Governance

Craig Chapman is Chair of the American Australian Association. He has been a member of the Association since 1984, on the Association’s Board of Directors since 2002 and on the Board’s Executive Committee since 2003. Born and raised in Connecticut, Craig’s first association with Australia was living with an Australian family in the Sydney suburb of Castle Cove and attending North Sydney Boys High School as an American Field Service exchange student in 1971. After completing law school at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1980, Craig started his career as a lawyer with Dawson Waldron, then one of Sydney, Australia’s top four law firms, where he worked for three years on a variety of corporate matters and met his wife, Susan Manton. Susan was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Craig’s 39-year marriage to Susan constitutes his longest lasting and personally most rewarding “American Australian Association”. They have two daughters, Jane and Louise, both of whom are dual citizens, and three grandchildren. Craig is also a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP. Sidley is a global law firm with more than 2,000 lawyers in 21 offices around the world, including an office in Sydney, Australia. Craig has worked at Sidley (starting at the predecessor firm Brown & Wood) since returning to the United States from Australia in 1983. Craig was head of Sidley’s Tokyo office from 1992 to 1995 and head of the Capital Markets practice in Sidley’s London office from 2006 to 2009. At Sidley, among other things, Craig is a leader of its Capital Markets practice. One of Craig’s primary areas of focus at Sidley is representing Australian issuers and underwriters of Australian issuers (including Australia’s major banking and other financial institutions and their New Zealand subsidiaries) on U.S. securities offerings and other transactions. He has worked closely with Sidley’s Sydney office since its opening in 2007.

Leila Smith is a Wiradjuri woman with over 18 years’ experience in supporting organizational change and policy reform in the not-for-profit sector, professional services, research, and academia. As a highly effective people-leader she has both roll-up-your-sleeves and strategic expertise across education, health, social services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. She is the CEO of the Aurora Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports Indigenous students to realize their full education and employment potential. Prior to Aurora, Leila led the Knowledge Translation team at Australia’s national Indigenous health research organization, the Lowitja Institute. She was also one of the first Indigenous Australians to join a major management consulting firm, Nous Group where she specialized in federal government strategy and change projects for three years. Prior to working in the private sector, Leila completed a Masters of Public Policy at Cambridge University, after leading the Policy and Programs team at the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and working in data analysis and research roles at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. She also led the establishment of the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive and co-authored books and publications at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Amb. Berry joined the American Australian Association as President in 2016. He came to the job well prepared after serving as the 25th US Ambassador and President Obama’s personal representative to Australia. Prior to that, John served in multiple senior government positions, earning three unanimous Senate confirmations, including: the head of “HR” for the Federal government as Director of the Office of Personnel Management; the “COO” of the Department of Interior as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget; the head of 40% of Federal law enforcement as Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department; and Legislative Director for Rep. Steny Hoyer.

John has also been a leader in the non-profit sector, serving as the Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo; The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Government Relations for the Smithsonian Institution. John has accomplished many firsts, most notably, the first openly LGBT US Ambassador to a G20 country and while at OPM, he was the highest ranking LGBT executive official in US history. He has stood atop both poles – north and south, visited all of the world’s continents, as well as all of the states of both the USA and Australia. His most favorite recognitions of the many received have been the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, a lion named “John” in his honor and a mountain in Antarctica called the “Berry Bastion.” He is married to his partner of over 25 years, Curtis Yee.

Jacqui Spence is Chairman of GL Chongqing Pty Ltd's private investment venture, working with company owners to grow their businesses and maximize shareholder value. Previously, Jacqui worked as a Global Coordinating Partner for EY, leading global initiatives with some of the world's largest brands. Jacqui was partner and principal with EY in three regions, including New York office for 11 years, Stockholm and Melbourne. She began her career in management, marketing and research roles with the Australian affiliate of Stern Stewart & Co., Cambridge University and the University of Melbourne. Awarded Melbourne Business School's prize for Strategic Marketing in 2000, Jacqui holds an MBA, a Master of Arts (Honors) and a Bachelor of Education. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and Specialist Expert Member of the Institute of Risk Management. Currently, she serves as director on the boards of three growth companies in the media, technology, and retail sectors.

      Shannon Marshall is a Vice President and Investment Specialist for JP Morgan. She is responsible for developing and managing relationships with affluent clients and their families, addressing their investment, banking and planning needs. She world closely with her clients and their external advisors to provide thoughtful investment and wealth management solutions within the context of each other’s overall objectives, including retirement, estate planning and philanthropic needs. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Ms. Marshall worked as a Private Wealth Advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management Group based in New York City, providing financial planning, investment and wealth management solutions. Originally from Australia, Ms. Marshall previously worked extensively in the international wine industry.

Claire Johnston was appointed Chief Executive Officer US in November 2022, her latest role in a 26+-year history with the global real estate and investment management company. Claire oversees all aspects of the Americas business and is a member of the Global Leadership Team.

In addition to serving as CEO in the US, Claire will continue in her prior role as Managing Director of Google Development Ventures (GDV) until a successor is named. GDV is a 15-year, US $15bn (AUD $20bn) joint venture between Lendlease and Google for the master planning, entitlement and development of Google's Bay Area landholdings in San Jose, Sunnyvale and Mountain View, California. Lendlease estimates it will develop up to 15 million square feet of residential, retail, hospitality and associated community uses within these four new neighborhoods.

Prior to her work with GDV, Claire served as Managing Director of Lendlease Communities, an exclusive partnership with the Department of Defense through which Lendlease delivers design, construction, financing, environmental and asset management services for military housing and lodging, with a national portfolio comprising over 40,000 residential units and more than 12,000 hotel rooms. Claire also held the position of Executive Project Director of Island Palm Communities in Oahu, Hawaii, the largest residential privatization project ever awarded by the Department of Defense. Prior to this, she served as Executive Project Director for Lendlease's Docklands Melbourne Australia, a US $6bn (AUD $9.4bn) partnership with the City of Melbourne and the State Government of Victoria, where she oversaw the master plan development and delivery of commercial, residential and mixed-use assets for the urban renewal project.

Throughout her career at Lendlease, Claire has been a champion for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, serving as Executive Sponsor of the LGBTQ+ employee resource group, now known as Pride Americas. As CEO, she also leads Lendlease’s DE&I Advisory Council.

Claire was recently named to GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum’s annual Women of Influence list and was recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of its Most Influential Women. She received a Bachelor of Commerce, Labor and Industrial Relations, from the University of Western Sydney and a Masters in Business (Property) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Melbourne).

Oronzo Miccoli is the Senior Executive Vice President, Americas with overall responsibility for Qantas Group’s commercial and operational functions across the region. For the last 10 years Oronzo has held a range of senior commercial roles across the business, most recently as Head of Sales Planning, Performance and Finance where he was responsible for shaping Qantas’ strategic response to significant change and disruption. Prior to joining the aviation industry Oronzo was with Ernst & Young in management consulting, focusing on strategy and operational improvement projects across the Financial Services, FMCG and Government sectors.

Kate is a General Partner at ALIAVIA Ventures, based out of Los Angeles where she resides. ALIAVIA is an early stage Venture Capital fund investing in U.S. and Australian based female founders building world-changing enterprise and consumer tech companies.

Kate has had a distinguished career in the technology and digital industries, with over two decades experience across major digital brands, including Spotify where she was Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand and prior was Head of YouTube Australia and New Zealand, as well as the first in-region employee for Google as the Head of Sales and Operations Australia and New Zealand.

Kate has held a number of Non-Executive board roles including Tourism Australia, Tourism Tasmania and currently at ASX listed e-sports company Mogul. She is also a former Council Member of Make-A-Wish Australia. Kate is an active angel investor, having invested in several companies in Australia and the US. She holds a Bachelor of Business from Monash University.

Nicholas James Stone is a native of Melbourne Australia who moved to New York City in 2010. He envisioned Bluestone Lane whilst attending Business School in New York, with the idea of providing a premium coffee experience that can be readily found in Melbourne Australia (but not readily in New York). Nick has extensive corporate finance and strategy experience with ANZ Banking Group Limited and UBS Investment Bank, advising and financing some of the world’s largest consumer & services companies in United States, Europe and the Asia/Pacific. Prior to banking, Nick was a professional Australian Rules Football (AFL) player for 6 seasons, having been selected in the 1999 AFL National Draft from Wesley College, Australia (High School).

Leila Smith is a Wiradjuri woman with over 18 years’ experience in supporting organizational change and policy reform in the not-for-profit sector, professional services, research, and academia. As a highly effective people-leader she has both roll-up-your-sleeves and strategic expertise across education, health, social services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. She is the CEO of the Aurora Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports Indigenous students to realize their full education and employment potential. Prior to Aurora, Leila led the Knowledge Translation team at Australia’s national Indigenous health research organization, the Lowitja Institute. She was also one of the first Indigenous Australians to join a major management consulting firm, Nous Group where she specialized in federal government strategy and change projects for three years. Prior to working in the private sector, Leila completed a Masters of Public Policy at Cambridge University, after leading the Policy and Programs team at the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and working in data analysis and research roles at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. She also led the establishment of the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive and co-authored books and publications at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

      Sara McKerihan was recently appointed Vice Chair of Markets and Securities Services for Australia and New Zealand, relocating from New York to Sydney. She will focus on growing the bank’s strategic relationships with key Australian/New Zealand market clients.

Ms McKerihan was previously in the Global Client and Relationship Management Group, based in New York. Citi Markets Global Relationship Managers work with Citi senior management and Markets coverage teams to ensure that Citi is delivering our best in class services to our most important Platinum clients and that Citi is fully maximizing on potential business opportunities.

Ms McKerihan joined Salomon Brothers as a salesperson with particular responsibility for Central Banks in non-US dollar markets. In 1989, she played a key role in forming the specialized European Government Group, which now covers all the major European markets. In 1999 she was appointed Head of Fixed Income Sales for Asia Pacific, and relocated to Hong Kong, where she was responsible for managing a sales team covering all countries throughout the region. She was also made a member of the Asia Pacific Management Committee. In 2002, she relocated to New York to cover Global Hedge Funds within Fixed Income and in 2007 transitioned to the newly formed Global Relationship Management team.

Ms McKerihan has a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from Newcastle University and graduated from the Development Program for Managers from the University of New South Wales. She also serves on the boards of 100 Women in Finance, the American Australian Association and the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia.

      As General Manager of the IBM Partner Ecosystem, David LaRose leads the organization's worldwide channel business. He engages with more than 160,000 Ecosystem Partners around emerging opportunities in the channel through cloud, analytics, mobile, security, AI and modern infrastructure.

David is responsible for the revenue generated globally through IBM Business Partners, including value-added distributors, resellers, system integrators, independent software vendors, cloud service providers and managed service providers.

Prior to this position David was Managing Director, IBM Australia and New Zealand where he was responsible for the vision and overall IBM performance of the business and returned it to growth. He is a global executive with extensive leadership experience working in Japan, China, India and Europe spanning sales and general management in the highly competitive ICT industry.

Throughout his career at IBM he has held a series of progressive leadership roles in sales, channel management, and brand management across global regions spanning 170 countries. Along with increasing P&L responsibility, he has led thousands of cross-functional employees across sales, finance, marketing, communications, HR, and support functions.

David has extensive experience in resolving complex business issues, identifying growth opportunities and a passion for driving the business performance with a strong focus on culture and workforce engagement. He also serves on the Board of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA). Its purpose is to serve the Information Technology Industry with the Federal and State Governments of Australia.

Sarah Beshar is a senior executive, legal counsel and corporate advisor. In 2017, Ms Beshar was appointed a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Invesco Ltd, a global asset manager with over US$1.5 Trillion assets under management across multiple asset classes in 150 countries. Currently, she serves as Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and is on the Audit and Compensation Committees. In 2015, Ms. Beshar completed a thirty year career as a partner and member of management at Davis Polk & Wardwell, a global legal and professional services firm. Ms. Beshar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Western Australia. She received an Honors BCL Degree from Magdalen College at Oxford University as the inaugural Sir Robert Menzies Scholar. She earned a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Jurisprudence, both with First Class Distinction from the University of Western Australia. Ms. Beshar has served as a Trustee of both the University of Western Australia in America and Magdalen College, Oxford University in America. She is a member of the Corporate Board of the Lincoln Center and Board of Trustees of Episcopal Charities, as well as a Conservation Fellow at the Whitney Museum. Ms. Beshar is a Director of the USAsia Center in Perth and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Australian Association. Ms. Beshar lives in New York.

Charles Grant retired in 2022 after a 40 year career in private equity. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Grant was a Partner of Lexington Partners, primarily engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of private equity and alternative investments. Mr. Grant, a Chartered Accountant, graduated from the University of New South Wales and is a fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.  He is chairman of the UNSW & Study Abroad - Friends and US Alumni Inc. and a board member of the Australian Universities & Schools USA Foundation.

      Samantha Schoen is the Co-Head of the North America Institutional Distribution Group for Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). She is based in New York, and joined Morgan Stanley in 2007 and has 19 years industry experience. Previously, she was the global head of consultant relations and head of North America institutional sales for MSIM, and co-chair of the global diversity council for MSIM. Prior to that, she was based in London for 12 years and was the co-head of MSIM’s international consultant relations team covering investment consultant clients in the U.K., Europe and Asia. Prior to that she was the retail investment product manager in the wealth management division of Suncorp, Australia, and practiced as a banking and finance lawyer at Mallesons Stephen Jacques, Australia. Samantha received a B.Bus. with distinction in international business and a B.Law with honours from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, a Grad.Dip in applied finance from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and a Grad.Dip in legal practice from the College of Law, Sydney. She is also a qualified solicitor.

    Damian Eales is an experienced executive who has worked across retail, financial services and media industries in a broad array of roles. Most notably having acted in a CMO capacity for one of Australia's leading retailers, one of Australia's leading banks, and Australia's leading media organization. Having served as Chief Operating Officer of News Corp Australia's publishing division, and Global Head of Transformation for the News Corp group of companies, Damian now leads Move Inc, a subsidiary of News Corporation.  

      Tania Yuki is Founder and former CEO of Shareablee. Tania began her career as a media and internet attorney, specializing in digital rights management, IP and film financing. After moving to the US, Tania went on to run online video content as Head of Acquisitions and Branding and led product management for comScore's Video Metrix, the world's leading online video ratings service. Shareablee was founded in February 2013 when Tania saw a new frontier emerging across social media. She was convinced that social data would fundamentally change how companies communicate and do business and dedicated herself to understanding what makes social content succeed. Since then Shareablee has evolved from 3 people in Tania’s living room to a dynamic company of 60+ employees that boasts the world’s largest system of brand performance data across social platforms and industry-standard metrics that help clients navigate and win on social media. Shareablee collects & transforms the social data into actionable business intelligence.

Craig Chapman serves as Chairman of the American Australian Association, Inc. He has been a member of the Association since 1984, on the Association’s Board of Directors since 2002 and on the Board’s Executive Committee since 2003. Born and raised in Connecticut, Craig’s first association with Australia was living with an Australian family in the Sydney suburb of Castle Cove and attending North Sydney Boys High School as an American Field Service exchange student in 1971. After completing law school at Case Western Reserve University in 1980, Craig started his career as a lawyer with Dawson Waldron, then one of Sydney, Australia’s top four law firms, where he worked for three years on a variety of corporate, M&A and other transactional matters and met his wife, Susan Manton. Susan was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Craig’s 40-year marriage to Susan constitutes his longest lasting and personally most rewarding “American Australian Association”. They have two daughters, Jane and Louise, both of whom are dual citizens, and three granddaughters, Sophie, Georgina and Beatrice. On December 31, 2022, Craig retired as a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP. Sidley is a global law firm with more than 2,000 lawyers in 21 offices around the world, including an office in Sydney, Australia. Craig joined Sidley (starting at the predecessor firm Brown & Wood) upon returning to the United States from Australia in 1983. Craig opened and served as head of Sidley’s Tokyo office from 1992 to 1995 and served as head of the Capital Markets practice in Sidley’s London office from 2006 to 2009. At Sidley, among other things, Craig served as co-chair of its Global Capital Markets practice and co-chair of its Opinion Committee. One of Craig’s primary areas of focus at Sidley was representing Australian issuers and underwriters of Australian issuers (including Australia’s major banking and other financial institutions) on U.S. securities offerings and other transactions.

Leila Smith is a Wiradjuri woman with over 18 years’ experience in supporting organizational change and policy reform in the not-for-profit sector, professional services, research, and academia. As a highly effective people-leader she has both roll-up-your-sleeves and strategic expertise across education, health, social services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. She is the CEO of the Aurora Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports Indigenous students to realize their full education and employment potential. Prior to Aurora, Leila led the Knowledge Translation team at Australia’s national Indigenous health research organization, the Lowitja Institute. She was also one of the first Indigenous Australians to join a major management consulting firm, Nous Group where she specialized in federal government strategy and change projects for three years. Prior to working in the private sector, Leila completed a Masters of Public Policy at Cambridge University, after leading the Policy and Programs team at the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and working in data analysis and research roles at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. She also led the establishment of the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive and co-authored books and publications at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Jane Allen was appointed to the American Australian Association Limited Board in November 2016.

Jane is a co-founder and Partner of Maritana Partners, a specialist advisory firm that focuses on governance, leadership and performance related matters. Jane has spent over 20 years as an advisor, including over 15 years with a global search firm where she was Managing Partner in Australasia and also held a leadership role in Asia for many years. She has been recognised as an experienced advisor to Australia’s largest companies and Boards for many years.

Jane is a member of Chief Executive Women, a network of Australia's top women leaders. Jane has been a Director of the Garvan Medical Research Institute’s Foundation Board since 2007, one of Australia’s most highly respected medical research bodies. Jane is also a Director of the United States Studies Centre. She is both an American and Australian citizen, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College.

Amb. Berry joined the American Australian Association as President in 2016. He came to the job well prepared after serving as the 25th US Ambassador and President Obama’s personal representative to Australia. Prior to that, John served in multiple senior government positions, earning three unanimous Senate confirmations, including: the head of “HR” for the Federal government as Director of the Office of Personnel Management; the “COO” of the Department of Interior as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget; the head of 40% of Federal law enforcement as Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department; and Legislative Director for Rep. Steny Hoyer.

John has also been a leader in the non-profit sector, serving as the Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo; The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Government Relations for the Smithsonian Institution. John has accomplished many firsts, most notably, the first openly LGBT US Ambassador to a G20 country and while at OPM, he was the highest ranking LGBT executive official in US history. He has stood atop both poles – north and south, visited all of the world’s continents, as well as all of the states of both the USA and Australia. His most favorite recognitions of the many received have been the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, a lion named “John” in his honor and a mountain in Antarctica called the “Berry Bastion.” He is married to his partner of over 25 years, Curtis Yee.

Andrew Dudgeon AM was appointed to the American Australian Association Limited Board in November 2016.

Andrew is a Partner at global management consulting company McKinsey & Company. He is a leader in the Defence, Aerospace, Transportation and Infrastructure Practices. He has held Chief Executive Officer roles at three global aerospace and transportation companies, one in the United States and two in Australia.

He previously held senior command appointments within the Australian Army rising to the Rank of Brigadier. During his Military career he commanded operations of both Australian and Allied Forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan and flew a wide range of aircraft and helicopters.

Andrew was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for outstanding service to Australian Defence aviation. A keen sportsman, snow skier and active follower of both cricket and rugby union, Andrew is married to Hayley and has one teenage son, James.

Ben Scott was appointed to the American Australian Association Limited Board in July 2020.

Ben served as a American Australian Association Inc. Board Member in the USA from 2015-2019 during which Ben chaired the AAA Development Committee and was a founding Co-Chair of the AAA Business Council.

Ben is a Founding Partner of Barrenjoey Capital Partners, Sydney where is he is a Senior Relationship Manager, Markets overseeing Global Hedge Fund and Asset Owners relationships. Ben spent 17 years with Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director including 15 years in New York. In his role as Senior Relationship Manager, Ben oversaw a diverse portfolio of Morgan Stanley’s largest institutional clients. Prior to this Ben sat on the Global Prime Brokerage Executive Committee, the primary unit responsible for Morgan Stanley’s hedge fund business’.

Ben joined Morgan Stanley in 2003 in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for Asian derivatives and structured product sales and marketing. Ben commenced his career in finance at Bankers Trust in Sydney, following which, he established and co-ran the Hong Kong operations of Zurich Capital Markets.

Ben earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Laws from Queensland University of Technology. In addition he was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for Rugby and was selected for the Australian Barbarians Rugby team.

Born and raised on a sheep and wheat farm in Western Queensland, Ben now lives in Sydney with his wife and two sons.