Three new appointments to strengthen Burnet Board
Burnet Institute has announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors, as part of an expansion to strengthen the Institute’s finance, legal, and philanthropic governance expertise as it pursues its next phase of strategic growth.
Belinda Collins and Brooke Miller will join the Board from August. Sarah Matheson AM will join the Board in October.
The expansion of the Board follows a targeted search to bring additional commercial, legal, financial, governance and philanthropic expertise to support Burnet’s ambitions in research growth, philanthropic and commercial partnerships, tied to its strategic goals.
Belinda Collins
Belinda Collins brings more than 25 years’ expertise in philanthropic governance, revenue strategy and generative AI, having secured substantial philanthropic, government and commercial investment across the higher education, medical research and international development sectors through growth and change.
She currently serves on the boards and board sub-committees for the Stroke Foundation, Bush Heritage Australia and Nabucares.ai.
Belinda was previously a Board Director at the Barbara Dicker Brain Sciences Foundation and Head of Individual and Family Philanthropy at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and has served as an Ambassador for Burnet Institute work on HIV since 2011.
Brooke Miller
Brooke Miller has extensive executive and non-executive leadership experiences across her previous roles at Lineage, BP, and Castrol, including in the climate change and renewable energy sector.
She holds directorships with Melbourne Business School and AgriBio, Australia’s first integrated agricultural systems biology research centre, a joint initiative of the Victorian Government and La Trobe University.
Brooke brings an understanding of working in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as deep financial, risk governance and change management expertise.
Sarah Matheson
Sarah Matheson AM is a globally recognised commercial lawyer and governance leader, with 20 years as a partner at the top-tier law firm Allens, specialising in health sector law, regulation and technology commercialisation.
She currently serves as President of the Board of the National Stroke Foundation and Deputy Chair of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuroscience Foundation.
Former roles include Chair of The Australian Ballet School and serving on an advisory committee for One Basin Cooperative Research Centre.
Sarah was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2021 for her service to the law, intellectual property protection and the not-for-profit sector.
Burnet Institute Chair James Flintoft said the appointments reflected the Institute’s commitment to building a Board with the breadth of skills needed to support its strategic direction.
“Belinda, Brooke and Sarah bring exactly the kind of depth we set out to find. Belinda’s track record in philanthropic strategy and governance, Brooke’s experience leading complex multi-jurisdictional commercial operations, and Sarah’s deep legal and regulatory expertise in the health and biotech sectors. Together, they represent a deliberate strengthening of our Board’s skills as Burnet enters its next phase of development,” said Mr Flintoft.
Burnet CEO Professor Brendan Crabb AC said the new directors would bring valuable expertise and strengthen the Institute’s governance.
“Board composition matters enormously to an organisation like Burnet, where the decisions we make have real consequences for global health outcomes. Belinda, Brooke and Sarah each bring a rigour and breadth of experience, in revenue governance, change management, environmental stewardship, large-scale commercial leadership, and legal and regulatory strategy in our own sector that will directly strengthen how we plan, invest and manage risk as we grow out research impact in a rapidly changing world,” said Professor Crabb.