Board of Directors
Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors. Our Board is responsible for providing strategic direction, overseeing our performance, and ensuring we operate with appropriate processes and policies. Each of our board members is passionate about Peter Mac’s work, and assumes their role in a voluntary capacity.
Our Directors
Bruce Akhurst, B.Ec (hons), LL.B, FAICD, Chairman
(appointed February 2017)
Mr Bruce Akhurst is the Chairman of Tabcorp Holdings Limited and member of its People and Remuneration Committee, Audit Committee, Technology Committee, Nomination Committee and Chair of its Risk, Compliance and Sustainability Committee. Mr Akhurst is a non-executive Director of the Board of McMillan Shakespeare and a member of its Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and Chair of the People Culture and Remuneration Committe. He is also a member of the RMIT University Council and Chair of its Infrastructure & Information Technology Committee. Mr Akhurst was Executive Chairman of Adstream until June 2021 and a director of private investment company Paul Ramsay Holdings until 8 July 2021.
Board Committees
Mr Stewart Baron B.Juris, LLB
(appointed May 2002)
Mr Stewart Baron is Managing Director of Baron Corporation Pty Ltd, which specialises in residential, commercial and industrial property development, domestic and worldwide private equity and infrastructure investment. Mr Baron is Vice President of the Mount Scopus Memorial College Foundation, and is a member of the Young President’s Organisation Melbourne Chapter. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School OPM.
Board Committees
Mr Chris Dodd BCom MBA
(appointed April 2021)
Mr Chris Dodd has served in the accounting and finance profession for more than three decades. He commenced with PwC Australia in the early 1990s and since then, Mr Dodd has led and collaborated on an extensive array of accounting and governance projects across mining and energy, renewables, sporting, infrastructure and technology sectors and has worked both in Australia and internationally. Mr Dodd currently serves on the boards of Loreto Ministries, Hudson Institute of Medical Research and is an Advisory Council Member for the Edwin Flack Trust.
Board Committees
- Audit and Risk Committee (Director Chair)
- Finance Committee
Ms Jennifer Douglas BSc/LLB (Hons), LLM, MBA, GAICD
(appointed December 2017)
Ms Jennifer Douglas is an experienced non-executive director and executive with over 30 years experience in listed, private, government owned and not for profit entities. She is currently a Director of GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD), Judo Bank (ASX:JDO), Essential Energy and the St Kilda Football Club. From 2006 to 2016, Ms Douglas held key executive roles with Telstra including Executive Director of Telstra’s Customer Office, responsibility for Telstra's $3B Fixed Voice business and for Telstra's internal consulting team. Prior to this she was General Counsel and Head of Regulatory of Sensis.
Board Committees
Grant Dow BEng(Mech) Hons, GDEng (Risk), MBA
(appointed September 2022)
Grant is a Partner at Maritana, a market leading governance and advisory Firm. He began his career with the General Electric Company plc, moving into the wireless telecommunications infrastructure sector, building carrier and utility microwave networks around the world. Since 2008, he has been conducting search and leadership assignments for Executives and Board Directors at the most senior level of Australasian businesses.
Board Committees
- Philanthropy Committee (Director)
Elizabeth Hall-Johnston BA, BCom, MBA
(appointed August 2020)
Ms Elizabeth Hall-Johnston is an Investment Manager for First Exar Family Office, overseeing an investment portfolio comprising direct equity investments, property and private equity. Prior to joining First Exar in 2014, Ms Hall-Johnston worked for 11 years as a diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She represented the Australian Government at senior levels as a trade policy specialist. Ms Hall-Johnston has 15 years’ experience living and working in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo with professional working proficiency in Japanese and conversational Mandarin Chinese skills. She holds an MBA, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts from The University of Melbourne.
Board Committees
Hon Maxine Morand
BA, MA Prelim, GAICD
(appointed July 2017)
Maxine Morand is Chair of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Board of Directors. She is a Professorial Fellow at Monash University and teaches in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Ms Morand has a background in health, cancer research, government and management. She served in the Victorian Parliament for eight years and held a number of senior government positions including Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development, and Minister for Women’s Affairs. Following her parliamentary career Ms Morand served as CEO of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA). Ms Morand was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2011, giving her personal insight into the impact and management of a cancer diagnosis.
Professor John Seymour AM, MBBS, FRACP, PhD
(appointed December 2020)
Professor John Seymour AM is a clinical haematologist and Associate Director of Clinical Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and the Director of the integrated Haematology Department of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre & the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He received his MB, BS degrees from the University of Melbourne in 1987, completed a translational research fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and subsequently received their Distinguished Alumnus award in 2011. He also completed PhD studies in the pathobiology of haematopoietic growth factors at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Professor Seymour is a member of several national and international scientific committees including, Cancer Australia Advisory Groups, the Scientific Advisory Committee for the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma, Medical Advisory Board of the Lymphoma Coalition, and the Board of Directors of the International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group.
He has authored 19 book chapters, more than 550 peer reviewed publications (with more than 35,000 literature citations), and over 800 conference abstracts. Actively involved in a broad range of collaborative research, Professor Seymour has been has been the principal investigator on more than 85 clinical trials.
Board Committees
