Board of Directors

Murray McLean has chaired the Foundation for Australia-Japan Studies since its establishment in 2014 and served as the Chair of the Australia Japan Foundation from 2012 to 2020. He is a Member of the Board of the Australia Japan Business Cooperation Committee and served as a special advisor on the preparation of the White Paper on "Australia in the Asian Century" during 2012. He was  a Vice Chancellor’s Professorial fellow at Monash University from 2012-2015 and a visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute of International Policy from 2014-2016. He is also Chairman of his family company Dunmore McLean Pty Ltd.

Prior to his retirement from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2012, Mr McLean held senior positions in the Department including Deputy Secretary. Much of his career was spent in the formulation of Australian policy towards Asia, with a particular focus on China, Japan and North Korea. A fluent Chinese speaker, he was posted to Australia’s Embassy in Beijing in 1973, serving there twice and in Shanghai as Consul General from 1987-1992.  In Canberra he was the Head of East Asia Branch and North Asia Division in DFAT. From 2002-2004, serving as a special ministerial envoy on North Korean nuclear matters, he visited North Korea on several occasions. In late 2004, he was posted as Australia’s Ambassador to Japan where he remained for almost seven years until August 2011. In Japan he was heavily engaged in advocating for a Free Trade Agreement with Japan and in building security cooperation between the two countries. He led Australia’s response to the events of March 11 2011 and following days, including the huge Tohoku earthquake and devastating tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster.

 Mr McLean was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day 2013 Honours list and in November 2014, Mr McLean was honoured by the Emperor of Japan with the appointment to the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

Jason Hayes is the leader of PwC’s Asia Pacific Japan Practice (ex Japan). In Australia he is supported by a team of 25 Japanese professionals situated across Australia covering the firm’s Deals, Assurance, Taxation and Consulting service offerings.  

Jason is a Financial Assurance Partner and has more than 29 years of international experience providing assurance and advisory services to companies in a wide variety of industry sectors. He has advised Japanese companies on IFRS, JSOX requirements, foreign listing requirements and he has extensive experience with financial due diligence and financial investigations in Australia and Japan.

Jason is the lead author of PwC’s “Japan Rebooted” series and is a regular commentator in the media and presenter at forums on Japanese trade and investment in Australia including seminars organized by PwC in conjunction with Asialink, JCCI and JETRO. Jason has spent 8 years on assignment with PwC in Japan and he is an active member of the Australia Japan Business Cooperation Committee.

Tim joined the Rio Tinto Group as joint company secretary of Rio Tinto Limited in January 2013 and has over 25 years’ experience in corporate counsel and company secretary roles, including at ANZ Bank, Mayne Group, Symbion Health and Skilled Group. Tim commenced his career as a solicitor in private practice and has also managed his own consulting company.

Professor Veronica L. Taylor is an international lawyer specializing in legal and institutional reform, with particular expertise in Japan. She is Professor of Law and Regulation in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University (ANU) and an Expert Advisor to the Regulatory Reform Division in the Australian Department of Finance. She was previously Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at ANU. She serves as a member of the Executive of the Australia-Japan Business Cooperation Committee (AJBCC).

Professor Jenny Corbett was the inaugural Rio Tinto Australia-Japan Collaboration Program, Professorial Fellow (2018-2021). She was hosted by the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

Professor Corbett has been an academic and researcher of the Japanese economy in Australia, at the Australian National University (ANU), and in the UK, at the University of Oxford. She has consulted for the Asian Development Bank, the OECD, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, on a range of macro-economic and financial issues relating to Japan and the Asian region. Jenny has held executive leadership positions at the Australian National University including Distinguished Professor of Economics, Director of the ANU Japan Institute, Head of the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training), Executive Director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre and Associate Dean (Research) in the College of Asia and the Pacific. She has also been a non-executive director in the not-for-profit sector. In 2014 Jenny was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon for services to the Australia-Japan relationship.

Following her tenure as the Australia-Japan Collaboration Program, Professorial Fellow, Jenny was appointed as a Project Professor at Tokyo College from April to July, 2021.