The Historic Houses Trust is governed by a group of nine Trustees appointed by the Governor of New South Wales on the recommendation of the government. They are generally appointed for a term of three years and can serve three terms.

Jill Wran, Chairman BA MBA has given many years of honorary service to the cultural life of New South Wales whilst maintaining strong business interests in the community. Currently on the boards of Bilfinger Berger Australia Pty Ltd and SMEC Holdings Ltd, she has also been Chairman of the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust since June 2000. Formerly a member of the board of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Centennial and Moore Parks Trust and the Sydney Opera House Trust, she became a member of the inaugural board of management of the new Sydney Theatre in July 2003. She is Patron of Greening Australia (NSW) and a member of other community organisations. Appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2001, and Chairman of the Trust on 1 January 2002, her current term expires on 31 December 2009.

Keith Cottier AM has had a distinguished career as an architect and is a partner in the architectural practice of Allen Jack + Cottier. He was awarded the RAIA Gold medal in 2001. Keith has been a Commissioner of the Australian Heritage Commission (1986-93), Member of the Heritage Council of NSW (1993-96) and a Member of the Sydney Cove Authority (1985-95).

Bruce Eric Hambrett LLB LLM is a partner with Baker & McKenzie and practises in the litigation group. He is currently the director of the Pacific Opera Company Limited and chair of the Media and Communications Law Committee, Business Law Section, with the Law Council of Australia. Appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2006, his term will expire on 31 December 2008.

Dr Grace Karskens has worked in history, heritage and historical archaeology for the past 28 years and now teaches Australian history and public history in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales. She has held a number of Australian Research Council grants and has published extensively and internationally in Australian colonial and convict history, urban and environmental history and historical archaeology. Grace’s books include Inside the Rocks: The Archaeology of a Neighbourhood and the multi-award winning The Rocks: life in early Sydney. She is interested in promoting historical understandings and awareness to wide audiences and is currently on the boards of the Dictionary of Sydney, the National Museum of Australia’s (re)Collections journal and a number of other international scholarly journals. Her latest book, a new history of early Sydney, will be published by Allen & Unwin early in 2009. Grace was appointed as a Trustee in January 2008 and her term will expire in 2010.

Elaine Lawson BA (Hons) lives near Nimmitabel south of Cooma and is a conservation and curatorial consultant. From 1989 to 2001 Elaine worked as the senior curator with the ACT Government. Elaine has also lectured in heritage and curatorship at the University of Canberra, Australian National University (ANU), Curtin University and Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT). Since 1990 she has been a curatorial and interpretative advisor on various conservation projects. She has been a member, since 1999, of the Official Establishments Trust. Elaine sits on the Council of the Australiana Fund and chairs its ACT Committee as well as being on the board of the Open Garden Scheme. She was appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2003 and her current term expires on 31 December 2008.

Bruce McWilliam BEc LLB (Hons) is the commercial director of the Seven television network and is on the board of directors of Seven Network Limited. Prior to that he was a partner at the legal firm Gilbert & Tobin.  Bruce also worked as the General Counsel of News International Pty Ltd based in London, he worked for the News Corp group for nine years and was involved in most of their television acquisitions and transactions outside the USA. Bruce was on the Board of Directors for BskyB from 1995 to 2000. He has also been on boards of several other News Corp group television interests including Vox and tm-3 in Germany. Bruce was appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2003 and his current term expires on 31 December 2008.

Martyn Mitchell has over 25 years experience in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as an auditor and business advisor. He has held a number of roles with PwC in this period including leading the Australian firm's practice in Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment for 10 years. He currently acts as the Asia-Pacific leader for PwC's Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment practice, as well as Asian Engagement leader for the Australian practice. During his career he has played significant roles in sale of the State Bank of NSW and working on the initial privatisation of Telstra. On the latter account, he managed the Sydney based audits of Telstra for a five year period. He also leads PwC's team in respect to the privatisation of the NSW TAB and the listing of OzEmail on NASDAQ. Martyn was appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2005 and his current term expires on 31 December 2009.

Penelope Pike BA DipTownCountryPlanning is a conservation planner who specialises in heritage studies for local government areas and in preparing and implementing local environmental plans and detailed control plans for historic towns, precincts and suburbs. Penelope has served on the Urban Conservation Committee of the National Trust and was Founding Chairman of its Cemeteries Committee. She is currently on the Board of Trustees for Eryldene and Parramatta Park. She was appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2002 and her current term expires on 31 December 2010.

Peter Tonkin graduated as an architect with first class honours from the University of Sydney in 1977. He joined Brian Zulaikha in 1987 to form Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (TZG) Architects, known for its strong urban design. TZG’s projects include a specialist library for the Royal Blind Society, which won a merit award in 1991 from the RAIA, the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, winner of two RAIA awards, and the National Memorial to the Australian Vietnam Forces and the Tomb of an Unknown Australian Soldier in Canberra. TZG also worked on the refurbishment of Customs House and the multi-award winning solar-powered Plaza Lighting Towers for the Sydney Olympics. He worked in collaboration with artist Janet Laurence for the Australian War Memorial in London which was opened by HM the Queen in 2003. Peter has taught architecture and lectured extensively in Australia and New Zealand. He has been published widely in magazines, newspapers and books and won numerous prizes and awards in Australia and overseas. He was appointed as a Trustee on 1 January 2005 and his current term expires on 31 December 2010.

Click here to read an article from Insites on Peter Tonkin.