The Conversation
  • Academic rigour, journalistic flair
  • For curious minds
  • Expert news and views
  • Debate and ideas
  • From the curious to the serious

Our Team and Boards

Management   Back to Top

Andrew Jaspan

Andrew Jaspan

Editor

Andrew co-founded The Conversation. He previously edited The Age, The Observer (London), The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday. He was Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue (London), and he founded and edited the Sunday Herald in Scotland. He is the Asia-Pacific Director for Innovation Media.

Jack Rejtman

Jack Rejtman

General Manager

Jack co-founded The Conversation. He previously led product strategy for the Yahoo! News 2008 Election site, worked as a digital strategy consultant and covered technology, business, crime and corruption as a columnist and staff writer at The Miami Herald and The Tampa Tribune.

Michael Morris

Michael Morris

Technical Director

Michael helped take The Conversation from concept to a working site, recruiting and leading our development team. Previously, he founded Nerds For Hire - acomputer repairs service, which was acquired by Gizmo in 2006.

Misha Ketchell

Misha Ketchell

Managing Editor

Misha most recently worked as a researcher and producer on ABC TV’s Media Watch. Previously he was editor of Crikey and The Big Issue (Australia) and a reporter for The Age.

Lisa Watts

Lisa Watts

Commercial Director

Lisa joins The Conversation after two years as CEO of ArtsHub, the leading news and jobs site for the creative arts industry. Her commercial career includes four years leading the Mycareer business for Fairfax Digital. If you would like to support or partner with us to grow The Conversation, Lisa would be delighted to hear from you.

Editorial   Back to Top

Helen Westerman

Helen Westerman

Section Editor: Business + Economy

Helen has covered news, business and finance for The Age newspaper and was the small business online editor for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Gillian Terzis

Gillian Terzis

Deputy Section Editor: Business + Economy

Gillian holds a Commerce/Arts degree from the University of Melbourne. She has worked as a sub-editor at Pagemasters and the Fairfax Community Network and was a reporter at The Jakarta Post. She has also written for The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Economist and The Atlantic.

Jane Rawson

Jane Rawson

Section Editor: Energy + Environment

Jane joined The Conversation from the Victorian Department of Transport, where she was developing sustainable transport policy. She has previously written for Raising Children Australia and for Lonely Planet, where she also managed the company’s online communities.

Matthew Thompson

Matthew Thompson

Sydney Editor and Section Editor: Energy + Environment

Matthew is the author of the nonfiction bestseller, My Colombian Death, and a former reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald. He has a doctorate in literary journalism and teaches long-form journalism and newswriting, most recently at the University of NSW’s postgraduate communications school.

Rory Cahill

Rory Cahill

Section Editor: Politics + Society

Rory worked as a senior political journalist for six years in Scotland before returning to his native Australia in 2010. He has also written for publications including Crikey and the Sunday Mirror.

Megan Clement

Megan Clement

Deputy Section Editor: Politics + Society

Megan recently graduated from a Graduate Diploma in journalism. In 2010, she worked as a social media correspondent for The Age. She has written for The Fairfax Community Network and produced content for SBS World News Australia.

Bella Counihan

Bella Counihan

Deputy Section Editor, Canberra: Politics + Society

Bella graduated with a degree in political science and history from ANU in 2009 and has been working as a researcher for the Age's political editor, Michelle Grattan, since the 2007 federal election campaign. She also wrote a weekly column for the National Times website and has had articles published in the Saturday Age, the Age and on Fairfax digital websites.

Sunanda Creagh

Sunanda Creagh

News Editor

Before joining The Conversation as News Editor, Sunanda Creagh worked for two years as a political and general news correspondent in the Reuters Jakarta bureau. Prior to that, she worked for five years as a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered general news, urban affairs, arts, features and sport. She also produced and presented a show for Sydney community radio station, 2SER fm.

Paul Dalgarno

Paul Dalgarno

Section Editor: Science + Technology

Paul was a senior features writer and columnist for The Herald and Sunday Herald in Scotland, where he was also deputy weekend features editor. He moved to Australia in 2010.

Matt de Neef

Matt de Neef

Deputy Section Editor: Science + Technology

Matt completed a Graduate Diploma in Journalism at La Trobe University in 2010. He has written for The Age’s Green Guide, the National Times, Crikey and The Punch and was co-editor of upstart magazine in the final semester of his degree. Since graduating, Matt has worked in the La Trobe University Media & Communications team producing podcasts and writing media releases.

Fronscesca Jackson-Webb

Fronscesca Jackson-Webb

Section Editor: Health + Medicine

Fron joined The Conversation from the Australian Medical Association, where she managed the Victorian media office. She previously worked for BBC Magazines in London and Melbourne consultancy Twenty20 Communications.

Reema Rattan

Reema Rattan

Section Editor: Health + Medicine

Reema has worked in the research sector in Sydney and Melbourne, most recently at The Florey Neurosciences Institute. She previously worked as a sub-editor at The Korea Times and the International Herald Tribune's local supplement in Seoul.

Development   Back to Top

Justin Morris

Justin Morris

Chief Designer

Since graduating in Multimedia Systems & Programming from Monash University, Justin has worked with a range of leading Melbourne digital agencies, and several high-profile clients including Origin Energy & The Walkley Foundation. He is passionate about creating distinct, usable and functional user interfaces.

Ben Hoskings

Ben Hoskings

Head of Systems Engineering

Ben is the author of babushka, a tool for quickly writing, sharing, and combining recipes to automate computing chores. He has just recently launched corkboard.cc, a very simple and secure way of sharing large files online.

Michael Koukoullis

Michael Koukoullis

Interaction Specialist

Michael has a broad range of experience in software development from building successful software companies like Agency Rainford to crafting beautiful applications like splitpostage.com.

Gus Gollings

Gus Gollings

Vice President, Engineering

Gus has recently worked as a researcher at RMIT University and as a programmer with several prominent local development teams. He has presented his academic work alongside central figures in the web community including the inventor of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

James Healy

James Healy

Project Manager, Integration

James studied software engineering at Swinburne University. Since then he has worked on researching network protocols and developing websites for several Australian companies and community groups.

Josh Bassett

Josh Bassett

Critical Systems Design

A UNSW alumnus, Josh enjoys applying a CompSci rigour to all manners of problems. Prior to joining The Conversation he worked on several large projects including the New Zealand Stock Exchange, the Clear Grain Exchange and the WordPress iPhone app.

Gareth Townsend

Gareth Townsend

Principal Scope Evangelist

Founder of Melbourne Cocoa Heads, graduating with distinctions in Computer Science (Software Engineering) from RMIT University, Gareth has previously worked with Clear Interactive and the New Zealand Stock Exchange as a senior Ruby developer and user interaction specialist.

Finance and Operations   Back to Top

Daniel Thomson

Daniel Thomson

Business Manager

Daniel studied Commerce and Business Management at University of Queensland and most recently was volunteering in Vanuatu as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, working with and tutoring local staff in accounting and office management.

Georgina Hall

Georgina Hall

Resource Officer

Georgina is studying economics and politics at the University of Melbourne. She started volunteering at the start of the year and now works in administration part-time for The Conversation.

Commercial   Back to Top

Damian Thompson

Damian Thompson

Business Development Manager

Damian came to The Conversation from the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, where he worked on programs to deliver services to the agriculture sector. He previously worked as a policy adviser to the Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Small Business Department and joins The Conversation as the Business Development Manager.

Debbie Dickinson

Debbie Dickinson

External Relations Manager

Debbie Dickinson joins The Conversation having run national and international digital media campaigns, including for the Australian Government on the carbon price, and for the UK Government's UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen. She previously worked as a strategic policy advisor at London's Sustainable Development Commission, and at the Amsterdam-based non-profit, the Global Reporting Initiative.

Board of Directors   Back to Top

Chris Brown (Chair)

Chairman of Preshafood Limited. Chairman at Senetas Corporation Ltd. Principal of Gibbs Hill.

John Kirby (Deputy Chair)

Chairman, Village Roadshow Corporation Proprietary Limited. Deputy Chairman, Village Roadshow Limited.

Andrew Jaspan (Managing Director)

Co-founder and Editor, The Conversation.

Jack Rejtman (Managing Director)

Co-founder and General Manager, The Conversation.

Colin Ferguson

Professor of Business Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. Director of the Centre for Accounting and Industry Partnerships.

Janine Kirk

Partner at Ernst & Young. Chairman at Tourism Victoria. Chairman at The Melbourne Prize Trust and Melbourne Prize Management Committee. Chairman at Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute Leadership Advisory Board (Monash). Director and Founding Committee Member at The Melbourne Forum. Director Ernst & Young Foundation.

Linda Price

Group Vice President, Executive Programs, Gartner Asia Pacific. Director of Australian Institute of Management Victoria & Tasmania. Previously HR and IT Director, Fairfax Media.

Matt Goldberg

CEO at Lonely Planet. Previously, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy & Operations at Dow Jones in New York.

Michael Harte

Group Executive Enterprise Services and Chief Information Officer at Commonwealth Bank Australia. Previously, VP Information Systems at Citibank in New York and EVP and CIO for PNC Global Investment Servicing.

Peter Doherty

Nobel Laureate and Australian of the Year in 1997. Professor of Immunology, University of Melbourne and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Terry Cutler

Principal of Cutler & Company. Deputy Chairman at CSIRO. Director at National Health Call Centre Network Ltd. Chairman at The Open Technology Foundation. Director at Multimedia University, Malaysia.

Val Gostencnik

Partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Leads the Workplace Relations practice group in Melbourne, and is National Pro Bono Partner.

Editorial Board   Back to Top

Attila Brungs, UTS

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), responsible for research policy development and general oversight of UTS research activities, postgraduate education, industry liaison, intellectual property and commercialisation. Professor Brungs is a is a Rhodes Scholar, with a research focus on inorganic chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis.

Bill Louden, UWA

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor/Winthrop Professor. Board Member, Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. Centrally involved in the development of the Australian curriculum, the national assessment program and the school accountability reforms leading to the MySchool website. Professor Louden’s publications cover literacy, standards and educational change.

Edwina Cornish, Monash

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Professor Cornish had a key role building Australia's first biotechnology companies, Florigene which commercialised the world's first genetically modified flowers.

Richard Head, CSIRO

Director, Preventative Health Flagship. Professor Head leads a multidisciplinary team of 100 research scientists and technical staff with skills in genomics and proteomics, biotechnology, bioinformatics and statistical data analysis, structural biology, information technology, food and nutritional sciences.

Robert Saint, University of Melbourne

Professor Robert Saint is Dean of Science at the University of Melbourne, molecular genetics researcher, member of the Councils of the Australian College of Optometry and International House Melbourne, member of the Boards of the Australian Science Media Centre, and the International Society of Differentiation, member of the Human Frontiers Science Program grant assessment panel.

John Keane (Observer), University of Sydney

Political Theorist at the University of Sydney and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. Also Director of the recently founded Sydney Democracy Initiative. The Times ranked him one of the country's leading political thinkers and his most recent book, The Life and Death of Democracy, was short-listed for the 2010 Non-Fiction Prime Minister's Literary Award.