Our Directors

Leigh Clifford AC

Leigh Clifford is Chairman of Crestone Wealth Management, a Director of Bechtel Group Inc in the USA and Chairman of Bechtel Australia Pty Ltd, a Senior Adviser to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, a member of the Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, Chairman of the National Gallery of Victoria Foundation and Chairman of the University of Melbourne’s philanthropic campaign.

Leigh was previously Chairman of Qantas from 2007 to 2018. Prior to that he was Chief Executive and Director of Rio Tinto, and retired in 2007 after 37 years with the company.

He is a qualified mining engineer, having graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) and a Master of Engineering Science.

Leigh is married to Sue with 2 adult children.

Professor Su Baker AM

Su Baker is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Community and Cultural Partnerships, and also the Director of Centre of Visual Arts (CoVA) at the University of Melbourne. Su was the Director of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) for 7 years with over 25 years’ experience in teaching, research and senior management. She undertook graduate study at Sydney College of the Arts in 1984, and in 2004 was awarded a Doctorate of Creative Arts, at Curtin University of Technology. Su has held academic positions since 1989, including senior management roles at SCA, University of Sydney and VCA, University of Melbourne.

Peta Credlin AO

Peta Credlin is a political analyst who hosts her successful prime time programme CREDLIN on Sky News each weeknight, a national columnist with News Corp Sunday newspapers and The Australian, and a political contributor on the Nine radio network across 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR each week. A trained lawyer, Peta is also involved with the University of Melbourne’s School of Government, a long-standing supporter of the “Pathways to Politics” programme which aims to support women to run for parliament and was recently appointed to the board of the new Robert Menzies Institute, at the University of Melbourne.

For 16 years, Peta was a senior adviser to a number of Howard Government ministers across a range of portfolios including defence, communications and the arts, immigration and foreign affairs. Between 2009 and 2015, she was Chief of Staff to the Hon Tony Abbott AC during his time as Leader of the Opposition and later as Prime Minister of Australia. She is one of the longest serving chiefs of staff to a political leader.

Peta Credlin was born and raised in small town of Wycheproof, in the Victorian Mallee. She completed her secondary education at Sacred Heart College in Geelong before studying law at the University of Melbourne with a concentration in constitutional law, politics and history. She was a resident of Newman College for three years and university level rower.

Peta is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in Victoria and has a further post-graduate qualification in law from the Australian National University. In 2015, she received the Australian Women’s Leadership Award for the ACT and in December 2016, was named a joint winner of Harper’s Bazaar magazine's ‘Woman of the Year”. She is a joint Walkley Award winner (2016), joint TV Week Logie Award winner (2017) for her role in Sky News Australia’s 2016 Federal Election coverage and a finalist in the Kennedy Media Awards for Excellence in Journalism (2021).

In the Queen’s Birthday Honours List this year, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to parliament and politics, to policy development, and to the executive function of government.’

Geoffrey Hone AM

Geoffrey Hone holds an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne. His degree was conferred by Sir Robert Menzies (then Chancellor of the University.)

He is admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions.

He was a partner of the law firm, Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson), for 37 years, and subsequently a senior consultant at that firm. He has acted as a director of, or adviser to, numerous public and private companies. His other current appointments include Chairman of the Institute of Public Affairs and Chairman of The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Charitable Trust.

Hon David Kemp AC

David Kemp is a political scientist and former member of Parliament. Professor of Politics at Monash University (1979-1990) and a Minister in the Howard Cabinet, with responsibility, inter alia, for Education and Environment, he has Law and Arts degrees from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D. (with distinction) from Yale University. In 1975-76 he was a senior adviser to Malcolm Fraser, and in 1981 was Director of the Prime Minister’s Office. David was Member of the Commonwealth Parliament for Goldstein from 1990-2004, and Vice-President of the Executive Council 2001-04. He was President of the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) 2007-2011, Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Melbourne. He was a member of Council of Melbourne University 2014-15, a foundation Board member of the Grattan Institute for Public Policy (2008-18), Chair of the Museum of Australian Democracy (2016-19), Chair of the Australian Heritage Council (2016-21) and Chairman of Council of Scotch College, Melbourne (2012-20). He is the author of a history of Australian liberalism, published by Melbourne University Publishing.

Professor Timothy Lynch

Tim Lynch is Professor of American Politics at the University of Melbourne.

In 2022-23, Tim was the Milward L. Simpson Visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Wyoming, in America’s reddest state. His latest book, In the Shadow of the Cold War: American Foreign Policy from George Bush Sr. to Donald Trump (Cambridge, 2020), has been called ‘a cogent, graceful, provocative account’ of its subject.

His other books include Turf War: the Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland (2004) and US Foreign Policy and Democracy Promotion (2013). His co-authored book, After Bush: the Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy (2008), won the Richard Neustadt Book Prize and became a best-selling international security text.

He is editor of the two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History (2013). His many op-eds have had over 1 million hits. He is a regular contributor for The Australian newspaper.

At Melbourne, Tim led the team that created the Master of Marketing Communications – the fastest growing degree in the Faculty’s history. He was co-creator and convenor of the sell-out 10 Great Books Melbourne Masterclass.

Twice a Fulbright scholar, Tim holds a PhD in political science from Boston College, USA. Born in Warwickshire and raised in Leicestershire, Tim is a citizen of Australia and Great Britain. He lives in rural Victoria.