and establishing its new Center for Photography. Previously, he was director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond from 2000 to 2005; assistant director, curatorial and collection development, at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane from 1996 to 2000; curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra from 1988 to 1996; and co-director of the Smithsonian Institution Mughal Garden Project in Lahore, Pakistan from 1988 to 1993.

Dr Brand currently serves on the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Art Museums; the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg; and the Australian Institute of Art History. He is a past member of the Governing Board of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Kerry Gardner AM is a Writer / Director of Australian documentary films on art, literature and design subjects. She holds a Masters in Film and Television from the VCA / University of Melbourne. Currently, she is Chair, Venice Biennale Council for Australia as well as being the first Australian appointment to the board of Global Fund for Women (2017), the third Australian appointee to Women Moving Millions (New York) (2017), and she also sits on the Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee of The Tate. Her past directorships include the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. She is a Founding Patron of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale and Ambassador for the Natalie Miller Fellowship for Women in Film. She is also member of the Arts and Humanities Committee of the Myer Foundation / Sidney Myer Fund. Her past board directorships include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Victorian Women’s Trust, Deputy Chair of both Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Malthouse Theatre Company, the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (Steering Committee) and director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Fred Grimwade is an Executive Director of specialist corporate advisory and investment firm, Fawkner Capital. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (B Com, LLB (Hons) and also completed an MBA at Columbia University in New York. During his career, Fred has worked with leading international companies, including Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and Sydney; Western Mining Corporation; Colonial Mutual; and was Head of Private Capital for Colonial First State Investments. From 1998 to 2006 he was Managing Director of the Colonial Agricultural Company, and a non-executive director of AWB Limited from 2008 to 2010.

Fred is currently Chairman of CPT Global and XRF Scientific and a director of Australian United Investments and Select Harvests; a Senior Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; Fellow of Chartered Secretaries Australia. Fred is also Foundation Chairman of Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School and a Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne.

Fraser Hopkins worked for many years as Managing Director of two consumer goods businesses which are now owned by multinationals. Fraser is a respected art collector and benefactor and is on the MCA Foundation Council. Fraser graduated with an Economics Degree from Monash University and resides in Sydney. Over the years Fraser has been actively involved with numerous private company boards and industry associations. Previous charitable roles include being a Director of SCEGGS Darlinghurst, a Trustee and Chair of the Campbell Edwards Trust and a Trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW Foundation Board.

Kate is a Member of The Myer Foundation and is currently Convenor of the Arts and Humanities Committee of the Sidney Myer Fund. Kate particularly believes in the importance of arts training organisations and their pivotal role in helping emerging artists establish strong professional skills to support good work practices from the outset of early career development. Among other positions, she was a Board Member of the National Institute of Circus Arts for over 10 years (NICA, a world-renowned Circus School, is a member of the The Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence) and is currently Deputy Chair of the Melba Opera Trust.