Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Professor Glyn Davis AC is Secretary to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Prior to his appointment, Professor Davis served as Chief Executive Officer of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia's largest philanthropic trust. From 2005 to 2018 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University and Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He held postgraduate appointments as a Harkness Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Brookings Institution in Washington, and the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard and holds emeritus roles at universities around the world. Davis has made significant contributions to higher education as chair of the global network of leading international universities Universitas 21, and as chair of Group of Eight Universities in Australia and Universities Australia. He served as Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Premier and Cabinet and was Foundation Chair of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. His community work includes partnering with First Nations programs in the Goulburn–Murray Valley and Cape York, and serving on a range of arts boards, including Opera Australia and the Queensland and Melbourne theatre companies. In 2010, Davis delivered the Boyer Lectures on the theme ‘The Republic of Learning: Higher education transforms Australia’.

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC is the 30th Governor of Victoria. Prior to her appointment as Governor, Professor Gardner was the President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University (2014–23) and RMIT University (2005–14) and held senior positions at the University of Queensland and Griffith University. After attaining a first-class honours degree in economics and a PhD in industrial relations from the University of Sydney, Gardner was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and University of California, Berkeley. Gardner is the former chair of the Group of Eight Universities in Australia, Universities Australia, Museums Victoria, the CASE Asia-Pacific Regional Council, the Strategic Advisory Committee and the Expert Panel of the Office of Learning and Teaching, and former director of Infrastructure Victoria and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. She has also been a member of other boards and committees, including the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, the ANZAC Centenary Advisory Board and the International Education Advisory Committee, which led to the Chaney Report. In 2020 Gardner was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for her eminent service to tertiary education through leadership and innovation in teaching and learning, research and financial sustainability.

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017
© Jacqueline Mitelman