Our team

SENIOR ADVISOR

Nick is a former Secretary of the Department of Defence, Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), and Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

He has also held senior diplomatic posts, including Ambassador to Iran, High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, and Special Coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

His leadership in complex institutions equips him to advise on governance, accountability, strategic review, and organisational performance improvement.

SENIOR ADVISOR

Duncan Lewis served the Australian Government for 47 years, both in and out of uniform, culminating as Director-General of Security and Head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

Across 15 years in the Australian Public Service, he held a range of senior national security and diplomatic roles, including Secretary of the Department of Defence, National Security Adviser to two Prime Ministers, and Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union, and NATO.

SENIOR ADVISOR

Elizabeth has over 31 years of experience in the Australian Defence Force, serving in senior roles across supply, logistics, strategy and planning.

She has also held key public sector leadership positions, including Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, President of the Repatriation Commission, and Chair of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.

SENIOR ADVISOR

John James has over 40 years of military experience including roles overseeing key defence, security and intelligence organisations; international military operations; and more recently, multi-agency government task forces.

He has also held senior national security roles as Principal Deputy Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate, Coordinator General of the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce, and Chief of Joint Capabilities.

SENIOR ADVISOR

Peter Tesch has over 35 years of experience as a trusted advisor to the highest levels of government.

He served as Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Industry in the Department of Defence, and held key diplomatic roles over a 32-year career at DFAT, including Ambassador to Russia and Germany, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, and Head of the International Security Division.

FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN

Gavin MacLaren is CEO of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm and has over 25 years’ experience acting for governments, international organisations, multinational corporations, financial institutions, private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds globally.

FOUNDER

Tom Harley is founder of Dragoman, a political risk and strategic advisory firm. He has served as one of three Australian representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council (2019–2024). He has also served as Non-Executive Chairman of Dow Chemical (Australia) and Global Senior Advisor to Dow. His experience includes implementing global political risk methodologies and advising on market entry strategies in high-risk jurisdictions.

DIRECTOR

Stephen Revell is a strategic advisor with over 45 years of experience, including a long tenure as a partner at Freshfields, the international law firm. He now advises internationally on business strategy, having advised across more than 50 countries, including complex regulatory environments. Within Garran, Stephen has several responsibilities including quality oversight and risk management.

CORPORATE AFFAIRS

Susannah is a reputation and communications specialist, with more than two decades of experience helping organisations to build, manage and protect their brands. This includes advising Australian corporations and government organisations on strategic engagement, stakeholder management and issues management.

John combines a history of practical experience advising C-suite executives on corporate governance and strategic risk, with an academic background specialising in policy reform and regulation.

A speaker of five languages, John graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Oxford’s Masters of Law with a focus on Australia's national security and foreign interference legal framework.  

Kieran has multiple years of experience working on multi-billion dollar projects of the highest national and international importance.

Kieran has led major reports for government departments and provided strategic advice to clients across Europe, North America and the Indo-Pacific.

Alice Maxwell brings deep experience in policy design, strategic advisory, and public sector reform. She has worked as a policy adviser on major reform initiatives in the areas of gender equality and family violence, institutional child abuse and education. More recently, Alice worked as Senior Associate at the High Court of Australia. Alice’s academic work has been recognised with multiple national awards. She holds First Class Honours in both Law and History from the University of Melbourne.