Dr Lehmann is a leading voice in the Australia-China education and research relationship and has published widely on China-Australia’s education relationship. She speaks regularly at conferences and symposia about international education and China-Australia higher education ties.  Dr Lehmann is the Head of Research at The Lygon Group. She also holds the position of Vice President of the Australia China Business Council’s Australian Capital Territory branch and has previously worked with Universities Australia in Canberra. Dr Lehmann was awarded a PhD in sociology from the Australian National University. 

Emeritus Professor Carter AM was formerly Professor of Australian Literature and Cultural History and Director of the Australian Studies Centre at the University of Queensland. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is a Guest Professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, and was Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Tokyo University in 2007-8 and 2016-7. Professor Carter was Manager of the Australia-China Council's Australian Studies in China program (2002-2016), and served as a Board member of the Australia-Japan Foundation (1998-2004). Recent books include Australian Books and Authors in the American Marketplace (Sydney University Press 2018) and Modern Australian Criticism and Theory, edited with Wang Guanglin (China Ocean University Press 2010).

Professor John Dewar AO is the Vice-Chancellor and President of La Trobe University, a position he has held since January 2012. Professor Dewar is currently a Director of the Board of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and of the Committee for Melbourne. He is also Adjunct Professor in the La Trobe Law School and an Honorary Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. Professor Dewar has deep expertise in family law.

Ms. Gao is the Executive Director of the Foundation, having served as the Company Secretary and a Director since its establishment. She is a senior executive at SMC, a Singapore-based tech company delivering sustainable, cost-effective AI computing. Prior to this, Ms. Gao held senior positions at a few Sydney-based companies, including boutique corporate advisory firms, primarily advising on cross-border M&A transactions, and an infrastructure developer of an integrated port, rail, and mine project in Western Australia. She received the Australia China Council’s “High Commendation” in Translation for her Chinese translation of the book Paint Me Black, Memories of Croker Island and other Journeys, by Indigenous author Claire Henty-Gilbert, in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded Austrade’s Beryl Wilson Scholarship for Women in International Business. Ms. Gao earned a master’s degree in international business from Macquarie University.

Ms. Cathryn Hlavka has a diverse international career in the areas of education, science and research relations, foreign and trade policy, development assistance, and cultural relations. Most recently she was the senior diplomatic education representative, Minister Counsellor, in the Australian Embassy in Beijing responsible for the strategic positioning of Australia's education and research interests in China. Other diplomatic posts also include Counsellor in the Australian Consulate General in Shanghai, the Australian Embassy in Tokyo and First Secretary in the Australian Embassy and Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Vienna.

She has been actively involved with the development of Australian Studies in China, and in promoting the study of China and Chinese language and culture in Australia since the late 1980's including through her roles as Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of New South Wales (2010-2012) and Director of the Australia-China Council secretariat (1992-1996). To mark the 40th anniversary of Australia-China diplomatic relations she commissioned the bilingual publication Expanding our Horizons, Australia and China 40 Years of exchange and collaboration in education, research and science, a survey of people and programs that have made a significant contribution to the bilateral relationship.

Mr. Hobgood-Brown AM was the Chairman of the Foundation after serving as the Foundation's first Managing Director. He also serves as the Managing Director of HHK Advisory, a corporate advisory firm that provides strategic corporate advice on resource transactions. Previously, Mr. Hobgood-Brown was the Group Executive and General Counsel for Sino Gold Mining Limited. He has over 30 years of management and legal experience in the Asia Pacific region and has been based in Sydney since 1996. He was one of a small group of international lawyers to work in Beijing in the early 1980's. Mr. Hobgood-Brown was an international law firm partner for 18 years, in which capacity he had postings in Beijing, San Francisco, Taipei and Sydney. He handled investment projects throughout China and in almost all of Australia's major Asian trading partners. Mr. Hobgood-Brown was the Deputy Chairman of the Australian government's eight-member Australia-China Council from 2006 to 2012. He was the Chairman of the Australia China Business Council from 2005 to 2008, having served on the Board of Directors of the ACBC since 1999. He is a member of the Panel of Advisors to the China Studies Centre of Sydney University. Mr. Hobgood-Brown is a member of the Global Council of the Asia Society and taught at the Law School of Beijing University from 1983 to 1987.

Warwick Smith is Senior Managing Director of the ANZ Banking Group; chairman of the Advisory Board of the Australian Capital Equity, holders of interests in Seven Group Holdings, West Australian Newspapers, Coates Hire, WesTrac and Caterpillar industrial services and equipment in Western Australia, New South Wales and North East China; chairman of the Australia-China Council, global trustee of the Asia Society and chairman of the Asia Society in Australia; and chairman of the Flagship Property Group. Formerly, he was chairman of E*TRADE and the Australian Sports Commission; an executive director with Macquarie Bank; and a federal government minister with a parliamentary career spanning 15 years. He was also Australia's first telecommunications ombudsman and has received a Centenary Medal and an Order of Australia.

David Walker AM is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, and an Emeritus Professor at Deakin University. From 2013 to 2016 he was the inaugural BHP Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University, Beijing. He holds Visiting Professorships at Beijing Foreign Studies University and Renmin University of China. David Walker AM is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is a Member of the Order of Australia. His latest book Stranded Nation. White Australia in an Asian Region was published in March 2019.

Mr Tony Fittler is a Partner at HLB Mann Judd with over 25 years experienced as a taxation practitioner. His expertise includes corporate taxation compliance, funds management, international services and more. Mr Fittler is appointed as the Company Secretary of the Foundation in November as a representative of HLB Mann Judd, a well-known accounting and business advisory group.

Emeritus Professor Mark Wainwright served as the inaugural Chairman of the Foundation from 2011 to 2015. Professor Wainwright had held a number of senior positions in the research and higher education sectors in both Australia and overseas. He was the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of New South Wales from April 2004 to June 2006 and Chair of the Australia-China Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2006 to 2011. In 2000 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society in research policy and management and engineering education. In 2004, Professor Wainwright was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to chemical engineering as a researcher and academic, and to tertiary education.

Ms. Lowe is the Operations Manager of the Foundation, joining in February 2018. Stephanie is an experienced manager and community leader with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit sector. She also has extensive managerial experience in the business travel industry in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China where she demonstrated her strategic planning and marketing skills. Stephanie has previously held roles in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations between 2006-2008.

She is passionate about volunteering and contributing to the community, especially in disadvantaged women and children, disability and poverty in developing countries.