Council members biographies

Official Member
Chancellor
BBus (UTS), MCom (UNSW), SF Fin

Warwick Negus graduated with a Masters Degree in Commerce from UNSW in 1987 and is a distinguished finance professional with a career spanning over four decades across Australia, Asia and Europe. His contributions to the higher education sector began in 2001 as a founding member of the Advisory Board of the UNSW Faculty of Commerce and Economics which later became the UNSW Business School. He joined the UNSW Council in 2008 and has been the Presiding Member of the Finance and Strategy Committee of Council since that time. He was appointed as Deputy Chancellor in 2020 and is also an ex-officio member of a number of other Council Committees. Warwick was the Chairman of UNSW College Limited from 2017 to 2023 and was a Director of the UNSW Foundation from 2009 TO 2016.

Warwick has extensive Board experience holding prominent board positions in the corporate and sports sector. He is currently the Chairman and Non-Executive Director at the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) and the Dexus Funds Management Limited. He is a Non-Executive Director of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited and is the Deputy Chair of NSW Rugby Union. His former Board positions include being Chairman of the Pengana Capital Group, Non-Executive Director of NSW Waratahs, Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Co and Director of Terrace Tower Group. Warwick has also held senior leadership positions in the finance industry and his former leadership roles include Managing Director of Goldman Sachs (Australia, London and Singapore), CEO of Colonial First State Global Asset Management and 452 Capital and Vice-President of Bankers Trust Australia. He is also a former member of the Sydney Advisory Board of the Salvation Army.

Beyond his corporate and higher education sector commitments, Warwick is actively involved in community sports, serving as a referee in the Sydney Rugby Union competitions, reflecting his passion for grassroots engagement.

(September 2025)

Official Member
President of the Academic Board
LLB (Macquarie)

Professor Steel is the President of the Academic Board and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice, with interests in legal education and criminal law. He is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy.  His contributions to legal education have been recognised with the Council of Australian Law Dean's Outstanding Career Achievement Award,  and a Commonwealth Government Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

Professor Steel’s previous leadership positions include Interim Pro Vice Chancellor Education (2019-20 and 2023-4), Director Teaching Strategy (2020-23), Director AI Strategy Education (2024-5), Law Associate Dean Education (2009-14) and Law Associate Dean Academic (2014-2016). He has been a member of the Education and Criminal Law Committees of the NSW Bar Association and an expert advisor to the NSW Law Reform Commission. He has also worked as a Policy Officer and subsequently as a Consultant to the NSW Attorney General's Department, Criminal Law Review Division.

He has led initiatives to develop and implement a university wide digital assessment platform, develop the university’s strategic responses to generative AI in education, and respond to the educational impacts of the COVID pandemic. He has extensive experience in curriculum development and review, both face to face and digital, with a particular focus on assessment formats and structures. He was a member of the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee (2013-24) and has written commissioned Best Practice Guides for legal education.  He was previously co-convenor of the Legal Education Associate Deans (LEAD) Network (2012-16), been on the Executive of the Australasian Law Teachers Association and remains on the Editorial Committee of the Legal Education Review. Professor Steel’s education related publications range across the pedagogy and regulation of legal education, curriculum design, assessment practices, student wellbeing and support for sessional academics.  He is currently examining the impact of generative AI on legal education. In the criminal law field he has published widely on property, dishonesty and identity crimes. He has produced detailed law reform reports for Government and made submissions to law reform bodies.

(1 January 2026)

Ministerial Appointment
Dip of Aboriginal Education (Usyd)

Aunty Maxine is an Elder of the local Aboriginal community of Botany Bay. She has worked in Aboriginal education across various settings in employment and mentoring roles. As an Aboriginal Education Assistant, she has focused on education outcomes collaborating with staff and students, including students with disabilities. She has worked on infusing regular teaching with Aboriginal perspective as a Cultural Resident across primary schools in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. She has a long-term connection with UNSW and uses her lived experience and indigenous knowledge to create a place of belonging for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander students and staff in UNSW.

(13 January 2025)

Member appointed by Council
TBA

Professor Davis is a nationally respected public policy leader with over four decades of experience across government, higher education, and philanthropy. He is the Former Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Vice-Chancellor of two major Australian universities, and the Chief Executive Officer of Paul Ramsay Foundation. He is recognised for rebuilding public service capacity, advancing educational reform, and championing equity and integrity in governance.

Professor Davis has held senior leadership positions in the Government, education sector and has extensive board experience.  He was the Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government (June 2022 – June 2025), the Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ramsay Foundation (Dec 2018 – June 2022), Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne (Jan 2005 – Sept 2018), Vice-Chancellor, Griffith University (Jan 2002 – Dec 2004), Foundation Chair, Australia and New Zealand School of Government (2002 –2006), the Director-General, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Queensland Government, (1998-2002) and the Director-General, Office of the Cabinet, Queensland Government (1995 – 1996). He is currently the Chair of Opera Australia and board member of Queensland and Melbourne Theatre Companies. Previously he has partnered with Indigenous programs in Goulburn–Murray Valley and Cape York. He has director position in the  Menzies Foundation, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative and the Centre for Social Impact. He was a member of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Professor Davis has held several academic positions in the higher education sector in various institutions ( Griffith University, University of Melbourne, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Exeter College, Oxford, King’s College London and the University of Manchester). He has been the Chair of Universities Australia and the Group of Eight.

(1 January 2026)

Justine Nolan is the Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She has published widely on business and human rights and her latest book, Addressing Modern Slavery (2019) (with M. Boersma) examines how consumers, business and government are both part of the problem and the solution in curbing modern slavery in global supply chains.  She advises companies, NGOs and governments on these issues and is a member of the Australian Government’s Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group. Justine has practiced as a private sector and international human rights lawyer.  She is the Executive Editor of the Australian Journal of Human Rights,  a member of the Editorial Board of the Business and Human Rights Journal and is a Visiting Scholar at NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.

(July 2022)