Our People

Committee of Management

Peter Acton, President

Peter Acton has a degree in Classics from Oxford University and an MBA from Stanford University, where he was a Harkness Fellow and an Arjay Miller Scholar. Peter’s own experience has convinced him that the contribution a humanities education brings to commerce, as well as to life more generally, needs to be better appreciated. After working in industrial relations in the UK, he spent 20 years with The Boston Consulting Group in Europe and Australia and was Managing Partner of the Melbourne office from 1995-1999. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and of the Australian Institute of Management, a member of the Peter McCallum Research Board and a Director of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation. In 2010 he was awarded a PhD in Ancient History by the University of Melbourne. His book, Poiesis, on manufacturing in classical Athens, was published by Oxford University Press in 2014.

Jan McGuinness, Vice President

Jan McGuinness is a University of Melbourne Arts graduate (English and Politics) and journalist with more than 30 years’ experience. Career highlights include writing features and a daily column for The Age, running The Bulletin‘s Melbourne bureau, reporting and producing for ABC TV’s 7.30 Report and producing and initiating ABC TV arts programming as the Commissioner for Arts and Entertainment. Jan subsequently formed her own production company to create award-winning programs and documentaries in co-production with the ABC. Jan has also worked in the corporate sector providing strategic communications advice, and is a published author. She currently teaches feature writing to Monash University masters students in the School of Journalism and is writing a biography of the Australian writer Shirley Hazzard. Jan is a former board member of Artists and Industry, the Australian Art Orchestra and the Melbourne Writers Festival, where she served as Chair from 2004-2010. She is currently on the governing council of Janet Clarke Hall, University of Melbourne.

Craig Perrett

Craig has worked with some of Australia’s largest companies in the areas of marketing, communication, presentation, media issue management and business development. As the Non-Executive Director at Schools Connect, Craig matched leading companies with underprivileged schools, which in turn provided programs designed to lift students’ performance and improve their employability. Craig continued his work with underprivileged schools as the Independent Director of the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN), a not-for-profit organisation that provides students with mentoring programs that help students to make sound educational, personal, and vocational choices. Craig’s most recent role as been as the Co-Founder and Director of Act3, an organisation that helps individuals and businesses to think creatively about their future, including creating a meaningful retirement for many clients. Craig believes Humanities 21’s advocacy is an important step in gaining recognition within the community of how important a broad education is to creating meaningful work.

Alasdair West, Treasurer

Alasdair is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and co-owner of McGregor West Chartered Accountants and Advisors. Alsadair’s wealth of knowledge has assisted Humanities 21 greatly in managing its finances.

Virginia Maxwell, General Manager

A humanities graduate, Virginia has a background in magazine and book publishing, marketing, events management and arts administration. As well as overseeing Humanities 21’s communications and marketing, she works with the committee and our partners to deliver public events, the corporate lecture series and our schools program.

John Armstrong, Consultant Philosopher

John Armstrong was born in Glasgow, educated in Oxford and London and moved to Australia in 2001. He is the author of seven books, including In Search of Civilisation (2009), Love Life Goethe (2006) and The Secret Power of Beauty (2004) – all published by Penguin. He was Philosopher in Residence at the Melbourne Business School and is currently Senior Advisor in the Office of the Vice Chancellor, University of Melbourne. His book How to Worry Less About Money has been translated into fourteen languages. He lectures widely, is a regular commentator on ABC radio and contributes to several major international newspapers and journals. He is a colleague of Alain de Botton and is heavily involved in the School of Life.

The Hon. Barry Jones, AC. Our Patron

Barry Jones was a Victorian MP for five years, Federal MP for nearly 21 years, Minister for Science 1983-90, represented Australia at UNESCO and the World Heritage Council in Paris 1991-96 and is the only person to have been elected to all four of Australia’s learned Academies. His books include Sleepers, Wake! (1982), a best seller which ran into 27 impressions, an autobiography, A Thinking Reed (2006), Dictionary of World Biography (revised 2016, ANU,) and The Shock of Recognition (2016). He led the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty and was the first Australian politician to raise the issues of the information revolution (1982) and climate change (1984). He was chair of Vision2020Australia 2002-14, of the Port Arthur Historic Site 2000-12, a board member of CARE Australia for 20 years, and a Visiting Fellow Commoner, Trinity College, Cambridge 2000-01. He was awarded an AC in 2014 for ‘his services as a public intellectual.’

Our Supporters

We are grateful to these organisations, whose support helps make our advocacy possible. Thanks to these organisations, we continue to run events and programs that promote the value of the humanities, in work and in personal life.

Find out how your organisation can support Humanities 21, and be part of something ‘interesting’ by contacting us at info@humanities21.com.au.