Jason Smith is the Director and CEO of Geelong Gallery. In addition to leading the organisation, he has curated for Geelong major exhibitions of the work of Blanche Tilden, Jacky Redgate, John Wolseley and Mulkun Wirrpanda, and Fred Williams. He was previously Curatorial Manager of Australian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art; Director & CEO of Heide Museum of Modern Art; Director of Monash Gallery of Art; and from 1997-2007 was Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. Jason has individually and collaboratively curated 60 solo, group and thematic exhibitions including major surveys of the works of Howard Arkley, Peter Booth, Louise Bourgeois, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott and Stephen Benwell. He has written on the works of more than 150 artists for a range of publications. 
 

Craig Connelly is a former partner at Goldman Sachs JBWere (1993 to 2004) co-founder of the Ascot Fund, an Australian equities long/short fund (2004 to 2012) and the former Chief Executive Officer of The Ian Potter Foundation (2015 to 2023). Spanning approximately 30 years, Craig’s experience affords him a unique perspective when considering community and social investment.

Having joined Perpetual in March 2023, Craig has worked in two distinct roles. Firstly, to assist Perpetual’s philanthropic and not-for-profit clients think deeply about effective philanthropy, social impact, values and investment alignment and the role Perpetual can play to amplify social impact and social outcomes that benefits both our clients and Australian society more broadly. Secondly, to assist Perpetual’s Family Office clients manage their wealth journey as their own family develops and evolves.

Craig was recently announced as the incoming Chief Executive Officer of The Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, a role he is excited to start and to assist The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre continue to positively support and impact people’s lives.

Outside of Perpetual, Craig supports several charitable organisations, including as Patron of SANE Australia, as co-Chair of the Transforming Evidence Funders Network Advisory Group (Washington-based), as a member of the Australian living Evidence Collaboration Strategic Advisory Group and is a former trustee of the National Parks Conservation Trust, and a former Board member of Watertrust Australia Limited and SANE Australia.

John Dyson is one of the founders of Starfish Ventures, a Melbourne based venture capital manager. John has personally overseen and managed investments in a range of technologies and industries.

 Prior to the establishment of Starfish Ventures in 2001, John was the General Manager (Australia) of JAFCO Investment (Asia Pacific), a Singapore based private equity manager. Prior to joining JAFCO, John worked in the investment banking and stockbroking industries for Schroders, Nomura Securities, KPMG and ANZ McCaughan.

 John is a passionate alpine skier and is currently Chair of Snow Australia’s Victorian Interschools Advisory Group and is a former Chair of Mount Buller and Mount Stirling Alpine Resort Management Board, which oversaw the management of Victoria’s largest alpine resort. John is also a co-trustee of the Dyson Bequest, a $20M Charitable Foundation that provides grants to a range of social welfare, education and environmental causes. John is a board member of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. John is a former Chair of Swinburne Ventures Pty Ltd (the entity responsible for the commercialisation of technology for Swinburne University of Technology).

 John holds a Bachelor of Science from Monash University, a Graduate Diploma in Finance and Investment from Securities Institute of Australia, Masters of Business Administration from RMIT University and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. John attended the Stanford University Executive Program in 2010.​

From 1997 to 2002, John was a Director of the Australian Venture Capital Association Limited, including being Chair in 1999. John is currently a Director of Audinate Group Ltd, DesignCrowd, Echoview, Hearables 3D and MARP Therapeutics.

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Email:  john@starfishvc.com

Mobile:+61 419 343 364

Pam and her husband Lawry are donors funding the Lawrence and Pamela St. Leger PhD Scholarship in Deakin’s Faculty of Health. Initially the scholarship was to be a bequest. However, they decided they would like to test out how the scholarship might work and see the impact that it might have. Having enjoyed the journey with their first recipient, whose field of research is Health Literacy, and observed her success, they are funding a second scholarship beginning November 2024. This time the recipient’s field of research is Aboriginal Food Sovereignty. 

They also fund a small annual award at Cabrini Hospital in honour of Lawry’s mother. This enables a nurse to pursue further study or attend conferences. 

Pam is a retired academic from The University of Melbourne. Her field of research and teaching was program evaluation and education. 

Lawry is a retired professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Health at Deakin University. His field of research and teaching was public health and health promotion.