The Board

AusHeritage is managed by a Board of Directors comprising:

Vinod Daniel
Chair
Roger Beeston
Deputy Chair
Peter Romey
Deputy Chair
Heather Brown
Deputy Chair
Graham Ormsby
Treasurer
Penny Tripp
Secretary
Keir Reeves
Director
Alexandra Marsden
Director
David Huxtable
Director

Vinod Daniel

Chair

Vinod Daniel is the Chairman of the Board for AusHeritage, Vice Chairman of the International Council of Museums-Committee for Conservation, President of the Board for the Australian operations of the Centre for Environmental Education, Director of Brien Holden Vision (India) Pvt Ltd, CEO of India Vision Institute, CEO of IndHeritage Pvt Ltd and CEO of Daniel Heritage Services Pvt Ltd.

He was a Board Member of the Australia India Council (part of the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade) for the period 2005-2011, Head of Cultural Heritage and Science Initiatives Branch at the Australian Museum (2004-2011), Head of Centre for Material Conservation and the Built Environment (1996-2004) and a Senior Fellow at the Getty Conservation Institute (1991-1995)

He has a Masters Degrees in Chemistry from the Texas Christian University and Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney (2011), Adjunct Professional Associate at the University of Canberra (2005-07) and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University (2005-07)

He was awarded the 2009 Indo-Australian Award for Meritorious Service by the Indo Australian Association and the 2011 International Relations Award by the International Council of Museums (Australia). He has worked on projects in over forty countries, published and presented over 70 professional papers and has been regularly interviewed by the media especially in India.

 

Roger Beeston 

Deputy Chair

Roger Beeston is the founding director of the award winning, Melbourne-based private practice, RBA Architects + Conservation Consultants, which was established in 1994. Roger has been a member of AusHeritage since 1998 and a Board member and Deputy Chair for over 8 years, during which time he has participated in several missions, including to India, Myanmar, Brunei and China.

Roger is a Registered Architect and an Associate of the Australian Institute of Architects(AIA) where he has served as a Jury Chair and Member for the AIA Awards, as well as being a past recipient of the AIA John George Knight Award for Heritage Architecture on multiple occasions. Roger is also a long standing member of The Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand, the National Trust of Australia and Australia ICOMOS and served for several years on the Cultural Heritage Academic Advisory Board at Deakin University, Geelong.

With over 20 years experience as a conservation architect and heritage management consultant, Roger has worked on a wide variety of heritage places, including lighthouses, railway stations, town halls, hospitals, goals, large scale and modest residences and entire municipalities. Past projects have involved sites ranging in scale from Melbourne’s famous late 20th century Vault sculpture through to the major refurbishment works at Parliament House of Victoria. By continuing to engage in the contemporary building industry as well as the field of heritage conservation and management, Roger has acquired detailed expertise in traditional and new building technologies, enabling him to develop authentic and sustainable remedial conservation strategies.

 

Peter Romey

Deputy Chair

Peter Romey is a partner at Godden Mackay Logan, Australia’s largest heritage consulting firm. Peter has more than 30 years working in the heritage conservation field, both as a consultant and in government. He joined GML in 2006 and became a Partner in 2008. From 1999 to 2006 he was Director, Conservation and Infrastructure at the Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania, responsible for the application of best practice conservation methodology in conserving a cultural site which has now been inscribed on the World Heritage List as a component of the Australian Convict Sites serial listing. From 1992 until 1999 he was the Planning Manager (Heritage) at the City of Sydney, responsible for the development of strategic heritage planning as well as the provision of advice to the Council in regard to significant development projects within Central Sydney. Peter’s previous roles include Senior Heritage Specialist and Acting Deputy Manager at the NSW Heritage Branch and as an architect in private practice.

Peter’s skills include the resolution of heritage issues and the development of practical solutions for major redevelopment proposals for both urban and rural sites. He has expertise in the significance assessment and management of heritage buildings and places, including the preparation of conservation management plans, heritage studies and heritage impact statements. He also appears as an expert witness at the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Peter is a former Vice President of Australia ICOMOS, currently a member of the Australia ICOMOS National Executive Committee, and is the Convenor of the Editorial Committee of Historic Environment, the journal of the organisation.

 

Heather Brown

Deputy Chair
Dr Heather Brown has a dual role as an Assistant Director at Artlab Australia, one of Australia’s leading conservation organisations, and as Education and Sector Standards Librarian at the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). She also delivers lectures to students in the Library and Information Management program at the University of South Australia on aspects of digital and physical preservation management. More broadly, she has delivered presentations and training on preservation issues to colleagues across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India.
 
Heather’s research interests are in the interrelationships between physical and digital preservation and in an integrated approach to disaster management of physical and digital collections. She has co-authored the ALIA disaster management guide and template plan  that provide a flexible framework for integrated collections disaster management.
 
Heather has an enduring interest in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage, having travelled widely across India since 1990. She has a special interest and long-standing experience in the preservation of India’s extensive manuscript and documentary heritage collections that are found across India’s libraries, archives, museums and other public and private collections.
 
 

Graham Ormsby

Treasurer
Graham Ormsby is the founder of Ormsby Design Group (ODG), an organization of multi disciplinary international experts working together in the built environment. Graham specialises in providing clients throughout the world with culturally sensitive solutions integrating the many professions required for appropriate design outcomes. With over 40 years of international experience in heritage work and museum design ODG is based in Australia, Thailand and India.
 
Having worked on the restoration and refurbishment of some of the UK’s most culturally significant heritage items such as St Giles’ Cathedral Edinburgh and a number of National Trust of Scotland properties, Graham’s expertise has also been used in the development of heritage projects in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. In New Zealand, ODG has undertaken the master planning of one of New Zealand’s most significant Maori heritage sites at Whakatane. Graham also undertook the master planning of a 2km long cultural development attached to the Cultural Centre of the Philippines. In Palestine, he worked on the restoration and adaptive re-use of 2 palaces as part of Bethlehem University Mount David campus.  
 
Graham’s experience in museum design includes the architecture, interiors and specialized planning of exhibitions. In the Philippines, ODG was commissioned to design a contemporary museum within the ruins of a church to house Intramuros Administration’s significant ecclesiastical collection. The privately owned Ayala Museum in Manila includes the world’s most important national collection of pre Spanish gold, Filipino textiles and Asian ceramics. Currently ODG is working on a new museum and excavation building in Gujarat, India – showcasing one of India’s most significant cultural excavations, showing 8 layers of ongoing civilization over 2500 years.  
 
 

Penny Tripp

Secretary
Penny is a cultural collections and engagement specialist with over 20 years experience in the heritage and creative industries. She has worked in state and regional cultural organisations throughout Australia managing the care and exhibition of collections and delivered community engagement initiatives at heritage places such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Federation Square, Old Melbourne Gaol and Flemington Racecourse. She specialises in the delivery of innovative programs and infrastructure to support heritage collections and has senior executive experience in project management, operations, marketing and commercial growth. Penny has managed large infrastructure redevelopments, major event and exhibition programming, collection relocations and conservation programs, fundraising campaigns, partnership programs, membership and consumer sales for tourist attractions, heritage properties, museums and major international sporting events.
 
Penny is the former General Manager Club Services (Commercial) for Victoria Racing Club; Director of Commercial Operations and Marketing for National Trust of Australia (Victoria); and is currently General Manager in the Faculty of Arts at The University of Melbourne, managing the strategic and commercial operations of the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation’s commercial arm – Grimwade Conservation Services. In her current role she manages at team of specialist conservators in the research, teaching and conservation of objects, paintings, textiles and other cultural material for museums, galleries and private collectors from around the world.
 
 

Keir Reeves

Director

Professor Keir Reeves currently holds a research chair of at Federation University Australia and the foundation director of the Collaborative Research Centre in Australian History (CRCAH). Keir is a trustee of the Museum of Chinese Australian History and has also previously served on the board Member Goldfields Tourism Inc. He recently served as the Historian Member of the Heritage Council of Victoria for two terms and was the Chair of the Victorian Maritime Heritage Advisory Committee, July 2009 – June 2015. Other key service to the profession included acting as an Australian Research Council Assessor in heritage, history, historical archaeology and tourism disciplines, member of the board of Australian Historical Studies, Public Records Office Victoria stakeholders committee member and a member of the Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage International Network.

Keir’s previous principal teaching and research positions have been at the University of Melbourne and Monash and have been in cultural heritage, cultural tourism and Australian History. Professional positions include an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellowship Industry at the University of Melbourne, a five year Monash fellowship (later senior Monash Fellowship) as well as Chief Investigator roles on four ARC Projects. He has also been Visiting Fellow to Clare Hall Cambridge, a Visiting Researcher at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, a Senior Rydon Fellow and Bicentennial Fellowships at King’s College London and a pre-doctoral visiting fellowship at Green College, UBC, Canada.

 

 

Alex Marsden

Director

Alex is the Principal of Alex Marsden Cultural Services. She is a strategic designer, arts and cultural policy expert, and cultural advocate and adviser. She has a diverse background in public policy, strategic thinking and cultural heritage management, linked by a primary focus on people, culture and values. Trained as an historian, she has worked in museums, the non-government sector, heritage agencies and key national public policy departments, including 8 years at the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). She has tertiary qualifications in history and museum studies, and holds a Masters of Management from the ANU.

From 2015 to 2020, she served as National Director of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA), the national membership association and peak industry body, where she designed and delivered major national projects on digital access to culture, and the ground-breaking 10-year Roadmap to radically improve Indigenous participation and representation in the sector. Her publications cover numerous presentations, reports and submissions to Inquiries.

After almost six years in the role, and having successfully led AMaGA during COVID-19, Alex stepped down at the end of 2020 to contribute in different ways to cultural policy and practice throughout the region. She is a Board member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Australia and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra’s Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis (IGPA).

Alex’s expertise lies in cultural policy advice and development, museum and heritage practice, negotiation and advocacy, organisational leadership and strategic planning, and workshop development and facilitation.

 

 

David Huxtable

Director

David Huxtable is the Director of LookEar Pty Ltd. He has worked in the natural and cultural heritage interpretation sector for more than twenty five years throughout Australia and internationally.

Throughout this time, David has focused on developing inventive interpretation that establishes a structure between a site, its significance, its stories and the people who visit it. This involves careful and thorough interpretive planning and design, combined with an enthusiasm to foster new and innovative approaches.

David’s skills in heritage interpretive planning and design include concept development and research, creating succinct and engaging interpretive presentations from complex material, utilising both tangible and intangible objects in interpretive exhibition design, and utilising all forms of media to present the interpretive stories. David has extensive experience in communicating these ideas with key stakeholders and receiving their input, including several projects involving close consultation with local Aboriginal communities.

 

Robyn Riddett

Director