Board of Directors

Hon J.A.L. (Sandy) Macdonald

Chairman
Appointed: July 2008
Reappointed: October 2011, January 2014 and February 2018
Acting Chairman: November 2014 to February 2015

Qualifications
Bachelor of Laws (Sydney)
Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Biography
Mr Macdonald was appointed as a member of the Board in July 2008 and was appointed Chairman in February 2015. He has considerable public and private company experience. He was elected to the Australian Senate in 1993 and served multiple terms before retiring in 2008. His Parliamentary service includes eight years as Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, and periods as Deputy Leader of the National Party in the Senate, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and Parliamentary Secretary for Trade. He is a wool and beef producer near Quirindi (NSW).

Mr Barry Jackson

Managing Director
Appointed: May 2019

Qualifications
Quantity Surveyors Registration Board

Biography
Mr Barry Jackson joined DHA as Managing Director in May 2019. Barry came to DHA from the Department of Human Services where he held the position of Deputy Secretary, Service Delivery Operations. He previously held a number of roles in the department including Deputy Secretary, Shared Services and General Manager, Corporate Operations Division.

Barry’s public service career includes senior executive roles within the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In addition to his time in the public service, Barry has over 25 years’ experience in the private sector primarily in the areas of construction, property, strategic and business process management. Prior to re-joining the public service, Barry held the position of Chief Executive Officer for UGL Services Australia and New Zealand who were Australia’s largest provider of property management services.

Brigadier Leigh Wilton AM

Director
Appointed: December 2019

Qualifications
Master of Arts (Strategic Studies)
Master of Management
Bachelor of Business
Graduate Diploma in Information Systems
Graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College (ACSC)
Graduate of the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies (CDSS)
Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors course

Biography
Brigadier Wilton graduated from the Royal Military College to the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps in 1991. Her early appointments included regimental and staff positions as a supply officer and as a project manager. Brigadier Wilton’s command experience includes a posting as the Officer Commanding Supply Company, 7th Combat Service Support Battalion and being appointed as the inaugural Commanding Officer/Chief Instructor of the Army School of Ordnance. Brigadier Wilton has held a range of staff appointments at both Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel. She has held positions as the Senior Officer Manager within the Career Management Agency, directing Staff at both the ACSC and the CDSS, and as the Chief of Staff for Headquarters 633 – Afghanistan and Chief of Staff for Army Headquarters. Brigadier Wilton was appointed as the Director General Career Management – Army in 2019. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2018.

Mr Simon Lewis AO PSM

Director
Appointed: April 2019

Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts (Economics, Statistics)
Graduate Diploma of Computing Studies
Graduate Diploma in Strategic Studies
Completed Harvard and Wharton Business School’s Advanced Management Program

Biography
Mr Lewis was appointed to the Board as the nominee of the Department of Finance Secretary in April 2019. He has a long and distinguished career in the Australian Public Service spanning more than four decades, including a five-year term as the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs and senior roles at the Department of Defence and the Department of Finance. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019 for distinguished service to public administration, transformational change and organisational design. He was also awarded a Public Service Medal in 2007 for outstanding public service and the Centenary Medal in 2001 for his contribution to Australian society and government. His former board appointments include President of the Repatriation Commission, Chairman of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and a member of the ANZAC Centenary advisory board.

Ms Kate Louis

Director
Appointed: June 2020

Qualifications
Bachelor of Laws (1st Class Honours)
Bachelor of Arts

Biography
Ms Louis was appointed to the Board as the Secretary of Defence’s nominee in June 2020. She has 20 years’ experience in the Department of Defence including appointments as Director, Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary within the Capability Development Group. In 2014, Ms Louis was appointed as the Assistant Secretary White Paper Enterprise Management to develop industry related Defence policy including Shipbuilding and the Defence Industry Policy Statement. Ms Louis was the First Assistant Secretary Defence Industry Policy Division from November 2015. In this role she was responsible for the effective implementation of the Government’s approach to Defence Industry policy. Ms Louis joined the Australian Industry Group (AI Group) in August 2017 as the Executive Director of the AI Group Defence Council, and is now also Head of Industry Development. She is also a member of the Centre for Defence Industry Capability Advisory Board.

Hon Alan Ferguson

Director
Appointed: February 2015
Reappointed: February 2018

Biography
Mr Ferguson was appointed to the Board as a commercial director in February 2015. He was elected to the Australian Senate in 1992 and served three full terms before retiring in 2011. He served on a number of Senate and Joint Committees, including more than eight years as Chair of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. He also served as President of the Senate in 2007 and 2008, and represented the Parliament on many delegations. Before entering politics, he was a farmer and self-employed insurance consultant. He is currently chair of the Australian Political Exchange Council.

Mr Robert Fisher AM

Director
Appointed: February 2016
Re-appointed: February 2019

Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Education

Biography
Mr Fisher was appointed to the Board as a commercial director in February 2016. He had a distinguished 40-year career in the public service, including being a member of the Australian Trade Commissioner Service and Chief Executive Officer or Director General of various Western Australian government departments. He was Agent General for WA, based in London, from 2001 to 2006. He was one of five commissioners on the Australian Government’s National Commission of Audit in 2013–14. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2003 for service to the public sector in WA.

Ms Andrea Galloway

Director
Appointed: November 2016

Qualifications
Bachelor of Business Administration
Graduate of the Executive Program (University of Michigan)
Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
Justice of the Peace

Biography
Ms Galloway was appointed to the Board as a commercial director in November 2016. Ms Galloway has over 30 years of executive management experience for national and multinational commercial organisations, including leading Spherion, Lucent Technologies and AT&T in the Asia Pacific and South Pacific. She has been Chief Executive Officer of Evolve Housing, one of Australia’s largest community housing providers, since 2011. She was the national and NSW winner of the 2014 Telstra Business Women’s Award (Business Innovation category). She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Committee for Sydney, Vice President of the NSW Business Chamber—Western Sydney First and a member of the Advisory Board for The Salvation Army Australia—NSW, QLD and the ACT.

Mr Ewen Jones

Director
Appointed: December 2016

Biography
Mr Jones was appointed to the Board as a commercial director in December 2016. Mr Jones was elected as the Federal Member for Herbert, an electorate in Townsville (QLD), in 2010 and served until 2016. He was a member of several House of Representatives Standing Committees and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. He was Government Whip from October 2015 to May 2016. He is an auctioneer by trade, with a strong real estate and corporate finance background. He is currently Director of All Points North Advisory Pty Ltd and a member of the National Film and Sound Archive Australia Board.