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 Serge da Motta Veiga

Professor Serge da Motta Veiga was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) and Sidney Myer Chair of Commerce at the University of Melbourne in June 2026. FBE is a globally recognised leader in business and economics education and research, with more than a century shaping public policy, corporate governance and business practice.

Serge is Professor of Management and holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Missouri and a Licence in Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Before joining the University of Melbourne, he was Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at NEOMA Business School in France, where he led more than 280 faculty members, strengthening research performance, advancing teaching excellence, and expanding industry and global partnerships.

His international academic career spans leading institutions in the United States and Europe, including the University of Missouri, Lehigh University, American University, EDHEC Business School, as well as visiting positions at the University of Zurich and King’s College London. Before entering academia, he worked in banking and consulting.

As Dean, Serge provides strategic leadership for FBE, focusing on strengthening its academic identity, amplifying research impact, fostering educational excellence, and deepening engagement with industry and international partners. He is committed to enhancing FBE's influence across the Asia–Pacific region and globally, cultivating a culture of clarity, inclusion and collaboration, and ensuring FBE continues to address complex societal and economic challenges.

His research focuses on career and talent management, including job search, careers, and recruitment. His work has been published in leading journals and featured in global media. He also serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Applied Psychology: An International Review.

A people-centred leader with a global perspective, Serge is committed to collaborative, purpose-driven leadership and enabling collective excellence across diverse academic communities.

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 nearly 35 years experience in senior roles across both the private sector and in diplomacy, with a particular focus on reputation management and advocacy.

Most recently, Christian was the Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer at Virgin Australia (from November 2022 to June 2026). 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.

Diana Dalton

Ms Diana Dalton is Executive Director of the Faculty of Business and Economics, at the University of Melbourne. She has over 20 years of experience in large, complex and dynamic organisations.  She has worked in professional services, government, education and health sectors in senior executive roles.

She was the Director of Corporate Development for Victoria Legal Aid, just prior to working with the University, and before that, she was the General Manager for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Victoria).  She has a Master of Business in Organisational Dynamics (OD) and Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and has completed various executive programs with Harvard Business School.

She has an extensive background in HR and OD and has a proven track record of achieving transformational change.

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.

Amanda Liu

Master of Applied Commerce (2001), Marketing Strategist, UBS Investment Bank China

Amanda Liu is the Marketing Strategist of UBS Investment Bank China. Prior to UBS, she worked for Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse respectively as their China onshore communications lead.

Before Amanda started her journey in financial industry in 2012 as China Head of Brand & Communications at BNP Paribas, she was the Head of Communications at eBay China. Before moving to Shanghai, Amanda worked in Beijing at leading international PR firms Burson-Marsteller and Ogilvy&Mather, servicing Fortune 500 clients with their China branding and reputation management, as well as local clients' international profile building.

Amanda has a Master's degree in Applied Commerce from University of Melbourne. She is a volunteer of several philanthropic organisations and a strong champion for female leadership and diversity.

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.