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Alumni Council
Representing University of Sydney graduates for more than 80 years
Our purpose is to deliver an alumni relations program that will strengthen and engage our community and support the University’s vision.
The Standing Committee of Convocation was first elected in 1939, and in 2006 was renamed the University of Sydney Alumni Council. The council has represented all University of Sydney graduates for more than 80 years.
The council includes a support network of more than 30 alumni-led associations representing faculties, regions, special interest and international groups.
Our mission
Our purpose is to create a mutually beneficial alumni relations program that will strengthen and engage our community and support the University’s vision.
Our role is to:
- be the leaders in the University's diverse alumni community
- represent the voice of our alumni community
- support the University's aspirations and foster greater engagement with our alumni community
- advocate for the University and willingly share our pride in the University
Nominations and eligibility
Alumni Council nominations are now closed. Alumni Council members can serve up to three consecutive two-year terms.
To be appointed to the Alumni Council, all members must meet the Eligibility Criteria.
In accordance with clause 12 of the University of Sydney (Alumni Council) Rule 2014, a person is eligible for appointment as a member of the Alumni Council if his or her name appears on the register of members of Convocation kept by the Registrar.
Members of Convocation comprise the following:
- the Fellows and former Fellows of the Senate of the University of Sydney
- the graduates of the University of Sydney, which includes graduates of the former institutions, or the predecessors of the former institutions that have become part of the University [ie graduates of the University of Sydney are all persons who are recipients of a degree from the University of Sydney or who are recipients of a degree or a diploma from the Cumberland College of Health Sciences, AGSM, Sydney Institute of Education or the Institute of Nursing Studies (both formerly part of Sydney CAE), Sydney College of the Arts (formerly part of the New South Wales Institute of the Arts), the former New South Wales Conservatorium of Music (Sydney Branch) and the Orange Agricultural College, or their predecessors]
- past members of the governing bodies of the former institutions, or the predecessors of the former institutions that have become part of the University
- professors and other full-time members of the academic staff of the University
- principals of the incorporated colleges.
To be qualified to stand for appointment to the Alumni Council, a person must be a member of Convocation.
To be qualified to nominate a candidate for appointment to the Alumni Council, a person must be a member of Convocation.
Members and associates
Alumni Council President
BSc ’08 Sydney GradDip JRNL UTS
Ehssan is an experienced public policy and strategic communications executive with a background in government, media and small business. As Committee for Sydney Deputy CEO, Ehssan works closely with elected officials, industry and academia on realising the urban policy think tank’s ambition to make Sydney the greatest city in the world.
Ehssan served as a senior member of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership team between 2015 and 2021. Prior to entering government, Ehssan worked in media, including five years as a journalist for Australian Associated Press (AAP).
Ehssan is Chair of the Crescent Institute and serves on City of Sydney’s Economic Development and Covid Recovery Advisory Panel.
Alumni Council Deputy President
BA ’06 Sydney
Mathew is a General Manager for Experian, a leading global technology and information services company. With extensive experience in the technology sector across both corporate and start-up environments Mathew is passionate about helping companies grow and succeed by building high performance teams and culture. He also has a strong commitment to improving diversity, equity and inclusion in his role as Experian’s Regional Executive DEI Sponsor.
Mathew is a proud University of Sydney graduate, was the recipient of the Sydney University Sport - Business School Scholarship, part of the Elite Athlete Program as an Undergraduate and Masters student and awarded a University Blue. He is one of the soccer club's most capped elite players, a former club captain and post his playing career served as an Executive Board Member.
He also sits on the Industry Advisory Board of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is a guest speaker at the Business School and actively involved in several mentoring programs.
Alumni Council Member
LLB ’80 Sydney
Lucinda studied at Sydney University Law School and resided at the Women's College in 1977-1978.
After being admitted as a lawyer in 1981 Lucinda has worked mainly in the area of family law. Lucinda became an Accredited Family Law Specialist in 2013 and is a Mediator and Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner. In 2014 Lucinda was appointed to the Law Society's Mediation Panel and also serves on the Law Society's Family Law Advisory Committee. Until recently Lucinda was a member of the Sydney Theatre Company's Foundation Board and is currently chairman of the Landsdowne Foundation.Lucinda is a volunteer at the Women's Legal Service.
Alumni Council Associate
BSc (Arch) ’93, BArch ’96 Sydney M Arch in Urban Design ’99 Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Michelle is an architect, urban designer, and urban development leader with tripartite experience in development, government, and consulting.
With more than 25 years’ experience in city shaping, Michelle brings a holistic understanding of place creation through design led strategy. She is passionate about putting people and young people first when creating connected, productive, resilient, and inspired future communities and demonstrates this through her role as a specialist advisor to UNICEF’s Child-Friendly Cities Initiative.
Before joining GHD as the Future Communities Leader, Michelle has held senior city-shaping roles with Lendlease, Hames Sharley, Woods Bagot and the City of Sydney and most recently, worked on the Central Precinct Renewal Program with Transport for NSW.
Michelle is a Sydney University medalist, Harvard University distinguished graduate, Byera Hadley, Fulbright & Knox Scholar, and city thought leader.
Alumni Council Member
BEc ’98 PhD ’01 Sydney
Amelia has over 20 years’ experience in investment banking including mergers and acquisitions and public/private capital raising. Amelia is a Managing Director in Corporate Advisory, MA Moelis Australia and prior to this she was an Executive Director at UBS and ran the firm’s Alternative Capital Group and small/mid-market Equity Capital Markets business in Australia.
Amelia holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Finance) and Bachelor of Economics (Honours – First Class, University Medal) from the University of Sydney and is a graduate of the Australia Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Amelia has retained an on-going involvement in tertiary education and professional development, co-authoring the university textbook “Introduction to Corporate Finance” and through MA Financial Group’s professional development arm, the MA Academy.
Amelia is also a member of the Cranbrook School Council.
Alumni Council Member
BCom ’08 Sydney
Ashton has pursued a successful career in finance and investments. After starting his career at Deloitte and then Macquarie Group, Ashton now leads TAL’s investments and retirement business managing a team of over 40 product, investment and actuarial specialists.
Ashton is also a member of the Dai-ichi (TAL’s parent company) Global Leadership Council, responsible for input into strategy and capital allocation decisions for the Dai-ichi group of companies across Asia, North America and Europe.
Ashton regularly writes and commentates about global FinTech and disruptive technology trends providing a unique Australian perspective.
Alumni Council Member
BPsych ’04 BPsych(Hons) ’04 Sydney MPsychol (Org) ’08 PhD UNSW
As the Vice President Talent and Performance at BHP, Michelle has the remit for building advantaged access to - and attracting - labour pools that will support BHP's growth, while harnessing the potential of BHP's global talent to accelerate the transition to critical minerals. She also helps lead select transformative projects such as integration of acquired businesses both locally and abroad.
Her career heritage is in strategy consulting, formerly a Partner at Strategy& (previously Booz & Co.) where she developed expertise in strategy development, operating model design and complex, transformative change. Her skillset has been applied in Go8 universities, where she is familiar with the strategic landscape and nuanced opportunities within the context of greater student expectations, globalisation and digitisation. She also has a breadth of experience across other sectors including Financial Services, Telecommunications, Resources, the Public Sector.
Alumni Council Member
BEc ’94 Sydney MCom ’99 UNSW
Jackie has over 25 years of marketing, digital disruption and transformation experience across media, tech, communications, and financial services. She has worked in a myriad of global and regional roles around the world with some truly impactful brands including BBC, Netflix, Skype, Virgin and Afterpay. Since returning to Australia in 2021, Jackie is an advisor and board member to some of the leaders in the entrepreneur and innovation ecosystem including Canva, Kbox Global, KOMMA, Reejig and Football Australia.
Jackie is also on the board of Global Sisters which exists to provide an alternative for women who are unable to participate in mainstream employment or access decent sustainable work. She works with the Sisters providing business education, tools, networks, coaching and micro-finance to enable them to develop their business ideas and enable them to be financially resilient.
Alumni Council Member
BEng ’93 Sydney MA ’10 Deakin
Jane MacMaster is Chief Engineer at Engineers Australia. She is a mechanical, aerospace and systems engineer with broad experience across both the private and public sectors and the higher education sector, and across technical and non-technical disciplines. Her 28+ years’ experience encompasses a range of roles and accountabilities spanning systems engineering, engineering design, simulation and modelling, project management, risk management, team leadership, cost account management, design authority roles, facilitation, corporate strategy development, public policy design, advocacy, teaching and speaking at events.
Her vast experience as advocate for the engineering profession, as policy creator and entrepreneur will provide a new perspective to the Alumni Council. With a problem-solving attitude, proactive skillset and global mindset, she can support and drive success in the execution of the 2020-2025 Alumni and Supporter Relations Strategy.
Alumni Council Associate
BNursing ’02 Sydney MNursing '09 UTS
Daniel has over 20 years’ experience in clinical, operational and strategic roles across the Health Sector. Daniel is currently a Director in Health, Ageing and Human Services at KPMG, focusing on Transformation Program Management. In this role he works across the public, private and not for profit health sectors to architect and deliver complex clinical, digital and business transformations. As a passionate advocate for the members of our community experiencing disadvantage and vulnerability, Daniel works hard to improve access and quality of healthcare by transforming patient engagement and operating models through incorporating innovative Digital Health Technologies.
Prior to KPMG, Daniel held a number of roles across NSW Health both in metropolitan and rural settings. In his last role as EMR Program Manager at Sydney Local Health District, he received the NSW Health Minister’s Award for Innovation, and the 2016 Silver Prime Ministers Award for Public Sector Management. He has also served as a Nursing Professional member for the Occupational Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Alumni Council Member
BEc ’89 Sydney
Julia Newbould is managing editor at Conexus. She has contributed and led editorial and content teams for financial services publications over a 20-year career as a senior editor and journalist and has built a strong reputation for knowledge and understanding, particularly in the areas of financial planning, superannuation, wraps and platforms, and SMSFs.
Prior to her role at Conexus, Julia was editor of Money magazine – Australia’s most read personal finance magazine started by former financial Paul Clitheroe. This title was a great reminder of what consumers are really concerned about. In 2021, she launched the podcast Friends with Money and was the face of the publication through podcasts, webcasts, radio and morning television.
Julia is also expert in online media – writing, production and delivery - working on start-up and other websites since 2000. She is also a highly experienced conference moderator, speaker and video interviewer
Alumni Council Associate
BA (Media & Comm) ’12, LLB ’13 Sydney
Alex is a lawyer, entrepreneur and co-founder of Sprintlaw, an international law/tech firm that's transforming the way legal services are delivered to small businesses. Sprintlaw operates in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and has won many industry awards, including being listed as the fastest growing legal business in the Asia Pacific region by the Financial Times in 2022.
As a lawyer, Alex specialises in the technology space and was named one of Australia's Most Influential Lawyers by Australasian Lawyer in 2022, one of Asia Law Portal’s "30 People to Watch" in the Business of Law in Asia in 2020 and was selected by Lawyer’s Weekly as the top under 30 technology & media lawyer in Australia in 2019.
Prior to founding Sprintlaw, Alex worked as a technology lawyer at Clayton Utz and was the founder and managing director of Spidr, an online digital agency which he sold in 2015.
Alumni Council Member
B.Med.Sc. ‘09 BMedSc(Hons) ’11 Sydney B Oral Health and Dental Science Griffith University M Public Health, M Health Management UNSW
Mohit is a regional dental surgeon based in Dapto, New South Wales, who, in addition to undertaking professional development studies and leadership commitments, has altruistically devoted his time to various career and community initiatives.
Mohit studied a Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) at the University of Sydney and then completed further studies graduating as a dentist from Griffith University in 2016. He holds degrees of Master of Public Health and Master of Health Management, a Graduate Certificate in Health and Medical Leadership and is currently specialising in the field of Dental Public Health at the University of Sydney.
Mohit has contributed to dentistry through indigenous students’ education, dental health advocacy, multicultural enrichment, professional development, and youth leadership. He has also volunteered with the Royal Flying Doctor Service as a visiting Dental Officer providing dental to marginalised communities in rural and remote Australia.
Alumni Council Member
MCom ’10 Sydney
Marina is an experienced leader with broad international experience, having held a range of roles in fintech, investment banking, investor relations, wealth management and financial services.
She has extensive experience in managing teams, assessing growth and tech investment opportunities, funding new product development, new market entry and expansion, data analytics and customer acquisition, strategy and finance.
Marina is passionate about entrepreneurship, start-ups as well as educating next generation of creative and courageous leaders. She is part of Heads over Heels, a not-for-profit organisation supporting female entrepreneurs, is contributing to a number of mentoring programs and co-designed Managing Digital Innovation unit for the Business School.
Alumni Council Member
MLMgt ’06 MCom ’06 Sydney
Samuel was born in Guangzhou China and came to Australia in 2004, completing Master of Commerce and Master of Logistics Management at the University of Sydney in 2006. He is the Managing Director of Australian Eternity Investments, an organisation that delivers property development services.
Samuel is passionate about the continual development of a network for Chinese alumni to maintain a meaningful link with the University of Sydney.
Key dates
Nominations for 2025 Alumni Council will open in late 2024.
Wednesday 1 March 2023
Wednesday 31 May 2023
Friday 21 July 2023 (Strategic Planning Day)
Wednesday 6 September 2023
Wednesday 22 November 2023
Friday 3 March
Wednesday 19 April
Tuesday 30 May
Friday 14 July
Wednesday 6 September
Wednesday 11 October
Monday 27 November
For more information, visit the University of Sydney Senate page.
