Twelve of our members hold non-executive director roles on the APRA board. To ensure a mix of writer and publisher interests are represented on the Board, an even split of writer and publisher members are elected by their respective memberships.
Board elections are open to all APRA full writer members and all corporate representatives of publisher APRA members with recent royalty earnings. They must be nominated by another APRA full writer or publisher member with recent royalty earnings.
Jenny is an acclaimed songwriter, performer and recording artist and an APRA writer member since 1983. She has served as a Board Director since 1995 and is the current Chair of the APRA board, a role she has held since 2013.
Jenny’s musical accomplishments include being inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2018, winning back-to-back ARIA awards for best female artist, releasing nine albums that achieved gold, platinum and multi-platinum status, and numerous top 5 and top 20 charting singles in both Australia and New Zealand.
Jenny is a passionate advocate for the advancement of music makers and their rights. She is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion across all areas of the music industry and is actively involved in helping create an equal, safe and secure working environment to that end. Jenny is also a supporter of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia, presenting the organisation’s biennial ‘Art of Music’ fundraising gala event.
Damian is the Managing Director of Sony Music Publishing Australia and has served on the board since 2000 and is the current Deputy Chair. He is also a Director and former Chair of the AMCOS board and a Director of AMPAL.
Damian has been with Sony since the company re-started its publishing arm in 1992. Following the merger of Sony Music Publishing with EMI Music Publishing in 2012, he was appointed Managing Director of the combined publishing companies. He began his music industry career in 1981 at CBS Records.
During his career at Sony, Damian has worked with many of Australia’s most important and successful writers/artists such as Midnight Oil, Tame Impala, Sarah Aarons, Paul Kelly, Cold Chisel, Gurrumul, Angus & Julia Stone, Silverchair, AC/DC, Thelma Plum, Sarah Blasko, 5 Seconds Of Summer, AB Original and Alex Hope as well as emerging stars of the future like King Stingray, May-A, Sycco, Electric Fields and Barkaa to name a few.
Linda is the Managing Director of Mushroom Music Publishing, appointed in 2019, having previously been Head of the A&R and Creative team since 1996. Linda began her career at APRA in 1990, where she created the first Melbourne Writer Services Department. She is also a Director of the AMCOS, AMPAL and IMPF Boards.
A dedicated, collaborative and empathetic leader, Linda is passionate about music and helping to develop and support the careers of Australian, New Zealand and international songwriters. To date she has signed more than 200 career songwriters and in her role represents a diverse range of artists and catalogues both new and iconic.
Linda supports the Yiriman Project in WA which assists 'at risk' Indigenous youth. In honour of her late husband Dean Turner (Magic Dirt), Linda and her daughters partnered with Laneway Festival to raise over $250,000.
Amanda is a screen composer, songwriter and APRA writer member of 25 years. She has served as a Director of the board since 2015. Amanda is also the Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Music Alliance (APMA), and in 2022 she was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Council of Music Creators (CIAM).
After her career as a multi-instrumentalist in several bands, most notably The Go-Betweens, Amanda switched to composing music for film and television in 2000. In 2020 she won two AACTA Awards for her scores to Babyteeth and Brazen Hussies.
Amanda is passionate about encouraging and promoting women in music and championing the rights of screen composers and songwriters at all stages of their careers. In 2021 she became a member (music branch) of The Academy Of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences.
Mark is a singer-songwriter, performer, screen composer and has had a longtime parallel career in music publishing. An APRA writer member since 1980, Mark was elected to the APRA board in 2020.
Mark previously worked at APRA AMCOS in an R&D role where he focused on analysing and responding to the emerging opportunities in the global music ecosystem. He has held senior roles at Shock Music Publishing, AMPAL and Music Sales Australia (now Wise Music) and was an Adjunct Professor at QUT and a Director of Support Act.
He is best known as the singer-songwriter with GANGgajang and The Riptides and has written hundreds of songs including the classic ‘Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia),’ and continues to release new music.
Burkhard is an award-winning screen composer. He has been an APRA member since 1987 and an APRA AMCOS Ambassador since 2010.
He’s received multiple international and local screen music awards and nominations from APRA/AGSC, AACTA and ARIA Awards. Burkhard won the Golden Globe and Chicago Film Critics Award for The Truman Show, the APRA Award for Best Television Theme for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as many awards and nominations for the Underbelly franchise, the ABC mini-series The Secret River, and Peter Weir’s feature film The Way Back.
In 2015 Burkhard co-founded a screen composers’ network in Melbourne bringing together both emerging and established screen composers to share their experiences in an increasing complex work environment.
Jaime is Managing Director of independent music publisher Concord Music Publishing ANZ (formerly Native Tongue), overseeing offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. Jaime is Chair of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) and a Director of the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) and a Director of the Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL).
Jaime has a double bachelor’s degree (Business Marketing & Management - Monash University) and worked in artist management at Mayday Management and music licensing at Mana Music before joining Native Tongue in 2005.
Andrew is President, Australia and Asia Pacific Region, for Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). He has been a board member since 2019. Andrew is also a board member of AMCOS and is a founding board member of global music publisher organisation, IMPA. He is a former Chair of ICMP and is currently President d’Honneur of that international publisher association.
Andrew's career has taken him from the UK to Australia working for Polygram, Polydor Records, BMG Music Publishing and now Universal Music Publishing Group. He is passionate about the rights of songwriters and those who invest in their talent.
Andrew has worked with the Bee Gees, Tom Waits, The Cure, Van Morrison, Freddie Mercury, The Who and Iron Maiden to name but a few.
Simon Moor is the Managing Director of Kobalt Music Group APAC. He is also a non-executive Director of the AMCOS and AMPAL Boards.
Simon established Kobalt in Australia and New Zealand in 2010, and with a sharp focus on local talent quickly achieved global success with Gotye and Flume/Future Classic among others. The Kobalt roster now includes songwriters and artists from Cosmos Midnight, Flight Facilities (Future Classic), Dean Lewis, Genesis Owusu, Spacey Jane, Tash Sultana, Tim Minchin, and Tones And I to Flume (Future Classic) and Gotye.
In 2016, Simon established Kobalt Music Publishing Asia in Hong Kong and played a key role in drafting and implementing business plans across the region. Simon put in place key partnerships including those with NetEase Cloud Music and Tencent Music Entertainment in China.
Outside of music publishing, Simon established and ran both AWAL, Kobalt's distribution company and KNRL, Kobalt's neighbouring rights business for Australia and New Zealand.
Bic is an award-winning songwriter and producer. She was elected to the board in 2019.
Bic’s debut album Drive is seven times platinum and featured the enormous hit ‘Sway,’ with the follow-up album Beautiful Collision reaching an incredible eleven times platinum. She has won the prestigious Silver Scroll and has won 20 Tuis (New Zealand Music Award) – the most awarded to any individual.
Bic is a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to music, the 2016 recipient of New Zealand Music Awards Legacy Award, and an inductee in the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Jonathan is a multi-award-winning musician, composer and music curator. He has been an APRA member from 1982 and an APRA/AMCOS ambassador from 2010.
Jonathan’s album Animarum was awarded the 2018 ARIA for Best Jazz Album. He was nominated for the ARIA again in 2021 for the collaborative composer project album This World, featuring Mike Nock, Julien Wilson and Hamish Stuart.
Jonathan has toured nationally with Pharoah Sanders, Iro Haarla, Mark Murphy, Vince Jones, Katie Noonan, Jade MacRae, The Vampires and many more. He studied at the NSW Conservatorium (The Con), holds a Masters degree from ANU, and completed a graduate diploma in screen composition at AFTRS. He has composed music for documentaries including Backtrack Boys, Ka-Ching, a Pokies Nation and Richard Leplastrier, Framing the View.
Jonathan is an active and passionate advocate for Australian music and music makers, having curated and produced the ABC TV ten-part series The Pulse, served as a member on City of Sydney's Live Music Taskforce, and is co-director of the long-running monthly concert series The Starfish Club.
He is committed to advancing equal opportunity within the music industry and meeting the challenges of protecting creators’ rights in a rapidly changing landscape.
Marianna is Vice President, Commercial & Creative at Universal Music Publishing. She previously served as Director of APRA from 2016 to 2020 and was appointed Alternate Publisher Director for Andrew Jenkins, Universal Music Publishing in 2020.
Marianna is an experienced music lawyer, formerly at Simpsons Solicitors. She has also held senior legal and business affairs roles at major record labels and music publishers including BMG Australia, BMG in New York and EMI Music Australia, and was Head of ABC Music Publishing until January 2020. She has a strong passion for great song writing and a deep commitment to working with Australian songwriting talent.
Marianna holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of New South Wales. She also devised the Entertainment Law and Negotiation Skills courses for the Australian Institute of Music.
Heath is Managing Director of BMG Australia, which he launched locally in 2016. He became an AMCOS Director in 2020 and is also on the board of AMPAL.
Heath helped guide BMG’s acquisition of iconic Australian music company Alberts and during his tenure at BMG has signed artists including LDRU, The Living End, Wolfmother, Wave Racer and Peking Duk. For more than 13 years, he was Director of A & R at Universal Music Publishing.
He is the recipient of an MBA and a Master of Marketing from the University of Newcastle.
Jacky Houssarini is the Alternate Director for Damian Trotter.
Jacky is the Chief Financial Officer of Sony Music Publishing Australia and has had a long career in the Australian music industry, starting at Virgin Records Australia and then EMI Music Publishing Australia before joining Sony in 2012.
She is passionate about music and is committed to supporting the interests of songwriters.
Jacky holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is a member of the CPA.
Twelve AMCOS publisher members hold non-executive director roles on the AMCOS board. Directors are elected to the Board by the AMCOS membership, to make sure that the Board is representative.
Board elections are open to all AMCOS full writer members and corporate representatives of AMCOS publisher members with recent royalty earnings. They must be nominated by another AMCOS full member with recent royalty earnings.
Jaime is Managing Director of independent music publisher Concord Music Publishing ANZ (formerly Native Tongue), overseeing offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. Jaime is Chair of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) and a Director of the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) and a Director of the Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL).
Jaime has a double bachelor’s degree (Business Marketing & Management - Monash University) and worked in artist management at Mayday Management and music licensing at Mana Music before joining Native Tongue in 2005.
Linda is the Managing Director of Mushroom Music Publishing, appointed in 2019, having previously been Head of the A&R and Creative team since 1996. Linda began her career at APRA in 1990, where she created the first Melbourne Writer Services Department. Linda is also a Director of the APRA, AMPAL and IMPF Boards.
A dedicated, collaborative and empathetic leader, Linda is passionate about music and helping to develop and support the careers of Australian, New Zealand and international songwriters. To date she has signed more than 200 career songwriters and in her role represents a diverse range of artists and catalogues both new and iconic.
Linda supports the Yiriman Project in WA which assists 'at risk' Indigenous youth. In honour of her late husband Dean Turner (Magic Dirt), Linda and her daughters partnered with Laneway Festival to raise over $250,000.
Matt Donlevy is the Managing Director of Cooking Vinyl Publishing Australia. Matt was previously a Board Director for 22 years. He was elected to the AMCOS board again in 2021.
His career in publishing started with him working at Castle Music in the sheet music department. He held the Creative Manager role at ATV Northern Songs before becoming Managing Director of peermusic. Matt spent 25 years with peermusic, where he became Regional Director for South East Asia, and set up a number of offices in the region.
Matt established the publisher arm of Cooking Vinyl Australia in 2016.
Jane is the Managing Director of Wise Music Pty Ltd for Australia, Aotearoa and Asia Pacific (ex Japan). She’s a current Board Director of AMPAL and has been on the boards of the Asian Music Publishers Association and the Hong Kong Music Publishers Association.
She’s held senior roles at EMI MP Asia, BMG MP Asia Pacific, EMI MP Hong Kong, Warner Bros MP Australia, Warner Bros MP Asia and Rondor Music Australia. She’s also worked in the live music sector and headed up the licensing department at Copyright Agency.
Jane holds an Honours degree in Law, an Arts degree and a graduate diploma in legal practice. She’s provided free legal advice to musicians and songwriters at the Arts Law Centre of Australia, and she assisted in the establishment of Support Act.
Karen has over 30 years’ experience in the industry across A&R, Copyright, Royalties & Licensing and is currently the General Manager at 120 Publishing.
Her experience includes positions at AMCOS, MMA Music, Hello Mr Wilson, Mana Music and Warner Chappell and working with John Woodruff across recordings, publishing and management for Savage Garden. Eventually partnering with John and Keith Welsh to form Rough Cut Music Publishing, over the next decade the company signed and developed many prominent Australian artists including Evermore, Kisschasy, Trial Kennedy and The Butterfly Effect.
In 2011 she launched 120 Publishing for Ministry of Sound Australia (now TMRW Music). 120 is a full-service publishing company with a special interest in working closely with dance & electronic music writers, producers and topliners, and a focus on setting up collaborations between domestic writers and international artists.
Karen is passionate about educating young writers and travels nationally as part of APRA’s Rights & Royalties education events. She currently sits on the AMPAL Board and is also an active member of APRA’s CMAG Committee, working to implement Music Recognition Technology across clubs and festivals and advocating for the fair distribution of live performance income to Australian writers.
Peter is owner and Managing Director of Hebbes Music Group Pty. Ltd. an independent music publishing and business consulting company, and he is also a Director of CAS Music Australia. He has served on the AMCOS board since 2002 and is also on the AMPAL board.
In addition to previous tenures as Director and Deputy Chair for APRA, Peter has served on boards of the Music Industry Advisory Council (MIAC), the Australian Music Centre (AMC), the Australasian Music Performance Committee (AMPCOM), the Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA), Variety (NSW) “the children’s charity” and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia. He is a co-founder and Trustee of The Golden Stave Foundation.
In 2006, Peter was recognised for his contribution to the Australasian music industry and for his extensive charitable work when he was appointed a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM).
Clive is Owner/Managing Director of Perfect Pitch Publishing and Perfect Pitch Digital companies with offices in Perth WA and Queensland. Clive is an active songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music business lecturer and music teacher. An AMCOS Director since 2016, he is also a director and current Deputy Chair of AMPAL.
Clive previously held senior executive roles at PolyGram/Universal, Head of ABC Music and GM of Shock Music Publishing. He has served on the boards of the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA), the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) and the West Australian Music Industry Association (WAM).
He has lectured and tutored at the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) and is guest lecturer at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), a major sponsor of WAM Song of the Year competition, and an Australia Council Peer Assessor. Clive is a registered Justice of the Peace in NSW and WA, a member of the Royal Association of Justices of Western Australia, and Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA).
Andrew is President, Australia and Asia Pacific Region, for Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). He has been a board member since 2019. Andrew is also a Director for APRA and is a founding board member of global publisher organisation, IMPA. He is a former Chair of ICMP and is currently President d’Honneur of that international publisher organisation.
Andrew's career has taken him from the UK to Australia working for Polygram, Polydor Records, BMG Music Publishing and now Universal Music Publishing Group. He is passionate about the rights of songwriters and those who invest in their talent.
Andrew has worked with artists such the Bee Gees, Tom Waits, The Cure, Van Morrison, Freddie Mercury, The Who and Iron Maiden to name but a few.
Heath is Managing Director of BMG Australia, which he launched locally in 2016. He became an AMCOS Director in 2020 and is also on the board of AMPAL.
Heath helped guide BMG’s acquisition of iconic Australian music company Alberts and during his tenure at BMG has signed artists including LDRU, The Living End, Wolfmother, Wave Racer and Peking Duk. For more than 13 years, he was Director of A & R at Universal Music Publishing.
He is the recipient of an MBA and a Master of Marketing from the University of Newcastle.
Simon Moor is the Managing Director of Kobalt Music Group APAC. Simon is also a non-executive director of APRA and AMPAL.
Simon established Kobalt in Australia and New Zealand in 2010, and with a sharp focus on local talent quickly achieved global success with Gotye and Flume/Future Classic among others. The Kobalt roster now includes songwriters and artists from Cosmos Midnight, Flight Facilities (Future Classic), Dean Lewis, Genesis Owusu, Spacey Jane, Tash Sultana, Tim Minchin, and Tones And I to Flume (Future Classic) and Gotye.
In 2016, Simon established Kobalt Music Publishing Asia in Hong Kong and played a key role in drafting and implementing business plans across the region. Simon put in place key partnerships including those with NetEase Cloud Music and Tencent Music Entertainment in China.
Outside of music publishing, Simon established and ran both AWAL, Kobalt's distribution company and KNRL, Kobalt's neighbouring rights business for Australia and New Zealand.
Damian is the Managing Director of Sony Music Publishing Australia, has served on the Board since 1995 and is a former Chair. He is also Deputy Chair of the APRA Board and a Director of AMPAL.
Damian has been with Sony since the company re-started its publishing arm in 1992. Following the merger of Sony Music Publishing with EMI Music Publishing in 2012, he was appointed Managing Director of the combined publishing companies. He began his music industry career in 1981 at CBS Records.
During his career at Sony, Damian has worked with many of Australia’s most important and successful writers/artists such as Midnight Oil, Tame Impala, Sarah Aarons, Paul Kelly, Cold Chisel, Gurrumul, Angus & Julia Stone, Silverchair, AC/DC, Thelma Plum, Sarah Blasko, 5 Seconds Of Summer, AB Original and Alex Hope as well as emerging stars of the future like King Stingray, May-A, Sycco, Electric Fields and Barkaa to name a few.
Marianna is Vice President, Commercial & Creative at Universal Music Publishing. She previously served as Deputy Chair and Director of AMCOS from 2011 to 2020 and was appointed Alternate Director for Andrew Jenkins, Universal Music Publishing in 2020.
Marianna is an experienced music lawyer, formerly at Simpsons Solicitors. She has also held senior legal and business affairs roles at major record labels and music publishers including BMG Australia, BMG in New York and EMI Music Australia, and was Head of ABC Music Publishing until January 2020. She has a strong passion for great song writing and a deep commitment to working with Australian songwriting talent.
Marianna holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of New South Wales. She also devised the Entertainment Law and Negotiation Skills courses for the Australian Institute of Music.
He joined Warner Chappell in 2021 following a long career in public accounting and business advisory positions.
Craig brings a great depth of experience and knowledge from his extensive roles prior to joining the music publishing industry.
His experience provides a foundation for the support of the recognition of songwriters and their invaluable contribution to society.
He remains involved in tech applications and software development processes, providing important technical knowledge to the APRA and AMCOS Committees and Boards.
Craig holds an Honours degree in Law, a Commerce degree, post-graduate qualifications in Law and Accounting and is a member of the CPA.
Jacky Houssarini is the Alternate Director for Damian Trotter.
Jacky is the Chief Financial Officer of Sony Music Publishing Australia and has had a long career in the Australian music industry, starting at Virgin Records Australia and then EMI Music Publishing Australia before joining Sony in 2012.
She is passionate about music and is committed to supporting the interests of songwriters.
Jacky holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is a member of the CPA.
Both APRA and AMCOS are guided by individual constitutions and governance statements, providing a framework for operations. View corporate governance documents.
Dean was appointed Chief Executive of APRA AMCOS in July 2018, following more than 20 years with the organisation leading its member services, licensing and advocacy work.
In recent years he has worked in partnership with Federal and State Governments for the recognition and support of creators’ rights and advocating the potential of the local music industry as a key economic and cultural asset that drives exports and educational outcomes across the country.
Dean has initiated research relating to the economic contribution of the Australian venue-based live music industry, the potential application of tax-offsets to the commercial music industry, and the issues of gender equity in the Australian contemporary music industry.
He holds a Bachelor of Education in Music, a post-graduate qualification in marketing and is a graduate of the High Potentials Leadership program at Harvard University. In a former life Dean was a high school music teacher.
Our team of music industry experts provide essential services to members and licensees. Our CEO, Dean Ormston, leads a team of dedicated and experienced Senior Managers.
Hear first hand what it's like to work at APRA AMCOS (hint, it's awesome), listen to our playlist and check out the values that underpin everything we do.
Can a member vote for more than one candidate in the election?
Yes. Members who are eligible to vote in the election may choose to vote for one or more of the candidates in their respective category (i.e. writer candidates or publisher candidates).
Eg: if two writer member Directors are to be elected and seven full writer members have been nominated to stand as candidates, an eligible voting member can vote for a maximum of two of these candidates. Each candidate a member votes for will receive the number of votes they are entitled to cast.
Can writer members nominate themselves?
No, an eligible writer member can only be nominated by another full writer or publisher member in the prescribed form (i.e. the official nomination form available from the Company Secretary’s office).
Publisher members can nominate their corporate representative to stand as a candidate in the election of directors.
How do members vote?
In accordance with the APRA & AMCOS constitutions, all eligible members will be asked to cast their votes electronically through the secure login section of the website. Voting will close 7 days prior to the election. There's no voting on the day of the AGM.
A paper ballot will only be distributed to a member if they request this within 5 days of receiving their notice of meeting. All requests for paper ballots should be referred to [email protected].
How long does a director serve on the board?
In accordance with the APRA and AMCOS constitutions, an eligible member can be elected to the Board for an initial term of three years. After this time they must retire, but if eligible they can nominate to be re-elected by the members for a subsequent term.
How many seats are available on the board each year?
The APRA Board consists of six publisher directors and six writer directors (one of which must be a New Zealand writer member).
The AMCOS Board consists of 12 directors. There is no defined split between writer and publisher members in the AMCOS constitution.
If a director resigns before the end of their term the Board (at its discretion) may appoint another full member to fill this role on a casual basis until the next AGM. If a casual vacancy exists in any given year, this seat will be up for election in addition to the usual number of vacancies created by the retiring directors.
How many votes does each member have?
The APRA and AMCOS Constitutions provide that every APRA or AMCOS member who has received any earnings at all over the previous two financial years is entitled to cast one vote in the relevant company’s Board elections and AGM. Members are then allocated one additional vote for every $2,500 “block” of earnings they have received over the last financial year. For example, if a member receives $5,000 in earnings during the previous financial year, they will be allocated 3 votes to use in that year’s Board elections and AGM (one vote for being an “earning member” plus 2 additional votes for the $5,000 in earnings they received).
If a member is nominated by someone without their knowledge do they have to stand for election?
No. If a member has been nominated to stand as a candidate in the election of directors they must accept the nomination before the cut off date in order to be included on the ballot.
Which directors can a member vote for?
In the APRA Board election, eligible writer members can only vote for those writer members who have nominated to stand in the election of directors (subject to the following conditions):
In the APRA Board election, eligible publisher members can only vote for the corporate representatives of those publisher members who have nominated to stand in the election of directors.
In the AMCOS Board election, eligible full members may vote for any nominated candidate they choose.
Who can nominate to become a director?
Any full writer member or the corporate representative of a publisher member may stand for election as a director, providing they are eligible to vote in the election and attend the AGM. This means that only full members who have earned royalties during either of the last two financial years are eligible to nominate to become a director.
Who is eligible to vote?
Only full members who have earned royalties during either of the last two financial years are eligible to vote.
These earning requirements apply independently to both APRA and AMCOS. That means that if you're a member of both organisations but have only earned royalties from one company in the last two years, then you can only vote in the election for that company.