Library Board Members
Members of the Library Board are appointed by the Governor in accordance with The Library Board of Western Australia Act 1951. The Board has up to 13 members including a Chairman and Vice Chairman. The CEO and State Librarian attends Board meetings as the Executive Officer.
Current members of The Library Board of Western Australia are:
Professor Matthew Allen (Chairman)
Cr Deb Hamblin (Vice Chairman)
Ms Kris Bizzaca
Cr Janet Davidson JP
Mr Brett Davies
Ms Imogen Garner
Ms Marie-Anne Keeffe
Ms Sue Lapham
Ms Allanah Lucas
Cr Giuseppe (Joe) Marino
Mr Michael D Murray
Dr Margaret J Nowak
Professor Matthew Allen (Chairman)
First appointed 2003
Term ends 2015
Professor Allen is currently the Head of Department, Internet Studies, at Curtin University of Technology. With a background in cultural studies and history, in 1999 Professor Allen established the Internet Studies program at Curtin, providing innovative education and research programs in this leading-edge field of study. Currently Matthew is engaged in doctoral supervision and research in the broad field of Internet Studies, with particular interests in the relationship between fast Internet access and people's sense of 'connectedness' to the world.
Professor Allen gained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the ANU in 1991 and also has a Master of Arts, Literature and Communication (Murdoch University), and a Bachelor of Arts, First Class honours in History (University of Sydney). In 2000 he received an Australian Award for University Teaching. He has also served as Associate Dean Teaching and Learning for the Division of Humanities (2003-2005) and as President of the International Association of Internet Researchers (2005-2007). In 2008 he was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Associate Fellowship for 2009.
Councillor Deb Hamblin (Vice Chairman)
First appointed 2007
Term ends 2015
Deb Hamblin manages the Rockingham Regional Campus Community Library. She has worked for Murdoch University, one of the joint-use library partners, since 1978 in a variety of roles. These have included positions outside libraries such as Manager Regional Development and Director Workplace Learning.
Deb is passionate about joint-use libraries and assists other Australian libraries investigate the opportunities that joint-use can offer. She has been a member of a variety of management boards including Kwinana Industries Education Partnership, Kolbe Catholic College, SCALES Legal Service, Peel Education and TAFE Campus and Murdoch University’s Academic Council. Deb is currently a local government Councillor with the City of Rockingham Council. She is also an Associate member of the Australian Library and Information Association.
Ms Kris Bizzaca
First appointed 2007
Kris Bizzaca is a professional historian and has worked as a consultant in Western Australia’s heritage industry since 1998. She has a Bachelor of Arts double-majoring in History and English and Comparative Literature, an Honours degree in History, and a Master of Arts degree in Public History.
Kris takes an active role in Western Australia’s history and heritage community and this is reflected in the positions she has held on various non-profit organisations including President of the Professional Historians Association (WA) (2003 – 2007). She continues to serve on the Management Committee of this professional body and also has associations with the Oral History Association of Australia (WA Branch) and the National Trust of Australia (WA).
Kris was a committee member of the Historical Records Rescue Consortium which, with the assistance of a $3 million grant from Lotterywest, recently completed a significant project to preserve and make accessible at-risk archival material held at the J S Battye Library of West Australian History.
Cr Janet Davidson JP
First appointed 2001
Term ends 2013
Janet Davidson is a business woman, consultant and Executive Officer to The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (WA). She is a Councillor for the City of Perth, holds a Master’s Degree in Management from the University of Western Australia and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Mrs Davidson is also a Justice of the Peace and a qualified teacher.
Councillor Davidson is Vice President (National and WA’s President) to ALGWA (Australian Local Government Women's Association), National Vice President to National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) and Executive member of the National Council of Women of Western Australia (NCWWA). She was appointed an Ambassador for the Year of the Outback and is on the WA Steering Group for Women on Boards. She is a member of the Perth Theatre Trust and the Australia Day Council.
Mr Brett Davies
First appointed 2009
Term ends 2013
Brett Davies was 15 years of age when he wrote his first book. At 16 Brett appeared on the front page of the Daily News as one of the youngest authors in Australia, however, this was bad news for the newspaper as he successfully sued them for misreporting - a fitting background for a lawyer.
Brett has three law degrees from The University of Western Australia and is one of only a handful of lawyers to have completed a Masters in Law in the area of tax, and a Masters of Business Administration in accounting and tax. He is currently completing his Doctorate at The University of Western Australia.
Brett founded Integrated Legal Holdings which was only the second law firm in the world to list on a stock exchange.
Brett has served as President of Friends of the Art Gallery and was more recently President of the Art Gallery Foundation.
With his primary school teacher wife, Angelina, they are avid supporters of education. Brett and Angelina have one child, Andrew, who at 3 years of age, is already a well versed user of the Western Australian public library system.
Ms Imogen Garner
First appointed 2007
Term ends 2015
Imogen Garner is the University Librarian at Curtin University of Technology and is a member of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Executive. She has also worked at The University of Western Australia Library, and for the Department of Education and Training as the Coordinator of the Curriculum Materials Information Service, and as a library advisor and in secondary schools as a teacher and teacher-librarian.
Imogen has held various positions in the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), including President in 2004-2005, Chair of the Board of Education and Member of General Council representing Western Australia. She was made a Fellow of the Association for her record of exceptional achievement and leadership in the field of library and information science in 2006. Her qualifications include a Masters in Education, a Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Management. She is an Associate Member of the Australian Library and Information Association.
Ms Marie-Anne Keeffe
First appointed 2011
Term ends 2015
Marie-Anne Keeffe is a strategic media consultant with a rare quality – extensive experience in television, radio and print. An award-winning journalist, she has worked as a producer and reporter on some of Australia’s top rating programs and has intimate knowledge of life behind and in front of the camera and microphone. Marie-Anne’s management and organisational skills and her extraordinary analytical ability saw her become the first female producer of Channel Seven’s primetime current affairs program, Today Tonight. Now as the Managing Director of Gobsmaked Media, Marie-Anne continues to create top rating television at Channel 7 as well as help Western Australian business people become media savvy through a highly effective system of key messaging for profile and profit. Her interest in the legal and ethical aspects of today’s media saw her become a mature aged student and take up a law degree and in 2009 she graduated from Murdoch University with honours. Consulting to leading Perth public relations companies, delivering entertaining and inspiring speeches, MC duties, facilitating and providing media commentary on news panels and forums are all in a day’s work for this married mother of two young boys who is also a long standing Board Director of Breast Cancer Care WA.
Ms Sue Lapham
First appointed 2008
Term indefinite (Ex Officio Dept of Education & Training)
Sue Lapham is currently General Manager, WestOne Services (WestOne) at DET. WestOne provides practical support to education and training practitioners through the development of, and access to, K-12 curriculum resources and vocational education and training learning materials. WestOne also publishes and manages intellectual property.
Sue has maintained her commitment to libraries, equitable access to information and reading and lifelong learning opportunities, in her second career in education and training. Sue has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Library Studies) and part completion of a Masters in Human Resources.
Ms Allanah Lucas
First Appointed 2007
Term (Ex Officio)
Allanah Lucas is the Director General of the Department of Culture and the Arts. She has over 25 years experience as a professional arts administrator, a performing arts producer, presenter and practitioner, researcher, consultant, and tutor. In the past eight years Allanah has worked within the Culture and Arts Portfolio, firstly as the Director of ArtsWA, as the Acting Director of the WA Museum in 2004 and then as Executive Director, Development and Strategy.
Councillor Giuseppe (Joe) Marino
First appointed 2004
Term ends 2015
Joe Marino is an accountant and is currently the Manager, Accounts Receivable and Revenue at the Shared Service Centre within the Department of Treasury and Finance. He has a close association with the State Library having established and worked as Manager of the Arts Portfolio Bureau Services from 1996-97. Joe has been a Councillor for the City of Swan from 1997-99, then 2001 to the present.
First appointed 2004
Term ends 2013
Mike Murray is an international management consultant specialising in strategic planning and performance improvement. After two decades of helping a wide range of complex organisations both locally and overseas he now consults to selected clients on a part-time basis.
An avid reader and a member of a number of local libraries Mike's interests embrace genealogy, history, politics, the sciences, music, writing and film-making. Mike has accounting qualifications, was a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
Dr Margaret Nowak
First appointed 2002
Term ends 2015
Margaret Nowak is an academic economist with interests in labour market economics and corporate governance. She was the founding Director of The Graduate School of Business, Curtin University of Technology, a position she held from 1993 to 2004. Margaret is currently a principal researcher in the Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Research Unit at the Graduate School. Margaret has served on several Government and community boards and committees including Princess Margaret Hospital Board in the 1980s. She was a Commissioner, Lotteries Commission of WA, from 1989-94 and Chair of the Gordon Reid Foundation for Youth, 1990-94. From 1991-1997 Professor Nowak was Chair of the Management Committee at the Fremantle Arts Centre. Aside from the Library Board Margaret is currently Chair of the Audit Committee, Department of Health, WA, and has served on that Committee since 2003. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Page last updated: Tuesday 13 March 2012
