Governance Institute’s brand ambassadors

Diane Smith-Gander AO FGIA FCG
Chair, Committee for the Economic Development of Australia 

Diane Smith-Gander AO is a professional non-executive director maintaining a diverse portfolio across different entities, industries and geographies. She is an advocate for gender equity and a past president of CEW, Australia’s pre-eminent women’s advocacy group which counts more than 600 of Australia’s senior female leaders as its members. Diane is now Chair of Zip Co Limited, Perenti, HBF Health Limited and CEDA. Diane has also been active in sports administration and is a past Chairman of both Basketball Australia Limited, the sport’s peak body, and the (then) Australian Sports Drug Agency, the government agency responsible for deterring the use of performance-enhancing drugs. She currently chairs the inaugural Nominations Committee for the World Anti-Doping Agency. Appointed September 2020.

Simon Pordage FGIA FCG
Company Secretary, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ)

Simon joined ANZ in May 2016. He is a Chartered Secretary with extensive company secretarial and corporate governance experience. From 2009 to 2016 he was Company Secretary for Australian Foundation Investment Company Limited and a number of other listed investment companies. Other former roles include being Deputy Company Secretary for ANZ and Head of Board Support for Barclays PLC in the United Kingdom. Simon is committed to the promotion of good corporate governance. He is a former National President and Chair of Governance Institute of Australia and is a member and former Chair of its National Legislation Review Committee, and regularly presents on governance issues. Appointed September 2020.

Kirsty Wright AGIA ACG
Senior Manager — Group Risk Manager, The Star Entertainment Group

Kirsty is a Group Risk Manager at The Star Entertainment Group. She has experience across the financial services, manufacturing, gaming and entertainment industries specialising in governance, risk and compliance transformation. Kirsty is passionate about building risk capability and embedding risk culture into everything we do. She’s completed the Graduate Diploma of Corporate Governance and Risk Management through Governance Institute of Australia and is a member of the Risk Management Institute of Australasia (RMIA) and Risk Management Association (RMA) Australia. She is also a licensed Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a member of the PMI Queensland Chapter.

Professor Michael A Adams FGIA(Life) FCG
Academic Dean/Head of UNE Law School, Professor of Corporate Law

Professor Michael Adams is a specialist in Australian corporate law and international corporate governance. Michael has expertise in financial services regulation, information governance, consumer protection and the broader area of legal technology and education. Professor Adams was Dean of Law at Western Sydney Law School from 2007 to 2017 and from 2019 the Head of the University of New England Law School. In 2020 he was named Academic Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers Weekly in the 20th Australian Law Award, 2000 Australian University Teacher of the Year in ‘Law and Legal Studies’. Appointed June 2021.