Our Board

Phil is a Civil Engineer whose career commenced with Alcoa in Kwinana before he moved to Shell where he had a 20-year career in Australia and around the world and was Downstream Director for Shell Australia for his last 3 years. This was followed by a 5-year stint as CEO of Coogee Chemicals in Kwinana and then as Managing Director of New Standard Energy Limited, a junior listed oil and gas explorer based in Perth. Most recently, Phil ran the Australian operations for global company Tianqi Lithium.

In addition to his “day jobs” Phil has chaired a number of large Not For Profit organisations over the past 15 years. He is currently Chair of the Chamber of Arts & Culture WA.

Jane is the Partner In Charge of KPMG’s Perth Audit practice where she has been a Partner since 2016. She is a member of the KPMG Local Executive Committee and a member of their National Audit leadership group.

With over 20 years’ experience as a chartered accountant, including 3 years as Financial Controller for Sony Music in the UK, Jane brings significant, relevant experience to the Board gained from her time working in the UK, Melbourne, Singapore and now Perth.

Jane builds impactful relationships with boards and senior management and her experience covers a range of industries – from music to mining and everything in between - agriculture, aged care and education, both commercial businesses and not-for-profit organisations. Drawing on her own commercial experience, career as an HMV record store manager, sales and marketing background working for EMI records in London and a number of different leadership roles, Jane brings a unique skillset to the Board.

Jane is a graduate of the AICD Company Directors Course and their Director Pipeline Program and a mentor for Perth Mentor Walks.

Julian is Chief Executive Officer of the National Trust of Western Australia. Julian’s mission is to connect West Australians to their diverse natural and cultural heritage by illuminating the heritage values of National Trust places with stories and events. Through the National Trust’s activation program, Julian’s team manages the preservation of the significant places under the Trust’s care for future generations to enjoy.

Before joining the National Trust Julian was the Chief Executive of the Perth International Arts Festival. During his tenure with Perth Festival, the festival grew its audience, artistic influence, reputation, community reach, and won substantial increases in sponsorship and funding. Throughout the time Julian led the Perth Festival the community enjoyed a richly textured festival under several artistic directors, each of whom delivered a different and innovative programming intent.

A highlight for the community was Julian’s leadership in winning support and funding to achieve the long-held ambition to bring Royal Deluxe’s ’The Giants’ to Perth in 2015. The successful and multi-award-winning co-presentation of REST with WA Youth Theatre Company at East Perth Cemeteries in the 2019 Fringe Festival spoke to Julian’s ambition to invoke a valued sense of our heritage through a marriage of creativity and place.

Julian brings broad experience in governance and management in both the cultural and commercial sectors.

Paul McQueen is a graduate in commerce and law from the University of Western Australia. In addition, Paul holds a Master degree of Law (conferred with Distinction).

Paul was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1990 and admitted to the High Court in 1991.

Paul commenced his legal career at Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper) and became a partner of that firm in 1997. In 2015, Paul was one of the founding partners of Lavan Legal and was appointed to the position of General Counsel in 2019. Paul remains a partner of the firm and his main area of interest and expertise is planning and environment, as well as more generally, administrative law. Paul’s practice involves appearance work, on brief from within Lavan and external firms as counsel in the SAT, the Supreme Court and Federal Court, as well as in the High Court.

In terms of community involvement, Paul is a:

1. former visiting lecturer at the University of Western Australia Law School;

2. immediate past Chairman of the UDIA EnviroDevelopment Board (and former State Councillor); and

3. Honorary fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia.

Dominique is currently the Chief Executive of Leadership WA, a not-for profit leadership development organisation which seeks to build a better WA through courageous leadership.

Her career spans a range of large and small agencies across federal and state government, including elite sport, science, zoos, food, cemeteries and central government. She holds an Executive Masters in Public Administration, a Bachelor of Arts with language majors (French, German and English) and a Graduate Diploma in Marketing. Dominique is a Fellow of Leadership WA’s Signature Program, and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2016 Dominique was named as Leadership WA’s "Distinguished Fellow" and in 2020 she was a WA State Finalist in the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

Her professional commitment to supporting culture and the arts in WA is to ensure that art and music has been a key feature of over 5 years of Leadership WA leadership development programs, ensuring that current and future WA leaders gain greater insights into the value of music and art in our community and particularly for Perth Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a speaker for the Women on the Podium Initiative.

In 2022 she completed the Hawaiian Ride for Youth, cycling over 700kms from Albany to Perth to raise funds for Youth Focus which supports youth mental health and suicide prevention and raising over $17 000.

Dominique doesn’t like sitting still for long and greatly values that Perth Symphony Orchestra seeks to bring showcase music in WA in unique, inspiring and most importantly highly accessible ways – sharing the evocative joy that music can create and its ability to lift spirits and connect all members of the community. Perth Symphony Orchestra’s philosophy of “breaking the rules” to bring people together through music, aligns with Dominique’s own personal drive to “connect good people to do good things”.

Mark brings over fifteen years of extensive experience in political campaigning and strategic planning.

Throughout his career, he has been integral to both state and national campaigns for a variety of organisations. He served as Strategic Advisor and later Strategic Director to Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan from 2017 to 2022. As the head of ‘Anacta Strategies’ Perth office, Mark offers unparalleled insight into navigating the complexities of the political and policy-making landscape.

Mark’s passion for music and belief in the importance of culture and the arts in enriching communities position him as a valuable addition to Perth Symphony’s leadership team. His involvement will support the continued success and development of PSO’s mission to bring orchestral music to audiences across Western Australia.

Described as ‘Incandescent… a masterly display of skill and insight… as an apologist for contemporary music-making, you would search hard to find this young clarinettist’s equal’ (The Age), clarinettist Ashley William Smith is an internationally demanded clarinet soloist and chamber musician. Ashley is a laureate of several the Australian industry’s most prestigious prizes including the APRA Performance of the Year, the Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellowship, an ABC Symphony International Young Performer Award, and a Churchill Fellowship.

Ashley has performed throughout Australia, the USA, Europe and Asia in performances with Bang on a Can, the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, the Kennedy Center, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, and IRCAM. As a soloist and director he has performed alongside several international and Australian orchestras. His performance of Lachlan Skipworth’s Clarinet Concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra was awarded the APRA 2015 Performance of the Year.

Ashley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Western Australia where he is the Head of Winds and Contemporary Performance. A graduate of Yale University, the University of Western Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music, Ashley was awarded the highest honours as the most outstanding performance graduate of each institution.

Ashley is passionate about fitness and in 2019 competed in Melbourne as a national finalist in the Australian Allstar CrossFit Masters.

After establishing a career in senior Human Resources and Industrial Relations roles, Heather founded and grew a successful people and culture business for over 20 years consulting to a wide and diverse range of industries in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors from Health to Financial Services, Mining and Indigenous Corporations.

Working with Boards, CEOs and Executives, Heather has demonstrated capabilities in helping business leaders cultivate positive culture through practical guidance and support – including coaching individuals and teams, and building internal structure, systems and skills.

The unprecedented pace of change in our world has presented all organisations with significant challenges, the global pandemic adding a new level. Heather’s strategic and practical expertise in change management has been sought out by many organisations across all sectors to successfully navigate the changes and minimise risk to business culture and profitability including Qld and NSW state government departments.

Recognising the impact of mental health in workplaces, Heather worked with a private health service provider to develop a market first Employee Assistance Program “App” to support the company’s EAP offer to corporate clients.

Heather sold her business in early 2022 and continues to use her extensive experience to support small to medium enterprises and ‘For Purpose’ organisations with coaching and related professional services.