Professor Don DeBats
Director
Don DeBats is Professor and Head of American Studies and Director of the Jeff Bleich Center for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security, and Governance. His research interests cover contemporary and past US politics; he is a frequent commentator on current US politics and has written extensively on US political history.
His research appointments include the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Humanities Center of the United States, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary in the United States.
His degrees are from Michigan State University (Mathematics) and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (MA, History) and PhD (major field: American History; minor field: Political Science).
His current research, supported by the Collaborative Research Division of the US National Endowment for the Humanities, combines the contemporary interest in "the social logic of politics" with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methodologies to the study of past political engagement and networks, using unique individual level political records from 19th century America.
For the Jeff Bleich Centre he has written on cultural lag associated with the societal impact of rapid technological change
Professor Melissa de Zwart
Deputy Director
Professor de Zwart is Professor (Digital Technology, Security & Governance) Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security & Governance.
Professor de Zwart is a thought-leader in the area of law and technology and has a strong international profile in the fields of internet law and the regulation of access to and uses of outer space. She previously served as Dean of the Adelaide Law School, University of Adelaide (2017-2021), and Chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia, Board Member of the Australian Academy of Law and a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy (Reserve).
Dr Maryanne Kelton
Lead Researcher
Maryanne's research interests lie in Australian Foreign Policy, the security-economic nexus, Alliance relations, and social cybersecurity, digital anthropology, and democratic resilience with the Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security and Governance.
Dr Zac Rogers
Lead Researcher
Dr Zac Rogers PhD is a Research Lead at the Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security, and Governance at Flinders University.
Professor Colin Stirling
Vice Chancellor, Flinders University (Chair)
Professor Colin J Stirling brings extensive experience in research, teaching and management to Flinders University as President and Vice-Chancellor.
Professor Stirling’s career provides a strong foundation for his ambitions for the University. Born and educated in Scotland he gained a BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh followed by a PhD in genetics from Glasgow University.
Professor Stirling was then awarded a NATO Research Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley before joining the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom where he was appointed Professor of Genetics in 1998. During his time at Manchester he was awarded a number of prestigious prizes and awards including the Jenner Research Fellowship from the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, a Wolfson Research Fellowship from the Royal Society, the Balfour Prize from the Genetics Society and the Fleming Award from the Society for General Microbiology. He was appointed Education Dean in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Manchester in 2001, then Associate Vice-President eLearning in 2007 and Vice-President for Teaching and Learning in 2008.
In 2011, Professor Stirling was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at Curtin University, in Western Australia where he was later appointed Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
Throughout his academic career, Professor Stirling has established a record of leadership, innovation and successful change management in Higher Education.
Ambassador (ret) Jeff Bleich
Deputy Chair
Jeff Bleich is the Chief Legal Office at Cruise, leading the legal and compliance teams. He previously served as a special master in the U.S. District Court, and as a partner at both Munger, Tolles & Olson and Dentons. He has over three decades experience in resolving complex domestic and international disputes. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, and as Special Counsel to President Obama in the White House. For his federal service, Ambassador Bleich received numerous awards, including the Sue Cobb Medal, the State Department's highest award for a non-career ambassador.
As an attorney, Mr. Bleich specializes in disruptive technologies, cybersecurity and international disputes. He has been honored as California Lawyer Attorney of the Year, and regularly listed among the Daily Journal's 100 most influential attorneys in California, in the LawDragon's top 500, and in America's Best Lawyers as a top "Bet the Company" lawyer.
Outside his professional practice, Mr. Bleich serves on several boards,including as Chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Mr. Bleich has also served as the Chair of PG&E Company during its 2019-2020 bankruptcy reorganization, Chair of the California State University Board of Trustees, President of the California State Bar, President of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Chair of the ABA’s Amicus Curiae Committee, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Amherst College. He has been elected as a life member to both the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Bleich has taught several courses at UC Berkeley School of Law, and publishes extensively. He holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College, an M.P.P from Harvard with highest honors, a J.D. from the Univ. of California, Berkeley with highest honors, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from S.F. State University and Flinders University.
Mr. Bleich clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Howard Holtzmann of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague.
Professor Glyn Davis
Companion of the Order of Australia
Professor Glyn Davis AC is CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic funder. He is also Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, and Visiting Professor in the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. Professor Davis serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Australia-America Leadership Dialogue and a Director of the Public Interest Journalism Initiative.
Heather Ridout
Officer of the Order of Australia
Mrs Heather Ridout was appointed a director of ASX in August 2012. Mrs Ridout is also Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Nomination Committee. She is a company director with a long history as a leading figure in the public policy debate in Australia and was formerly Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, a major national employer organisation representing a cross-section of industries including manufacturing, construction, defence, ICT and labour hire, until April 2012.
Mrs Ridout has been a director of Sims Metal Management Limited since September 2011 and a director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra since December 2012. She was appointed as a director of AustCyber – the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network – in July 2017, and as an Investment Committee member and Alternate Director of the AustralianSuper Trustee Board in September 2019.
Mrs Ridout’s previous appointments include Chair of the AustralianSuper Trustee Board from May 2013 to September 2019, having joined that Board as a director in 2007, and a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia from February 2012 until February 2017, Infrastructure Australia, the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, the Henry Tax Review panel and the Climate Change Authority.
Rear Admiral the Hon Kevin Scarce
Companion of the Order of Australia
Conspicuous Service Cross
Royal Australian Navy (ret)
Rear Admiral the Honourable Kevin Scarce AC CSC RAN (Rtd) served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1968, retiring in 2004. Through his naval career, he specialised in military logistics and procurement, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral and Head of Maritime Systems at the Defence Materiel Organisation. After retirement, as Head of the South Australian Defence Unit, he led a government team that contributed to ASC winning the contract to build air warfare destroyers for the Australian Defence Force.
On 8th August 2007, Kevin was sworn in as the 34th Governor of South Australia, serving more than seven years in the role.
Scarce was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 1994, and was appointed an Officer in the Military Division of the Order of Australia in 2004, the Knight of Grace in the Venerable Order of Saint John in 2007 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2008.
He has completed a Bachelor of Financial Administration from New England, Masters of Management Economics at the University of New South Wales (Australian Defence Force Academy campus), and a Masters Degree in National Security Strategy at the US War College (National Defense University) in Washington, DC. In 2009, Flinders University and the New England University both bestowed an honorary Doctorate in recognition of his distinguished service to the nation and to the public of South Australia.
In 2014 he was appointed as 16th Chancellor of the University of Adelaide. He is Chair or President of a number of organisations including: Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority, Novita Children’s Services, Scouts Australia, Humanihut Pty Ltd and APC Technologies Board.
He is Deputy Chair of Seeley International and Operation Flinders and is joint Patron, with his wife Liz, of Anglicare SA.
Lucy Turnbull
Officer of the Order of Australia
Lucy Hughes Turnbull AO is an urbanist, businesswoman and philanthropist with a longstanding interest in cities, and technological and social innovation. She chaired the Committee for Sydney from 2012 to 2015 and has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the new Greater Sydney Commission, tasked by the NSW state government to assist in delivering strong and effective strategic planning for the whole of metropolitan Sydney.
She was previously Chairman of Immutep (formerly Prima BioMed Limited), an ASX- listed biomedical company undertaking clinical development for an immuno-therapeutic cancer treatment and is a board member of the Grattan Institute. She was the first female Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney from 2003-4 and in 2011 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the community, local government and business.
In 2012 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business by the University of NSW. In 2012 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business by the University of NSW and in 2016 was awarded Germany’s highest civilian honour, the Cross of the Order of Merit – the Verdienstkreuz Am Bande - for her work strengthening Australia’s relationship with Germany.
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