Board of Directors

Chairman

Rod is currently Professor of public policy at the Australian National University, and Chair of the Competition Research Policy Network at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, Paris.

In March this year, he completed 11 years as Chair of The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Prior to this, he had a wide range of commercial and public sector roles in many countries, including Director and Partner at commercial advisory firm Port Jackson Partners Limited, Chair of project development company InfraCo Asia based in Singapore, Director of Ingeus Limited which was then Europe’s largest welfare-to-work company based in London, and Chair of the State Rail Authority in NSW.

Rod was previously also Deputy Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, responsible for all domestic policy issues, and Deputy Secretary in the Department of Transport and Communications.  From 1988 to 1990 he was the Principal Economic Adviser to Australia’s Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.

He has a love of opera, and has been a subscriber, and then a patron, of Opera Australia for over 30 years.

Warren  is currently a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Higher Education at the University of Melbourne. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Adelaide 2012–2017 and before that Deputy Vice Chancellor (University Affairs) at the University of Melbourne.

Prior to his time in university management, Warren had a long career in music, as Dean of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music for 17 years, before that Head of Music at the University of Queensland for 6 years, and he taught at the ANU School of Music. He won  a ACTL Citation for “30 years of outstanding teaching in music” (2008), his publications include the  Oxford Companion to Australian Music, and he was for 10 years the music member of the International Advisory Board of Encyclopaedia Britannica. He studied musicology and conducting in New York as a Fulbright Scholar, and remains a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.

Warren is also Chair of the Board of Melbourne University Publishing Ltd, Chair of the fine arts college LCI Melbourne, and Chair of the autism peak body Amaze Inc.

Greta Bradman is a registered psychologist, founder, writer, ABC broadcaster, recording and performing artist.

As a practising psychologist Greta specialises in anxiety disorders as well as high performance and values coaching in the arts and business. Maintaining her connection with classical music, at ABC Classic Greta presents Weekend Brunch and Mindful Music.

Prior to stepping back from singing at the end of 2019, Greta released four No.1 solo albums; two with Sony Music and two with Universal Music (Decca), as well as contributing to various other albums. Aria nominated, she was Limelight Magazine’s Australian Artist of the Year in 2015 and was the 2013 winner of the Australian International Opera Award, enabling her to further her singing studies in the UK. Greta has appeared as a principal soprano for Opera Australia and other opera companies as well as countless ensembles and orchestras across Australia and the UK, EU, and USA.

Greta is a Trustee at Arts Centre Melbourne and chairs the People Committee and sits on the Audit and Risk Committee. She is a board member of the Bradman Foundation. Prior governance roles include being a member of the Federal Government’s Creative Economy Taskforce during Covid-19, a board member of the Alfred Foundation and Australian Mental Health Prize, and advisor for the Arts Wellbeing Collective. Qualifications include MBA (Melbourne Business School, prize winner); MPsych(Clinical); PsychHons 1A(dux); GAICD; MAPS; ANAM Fellowship; GradDip(voice); BMus(voice).

Warwick Bray guides infrastructure investors and companies across Asia Pacific and Europe to address the economics and infrastructure implications of 5G, capital allocation and improvement to ROIC, and create value though cost and customer service transformation for both operators and infrastructure owners. His work has resulted in several innovation and organisational award wins across Asia Pacific, Europe and globally. He has previously held Board positions at CSL (HK) and GSMA’s strategy committee, as well as Chairman of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and Foxtel’s Audit and Risk Committee. He currently is a Board member of the Audit and Risk Committee at Spark NZ.

Previously Warwick was CFO of Telstra and Group MD and Head of Telstra Mobile. He led company-wide customer service and cost transformation and created mobile broadband and Asia’s leading “Internet of Things” businesses. As a McKinsey partner in the 1990s, Warwick provided operational and strategic assistance, to second operators, integrated telecommunications companies, energy companies, and institutional and private equity funds, for the introduction of 2G in Europe. As a securities analyst in Europe in the 2000s Warwick valued integrated and cellular telecommunications companies. He was also MD and Global Telecoms Sector Leader at JPMorgan and DrKW London.

Michelle Kam is a Strategy Consulting Partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) in the Strategy& division, leading Australia’s Katzenbach Centre, a global PwC specialist organisation that focuses on culture, leadership and change. With a Ph.D in Cognitive Psychology (UNSW) and as a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Michelle provides strategic advice to many ASX listed companies to navigate the increasingly complex global environment and transformational change through creating agility, focus and mobilisation of employees and valuing diversity so people thrive. She works across a variety of sectors including financial services, telecommunications, mining, media, not-for-profit and the public sector. She also supported PwC’s CEO to develop the firm’s growth and Future of Work strategies and the firm’s stance on anti-racism.

She is passionate about the arts and education. She served as a Non-Executive Director at Shaun Parker and Company over 2016 - 2018, and is a current member of the Alumni Council for the University of Sydney.

Chief Operating Officer

Simon is a highly experienced, CPA-qualified finance and commercial executive. At Opera Australia, he leads the national company’s finance, governance, legal, IT and property development functions and functions and teams. He has also previously served as acting CEO.

Prior to joining OA in 2022, Simon was Executive Director of Development and Commercial at Platino Properties. For more than 20 years he worked for Lend Lease, where he was appointed Executive Head of Development in 2015. Simon is a former Chair of the University of New South Wales’ Designing supportive housing communities series and a number of the projects he has led have been recognised with industry awards. Simon is passionate about the arts and their role in society. Simon is a classically trained baritone, having studied for seven years with D’oyle Carte Baritone Eric Thornton. Simon has performed lead roles in several productions and has sung at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Technical Director

Chris is a highly experienced and accomplished performing arts production and operations leader specialising in technical direction, production management, lighting and administration. At Opera Australia, he oversees the technical and production departments, which include production management, lighting, mechanical, wardrobe, AV/sound, digital media and premises.

His current term as Technical Director is his second at OA, having previously served in the role from 2001–2013. His association with the national opera company extends more than 25 years, first joining in 1988 as a lighting designer. Chris has worked for many of Australia’s leading performing arts organisations across theatre, opera and dance. From 2015–2021, Chris served as the Director of Production and Artistic Operations for the Australian Ballet. He was also the technical director for Global Creature's world premiere of Strictly Ballroom The Musical, adapted from Baz Luhrmann’s film Strictly Ballroom.

Director of Marketing and Communications

Simon is a senior leader in the arts and entertainment industry with more than 20 years of experience in marketing, sales and audience development across Australia and the UK. At Opera Australia, he is responsible for the management, development and growth of the marketing, communications, sales, ticketing and tourism functions and teams. Simon is driven by a passion for creating extraordinary experiences that expand arts participation, informed by data-driven customer insights

Returning to Australia to join OA in 2022, Simon was Director of Marketing and Partnerships at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres in London, overseeing a portfolio of six iconic venues including the London Palladium and the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane. He also served as Managing Director of Ticket Machine Group under the Ambassador Theatre Group, providing sales and marketing expertise for West End productions and renowned institutions such as the National Theatre, Barbican Theatre, Royal Opera House and English National Opera.

Director of Development

Rebecca was appointed Development Director in August 2024, joining Opera Australia from the Washington National Opera (WNO), based at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she served as Chief Development Officer since 2018.  She leads the strategic direction of the development team and stewards the company’s generous benefactors and corporate partners with a keen eye toward building further support for the celebrated artform.

Rebecca helped raise more than $10 million annually for the WNO through the strategic expansion of the development team’s functions and size, leading to a steady growth of its donor base. With close to two decades of expertise, Rebecca has successfully raised gifts for various performing arts organisations with a focus on opera companies and regional theatre, including the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Skylight Music Theater. Rebecca has a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Opera America.