Business and Economics Advisory Board

Fiona McGauchie

Chair, Business and Economics Advisory Board

Fiona McGauchie is the Country Leader for Australia and New Zealand for global leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder. In her role with Egon Zehnder, Fiona advises Boards and CEOs on their most critical leadership decisions. An expert in assessing and developing leaders and teams, Fiona typically advises in complex settings, regulated sectors and during periods of change.

Fiona was appointed to the Faculty of Business and Economics Board with the University of Melbourne in 2024. Fiona is also a member of the Board of the Western Bulldogs AFL Club and is an independent member of the Nominations Committee for Tennis Australia. Previous board roles include Chair of Malthouse Theatre, board member for the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

Earlier in her career, Fiona was a lawyer with leading law firms Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Minter Ellison, where she specialised in infrastructure finance and public private partnerships. Fiona spent three years with the Linfox Group while also studying part-time for her MBA at the Melbourne Business School.

Fiona holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School. Fiona was the first in her family to attend university and benefited from a residential scholarship from Janet Clarke Hall and a financial scholarship from the Rural Finance Corporation.

Professor Paul Kofman

Paul Kofman (PhD Erasmus University Rotterdam) was appointed Professor of Finance at The University of Melbourne in 2001. In 2012, Professor Kofman became the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Paul’s research interests and publications are in the ethics of finance, quantitative and behavioral finance and the regulation of financial markets. He has received numerous competitive research grants and was one of the founding directors of the ARC-funded Financial Integrity Research Network.

With his colleague Clare Payne, Paul introduced one of the first online ethics in finance subjects, and their text book “A Matter of Trust – the practice of ethics in finance” was published by Melbourne University Press in 2018. With his colleague Sean Pinder, Paul also designed and developed the first Coursera MOOC specialization, Essentials of Corporate Financial Analysis and Decision Making, in partnership with BNY Mellon.

Paul has undertaken consultancy work for the European Options Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, the Central European University, a number of Dutch investment banks, the Dutch Centre for Actuarial Statistics, the Australian Office of Financial Markets, and the RACV.

Professor Jenny George

B.Sc (Hons) (University of Canterbury) Ph.D. (Stanford)

Dr George first joined Melbourne Business School as a Senior Lecturer in 1998, having earned a PhD in Operations and Information Technology from Stanford University.

She quickly became a prominent member of faculty, holding a range of academic leadership positions. She helped to design and launch the Master of Business Analytics degree, which was ranked #5 in the world in its first year and has consistently been ranked among the world's best ever since.

During her time as an academic, Professor George served on several University of Melbourne committees including the Academic Board, Academic Programs Committee and Teaching and Learning Quality Assurance Committee. She also worked closely with the faculties of Science and Engineering & IT to launch the Master of Business Analytics.

In 2016, she left the School to become CEO of Converge International, one of Australia’s largest providers of mental health services to workplaces, whose customers include Qantas, the AFL, AGL, Boral and the Department of Defence.

Drawing on her expert knowledge, Dr George led Converge through a period of tremendous growth and success, overseeing significant boosts in revenue, market share and staff engagement as well as a complete digital transformation and new data reporting initiatives to give companies insight into psychological safety in the workplace.

Professor George continued to stay connected to the School during her time at Converge, serving on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Business Analytics and supporting key events and activities. In 2021, she was recognised as a Distinguished Academic Fellow of the School.

Professor George commenced as Dean of Melbourne Business School in November, 2023.

Christian Bennett

Foundation Chair

Christian has 30 years experience in senior roles across both the private sector and in diplomacy, with a particular focus on reputation management and advocacy.

In November 2022 Christian was appointed Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer at Virgin Australia. Prior to Virgin, Christian spent five years with the Woolworths Group, including as its Chief Reputation Officer, and was a member of its Group Executive Committee. In prior private sector roles he led government relations for General Electric across South East Asia, Australia, PNG and New Zealand, was head of government relations across Australia and the EU for BHP Billiton and was Group Executive of Public Affairs at Santos.

In government, Christian spent 14 years in Australia's diplomatic service, including postings in southern Africa, Asia and the United States. He also undertook secondments into the Office of the Foreign Minister (North Asia and Economics Adviser) and the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet. Having joined DFAT as a Graduate in 1992, he was promoted into DFAT’s Senior Executive in 2003. In 2004 he was appointed Australia's High Commissioner to Brunei.

Christian sits on the Boards of the Australian American Fulbright Foundation and the Royal Institution of Australia. He is a former Board member of the Federal Government’s Australia Malaysia Council and the Council on Australia Latin American Relations.

Christian holds B.LLB (Hons), B.Comm and MBA degrees from the University of Melbourne.

Sally Capp AO

Sally Capp AO was the first woman to be directly elected as the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Sally served for 6 years between 2018-2024, leading the city through the pandemic period and the delivery of major city projects. Sally is currently CEO of Create Advisory, a specialist advisory firm in the infrastructure sector. Sally is also a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and a member of the Advisory Board for the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne.

Prior to being Lord Mayor, Sally was the first woman to hold the post of Agent-General for Victoria in the UK, Europe and Israel from 2009 – 2013. She was the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne and the Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia. Sally began her career as a Solicitor, after completing Law (Hons) and Commerce degrees at the University of Melbourne. She has held senior roles at both KPMG and ANZ, and co-founded a small business which she took to the ASX.

Sally sits on advisory boards for Hickory Group and GJK Facility Services.

Sally has been active in international networks and forums dedicated to cities including the Centre for Liveable Cities, C40, the Bloomberg Cities Network and presented at COP 28 in Dubai.

Sally received the award of Officer of the Order of Australia in 2023 and won a McKinnon Prize for political leadership in 2019.

Sally supports many for-purpose organisations. Currently, Sally is a Board member for Cool Australia and a Patron for the Royal Women’s Hospital and the Lighthouse Foundation.

Alison Conn

Alison has over 25 years of experience working with scaled, scaling up and starting up businesses. She founded Wajah Consulting in 2024 to support scaling businesses to link commercial and operational execution to their high-level strategy and drive exceptional outcomes.

She has held a variety of senior strategic, commercial and operational roles at Vamp, SEEK Ltd, Medibank, Diageo, and Visy Industries. She also spent 10 years with The Boston Consulting Group, including five years in New York City.

Alison was appointed to the Faculty of Business and Economics Advisory Board with the University of Melbourne in 2022, after serving on the Advisory Council for seven years. She has been a Member of the Dinner Committee for the Melbourne Foundation for Business and Economics since 2018, including the role of Co-Chair since 2024. She also served on The Nappy Collective Board from 2016 to 2021.

Alison holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) and a Bachelor of Arts (Criminology) from the University of Melbourne. In addition, she holds a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter Gahan

Peter Gahan is the Interim Deputy Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics and Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Workplace Leadership, where he was Foundation Director from 2012 to 2017. He has previously held academic and visiting positions at UNSW, Monash, University of South California, The European University Institute, Cardiff Business School, New York University and Stockholm Business School.

Professor Gahan has also worked as senior public servant as Director of Workplace Innovation in the Victorian Department of Industry, Innovation and Regional Development. He has undertaken commissioned research for both state and commonwealth governments on areas related to employment relations, regulatory arrangements to support workplace innovation, and the consequences of various regulatory labour market reforms.

Over the last 25 years, Professor Gahan has published widely on conflict and negotiations, employment relations and collective bargaining, high performance workplaces, labour markets and the future of work, and the consequences of labour market regulation.

His current research focuses on two major drivers of change at work: workforce ageing and how technology is transforming the nature of jobs. Peter is currently exploring how older works are perceived by others (co-workers, managers, and customers) in the workplace and how these perceptions influence hiring decisions, promotion, and performance evaluations.

Gloria Goh

Gloria is a retired Partner of Ernst & Young, Malaysia. Gloria is a former Council Member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and the ASEAN Federation of Accountants. She was a Past President of the Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA) – Malaysia Chapter.

Gloria has been an active participant in University of Melbourne alumni activities in Malaysia. She is the current President of the University of Melbourne Alumni Association, Malaysia.

She is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA), a fellow of CPA Australia and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, and is on the Board of the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Rupert Myer AO

Rupert Myer is the Chairman of AMCIL Ltd, a Director of Myer Family Investments Pty Ltd and Mutual Trust Pty Ltd.  He is the President of The Myer Foundation, Chair of the Yulgilbar Group of Companies and Chair of the arts and culture think tank A New Approach (ANA). In addition, he serves as Chair of Nuco Pty Ltd and as a member of the Felton Bequests Committee.

Dr James Riady

James Riady is CEO of the Lippo Group of Companies, which is involved in banking, securities, hotels, property and property development, health care, multimedia, business publications and communications. Dr Riady is the founder and Chairman of the Pelita Harapan Educational Foundation, which operates two universities and 20 K–12 schools. Dr Riady is the Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Indonesia), Foundation Member of the World Economic Forum, Switzerland and also a Member of the International Business Council.

He was Ambassador at Large and Special Envoy of the President from 1988–2000 and a member of the Peoples' Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 1988–2000, both in the Republic of Indonesia. Dr Riady was awarded the Australian Alumni Award for Entrepreneurship in 2008 by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. He completed his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Melbourne, and has received a Doctor Honoris Causa from both Ouachita Baptist University and La Trobe University.