Board of Directors

Chairman

Professor Davis is a public policy specialist and Interim Vice-Chancellor at the University of Melbourne. In June 2025 Professor Davis completed a term as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He previously held leadership roles in the tertiary and philanthropic sectors, including as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 2005 to 2018. Professor Davis has long been engaged in the arts, including the boards of the Queensland and Melbourne Theatre companies. He was appointed to the Opera Australia Board on 24 June 2025 and reappointed as Chair of Opera Australia from 19 August 2025, having previously served as Chair from November 2021 to September 2022. He is a member of the People, Remunerations and Nominations Committee, Audit and Risk Committee and Property Committee.

Deputy Chair

Ms Shiff BSc (Econ) Hons (L.S.E.), BA (Law) (Cambridge), is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of ASX-listed Pro Medicus Limited, where she chairs the People and Culture Committee and is a member of the Audit and Finance Committee; the Chair of AROSE Ltd (Australian Remote Operations in Space and Earth) since March 2024; Chair of the Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre; an Independent Board Member of the Geneva-based multilateral organisation, GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), where she serves on the Audit and Finance Committee and the Governance Committee and chairs its People and Culture Subcommittee; and the Chair of the International Advisory Board of the Australian Research Centre of Excellence on Automated Decisions and Society.

Ms Shiff is on the Member Council of Musica Viva and was until February 2018 the Chair of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Prior to serving on the Boards of global growth stage technology companies over the last ten years, Ms Shiff was a Group Managing Director at Telstra, running Telstra Wholesale and then Telstra Business.

In 2011, Ms Shiff established Telstra’s corporate venture capital arm, Telstra Ventures. Ms Shiff has also been a partner at Mallesons Stephen Jacques.

Ms Shiff joined the Opera Australia Board in June 2017 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee, Chair of the People, Remuneration and Nominations Committee and was appointed Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors on 28 February 2022.

Deputy Chair

Mr Sisson has over 40 years of investment management experience, initially working at National Mutual Life Association.  In 1988 he founded Balanced Equity Management to manage portfolios of Australian shares and in 2011, Balanced Equity Management was acquired by Franklin Resources Inc, a funds management company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr Sisson holds a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics & Statistics) from The University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD). He is a member of the Council of the University of Melbourne and a Trustee of the Helen McPherson Smith Trust.

Mr Sisson joined the Opera Australia Board in February 2017, was appointed Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee in November 2017, appointed Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors on 28 February 2022 and is a member of the Property Committee.

Professor Bebbington 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, Professor Bebbington 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.Professor Bebbington 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.

Professor Bebbington was appointed to the Opera Australia Board on 10 January 2024 and is a member of the Property Committee.

Ms Greta Bradman AM is a registered psychologist, founder, author, ABC broadcaster, and recording and performing artist.

As a registered psychologist Ms Bradman specialises in anxiety disorders and performance psychology. At ABC Classic, she presents the radio show Unwind and podcast Mindful Music. 

She is Senior Director of AI Experience at an Australian AI technology company and is an AI researcher in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. In 2025, she released her first book, What Matters to You: How Values are the Key to your Life and Work with Harper Collins.

Ms Bradman retired from her professional singing career in 2019, having 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 winner of the 2013 Australian International Opera Award. She has appeared as a principal soprano for Opera Australia and other opera companies as well as countless ensembles and orchestras across Australia, the UK, EU, and USA. A passionate advocate for Australian composers, she has had numerous works written for her. She continues to sing on select occasions.

Ms Bradman is a Trustee at Arts Centre Melbourne, chairing the People Committee and sitting on the Audit and Risk Committee. She is co-chair of the Bradman Foundation. Prior governance roles include member of the Federal Government's Creative Economy Taskforce during Covid-19, board member of the Alfred Foundation and Australian Mental Health Prize, and founder 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).

Ms Bradman was appointed to the Opera Australia Board on 18 June 2024 and is a member of the People, Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Mr Bray is a Board member at Woolworths, Spark NZ and Minter Ellison and serves on their audit and risk committees. Mr Bray is also a Board member of Bell Shakespeare. Mr Bray also works independently in infrastructure finance.

His previous Board roles include The Arts Centre Melbourne, CSL (HK) and he was a member of the GSMA strategy committee. He was Chair of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and a Board member and Chair of Foxtel’s Audit and Risk Committee.

In earlier roles, Mr Bray was CFO of Telstra and Group MD and Head of Telstra Mobile. He led the company-wide customer service and cost transformation. As a McKinsey partner in London in the 1990s, he provided operational and strategic assistance to mobile operators, integrated telecommunications companies, energy companies and institutional and private equity funds. He was also a Managing Director and Global Telecoms Sector Leader (Equity Research) at JPMorgan London and DrKW London.

Mr Bray was appointed to the Opera Australia Board on 25 November 2022, is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and will commence as ARC Chair in June 2026.

Mr Feder, LLB (Hons)/BSc is a Partner and Global Leader of the Intellectual Property team at K&L Gates.

Mr Feder was appointed to The Executive (Governing Body) of Mount Scopus Memorial College in 2025. Mr Feder was a Board member of Melbourne Theatre Company, from 2010 to 2022 and the Chair of the Melbourne Theatre Company Foundation from 2021 to 2022.  He was also a member of the Advisory Board to the Department of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne from 2017 to 2024.

Mr Feder has also raised investment funds for numerous theatrical productions which have been presented throughout the world including shows in New York, London and Australia.

Mr Feder joined the Opera Australia Board in February 2017 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Ms Hansen is Chancellor and Member of the Council of the University of Melbourne, Chair of the Campaign Advisory Board, a member of the Melbourne University Humanities Foundation and Former Chair of the Board of Management of Melbourne Theatre Company, having joined the Board in February 2015, and founded the theatre company’s Foundation as its inaugural Chair at that time.

Ms Hansen also sits on the Board of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and is a Fellow of the University of Melbourne. Previous directorships include the MCG Trust, the State Sport Centres Trust, the federal body of Athletics Australia and the Foundation of the State Library of Victoria. Ms Hansen holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Monash University, a Masters Degree in Finance and Business Administration from Columbia University in New York, and an Arts Degree majoring in History from the University of Melbourne. Ms Hansen has been admitted as a member of Chief Executive Women.

Ms Hansen joined the Opera Australia Board in August 2018 and is a member of the People, Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Dr Kam served as a Non-Executive Director at Shaun Parker and Company (2016 – 2018), was a member of the Alumni Council for the University of Sydney (2020-2024), and currently sits on the Chancellor's Advisory Committee for the University of Sydney (since May 2025).  Dr Kam was appointed to the Opera Australia Board on 25 November 2022 and is a member of the People, Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

She holds a Bachelor of Psychology (First Class Honours) from the University of Sydney, and both a Master of Psychology (Organisational Psychology) and a Ph.D. in Psychology (Cognitive Psychology) from the University of New South Wales. She graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2022.

She is currently the Vice President of Talent and Performance at BHP. There she leads strategies to invest in the best global, diverse talent, building pathways to acquire the required labour and skills and building an integrated talent and performance ecosystem. In previous roles, Dr Kam was a Strategy Consulting Partner at Strategy& (formerly Booz & Co), part of PwC, working across multiple sectors. In this capacity she also led Australia’s Katzenbach Centre, a global, specialist organisation focused on culture, leadership, and change.

Dr Kam joined the Opera Australia Board in December 2022 and is a member of the People, Remuneration and Nominations Committee. She was elected as Chair of the Property Committee in December 2025.

John Kotzas AM is a dynamic leader whose 40-year career has reshaped Australia’s cultural, civic, and economic spheres through visionary leadership and inclusive engagement. Renowned for blending strategic insight with social impact, he has driven transformative initiatives across arts, education, and community development, establishing global benchmarks and fostering powerful symbiotic connections.

As Chief Executive of Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) from 2008 to 2024, Kotzas doubled audiences to 1.2 million, generated $1.27 billion in ticket sales, kept QPAC resilient through COVID, and secured $175 million for construction of the new Glasshouse Theatre.

He founded the Brisbane Festival, turning it into a world-class event, and pioneered the Out of the Box Festival for children. In 1995, his leadership of Australia Remembers united communities for national commemoration marking the 50^th anniversary of the end of World War ll. His diverse programming, from global icons to local talent, champions inclusivity.

An educator, mentor, and a Vice President of Live Performance Australia, Kotzas forges global partnerships with a “think local, go global” approach, preparing Brisbane for the 2032 Olympics. Honoured with a Member of the Order of Australia, and honorary doctorates, he remains grounded, driven by lifelong learning. Kotzas’ legacy of innovation and resilience continues to shape Queensland as a thriving cultural and civic hub.

Chief Executive Officer

Alex Budd is a senior arts executive with more than two decades of experience across opera, dance, commercial musical theatre and cultural leadership.

Alex returned to Opera Australia as Chief Executive Officer in 2025, leading the organisation where he has spent more than half his career, including ten years based at the Melbourne Opera Centre. From 2000 to 2019 he held a series of senior roles including Tour Manager and Manager of OzOpera; founding Director of the Enterprises division; General Manager Melbourne and Enterprises; and Executive Producer, Touring and Commercial. In these roles he led Opera Australia’s national opera touring programs, commercial musical theatre activity, and major outdoor performances in The Domain and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. He also produced 16 New Year’s Eve Galas at the Sydney Opera House and oversaw major national tours of South Pacific, The King and I, Anything Goes, My Fair Lady, Evita and West Side Story.

In 2019 he was appointed Director of Canberra Theatre Centre, returning to the venue where his professional career began. During his tenure he delivered significant audience and commercial growth, strengthened the Centre’s national presenting partnerships and artistic profile, and led the vision, planning and early delivery of a new 2,000-seat lyric theatre in the nation’s capital, now under construction.

Alex’s international experience includes work in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe with Opera Australia, a year with the Royal Opera House, London managing the Paul Hamlyn Performances, and earlier international touring with Sydney Dance Company presenting Graeme Murphy’s works across Europe and the Americas.

He served for seven years on the Australian Government’s Playing Australia Committee, is a member of the Executive Council of Live Performance Australia, and previously served on the Executive Council of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres. Earlier in his career he was a founding member of Canberra’s chamber opera company, Stopera.

Music Director

Born in Verona in 1987, Andrea Battistoni is widely recognised as one of the most dynamic and internationally acclaimed conductors of his generation. His career took off in the mid-2000s, following early musical studies in cello and composition, and quickly led to debuts with major opera houses and orchestras worldwide. A breakthrough came in 2010 at the Verdi Festival in Parma with Attila, where his dramatic flair and musical insight earned both critical and public acclaim. In 2012, at just 24, he became the youngest conductor in the history of Teatro alla Scala, Milan, debuting with Le Nozze di Figaro and soon after leading the Filarmonica della Scala in symphonic repertoire.

Battistoni has conducted in many of the world’s leading venues, including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Semperoper Dresden, Royal Opera Stockholm, Sydney Opera House, Teatro San Carlo Naples, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Teatro Regio Turin, Arena di Verona, and the Opéra Bastille in Paris. His operatic repertoire spans Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Mozart, and beyond, with acclaimed productions such as Otello, Rigoletto, Aida, Carmen, Macbeth, Tosca, La Bohème, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Turandot.

On the symphonic stage, he has appeared with prestigious orchestras including the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Israel Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Tokyo Philharmonic. He has held prominent posts as First Guest Conductor of Teatro Regio di Parma (2010–2013), Principal Conductor of Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa (2013–2019), and since January 2025, Music Director of Teatro Regio in Turin, one of Italy’s most prestigious opera houses.

Director of Opera

Born in London, Amy Lane is an internationally recognised opera director and festival leader.

A former Head Staff Director at The Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden, she brings two decades’ experience spanning stage management, assistant, revival and associate direction, artistic planning, international casting and talent development.

Amy most recently served as Festival and Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival, where she expanded the festival to more than 120 events annually, built international artist networks and secured recognition through the Oper! Awards’ Best Future Project (2025).

Amy’s directing credits include a complete the Ring Cycle for Longborough Festival Opera — a notable achievement requiring sustained artistic vision across four consecutive seasons — as well as Faust, Romeo et Juliette and Gianni Schiacchi for Canadian Opera Company, La Cenerentola for the 2025 Bregenz Festival, and co-directed with Kasper Holten both Drot og Marsk for the Royal Danish Opera and Marco Polo in Guangzhou. She has also created concert productions including Falstaff and Tosca for Sir Bryn Terfel.

In demand for her creative vision and exceptional directing skills, Amy has worked in various roles with leading opera houses across Europe, including Royal Ballet and Opera Covent Garden, Royal Danish Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Polish National Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet and Semperoper Dresden.

She has created new productions for companies including Canadian Opera Company, Den Norske Opera, Det Kongelige Teater, Bregenz Festival and worked in houses across Europe, North America and Australia. She has also directed a complete the Ring Cycle at Longborough Festival Opera.

Amy has created works in English, Italian, French, Danish and German.

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.