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John Langoulant has extensive experience across Western Australia’s business, government and community sectors, and has been recognized for his activities being made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2010 and Western Australian Citizen of the Year in 2011.
John has held CEO positions in government and the business community and is currently chair of Westpac Banking Group WA, CEDA WA, the Telethon Kids Institute and consults to the university and banking sectors.
John’s experience in the arts and culture sector has included 11 years on the Board of the West Australian Ballet, inaugural Director of the Chamber of Arts and Culture Board and member of the Art Gallery Foundation.
Lisa Hando is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers leading the Perth People & Organisation team and has over 20 years Big 4 experience in providing specialist tax advice to a wide cross-section of clients.
Originally from Sydney, Lisa has worked and lived in the Netherlands, the UK, Brisbane and Perth from 2009.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and Masters of Tax Law from the University of Technology, Sydney, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and recently appointed to the WA regional Council of CAANZ. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Lisa is on the Board of Trustees for the Regal Theatre in Subiaco, the Harness Racing Committee for WA, plays State Masters hockey, completed a BA (Creative Writing) at ECU and completing a BA at UWA majoring in History of Art and Asian Studies.
Pina Caffarelli is a chartered accountant with a Masters in Business who operates a city-based specialist accounting practice.
Pina’s extensive business management skills and her love and support of the arts is of enormous benefit to arts boards across Western Australia.
In addition to her position on the Board of The Lester Prize, she has been the Chair of Awesome Arts Ltd, and a Board Member of Country Arts WA. She has also served on the board of Kulcha (Multicultural Arts of Western Australia) from 1996 to 2006. Pina holds a number of other board positions with not-for-profit organisations in the areas of health, sport and entrepreneurship.
Russell Lester is an Executive Director of the Lester Group of companies, with 25 years’ experience in the Australian equity, investment and property industries he has built a broad range of investment and business management skills.
He holds a Bachelor of Economics from University of WA; a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia; is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and a Member of Real Estate Institute of WA. He is a Fellow of Council at Guildford Grammar School and the immediate past President of the Guildford Grammar School Foundation Inc.
Dario Amara is a civil engineer and builder with 40 years of business experience gained in Australia and internationally. His experience spans the building, infrastructure, industrial and property sectors.
Dario has a track record in establishing and developing businesses, with particular strengths around strategic planning, project development and capture, project management, business improvement and building high performance teams.
His passion for the arts has translated to over 25 years of pro bono service on arts and cultural boards, including having served as Chairman of the West Australian Opera Company, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Heritage Perth, and as a Board Member of the Perth International Arts Festival, the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra Foundation and the Murdoch University Art Collection Board. He is also a keen collector and has a Lester Prize for Portraiture finalist work in his collection.
Sherri Staltari is the Director of STALA CONTEMPORARY commercial gallery in West Perth and acted previously as a Director of emerge Art Space galleries (2006 – 2016). She is a passionate advocate for the visual arts and champions the development of home-grown WA contemporary and Australian artists. She has worked in the not-for-profit arts sector on Sculpture at Bathers 2017 in curatorial, fundraising and media roles. Sherri is dedicated to elevating the profile of the arts to benefit the wider community. She has a Curtin University Bachelor of Pharmacy and has managed community pharmacies.
Delwyn Everard is an intellectual property lawyer and arts advocate. She spent a decade working at Australia’s community legal centre for the arts, the Arts Law Centre, advising artists and arts organisations across all art forms.
She has extensive experience working in remote and regional Australia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community arts organisations and artists.
Delwyn has served on a number of non-profit boards including over six years on the board of the Art Month Sydney contemporary arts festival. She is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of the John Curtin Gallery.
Wayne Zekulich is a consultant with extensive banking and investment banking experience covering mergers and acquisitions, arranging and underwriting financings and debt and equity capital markets.
He is a member of the Curtin Business School of Accounting Advisory Board, John Curtin Gallery Board and a member of the University of Western Australia Audit Committee.
Wayne holds a Bachelor of Business Degree and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Tina Wilson is the Founder of ARTrinsic Inc’s Black Swan Prize for Portraiture. She was Executive Director for ten years, before stepping down to return to her own art practice.
Tina was made Patron in 2018 in recognition of her passionate and tireless work to ensure there was a Prize of ever-increasing excellence and prestige.
Dick Lester was made Lifetime Patron of the Prize in 2018, in recognition of his passion for the Arts, his encouragement of Tina Wilson during her tenure as Executive Director, and his advice and financial assistance that, from modest beginnings, enables the Prize to flourish.
Annie Silberstein is a partnerships specialist with experience working on international and national community projects in various sectors.
In Perth, Annie directed the much-loved Art in Bloom exhibition for six years expanding the scope, number of participants and visitors. In Thailand, she developed and expanded an art gallery and community centre attracting emerging local and international artists to Bangkok, and project managed a substantial expansion to the exhibition spaces, including raising the funds required to build it. Annie was the Clinic Coordinator in the medical sector for an international clinical trial on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Annie joined the Prize in 2018 and is passionate about democratising art by making it accessible to everyone. She is dedicated to serving communities and developing programs that benefit others.
Giorgia Mack has a strong background as an arts professional having worked across the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors. She joined The Lester Prize in 2018 and holds the role of Secretary to the Board.
Giorgia previously worked for the not-for-profit organisation, Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney as the Sculpture Sales Coordinator, a role integral to the successful planning and execution of staging major public exhibitions and events on a national level. She has expertise in acquisitions and gallery management, customer relations, artist liaison and support. Her skills also include events, marketing and research.
She is a co-director of The Farm Margaret River, which offers artist-in-residence programs to artists in WA’s South West. She has also worked for organisations such as the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts part of their Front of House staff and holds a UNSW Fine Arts (Hons) degree where she received the Sculpture, Performance and Installation Prize for Excellence.
Giorgia is driven by making a positive contribution in her field by increased participation in the arts and cultural activity, and is passionate about contemporary visual arts and its power to transform individuals and communities.
Naomi Quinlivan is a public relations and marketing consultant with marketing, science and business qualifications, as well as a Masters of Professional Marketing. She started her own PR Consultancy, Candy Stripe Public Relations in 2006, based in Cottesloe. Before this she worked as the Marketing and Public Relations Manager for St John of God Hospital Subiaco, and in a number of other marketing/ publicity roles following graduation from university.
She has worked with number of national and state-based businesses, as well as not-for profit organisations and public community events to manage their public relations. She has a particular interest in health care and works with a number of hospitals and allied health providers. Naomi has developed key contacts within the media, through her client work as well as her professional development and affiliations.
This is the fourth year that Naomi has worked with the Prize, and she relishes the opportunity to make a difference to artists’ lives through publicity and exposure.
Lizzy Doepel is an enthusiastic arts professional with diverse experience working across the museum and gallery sectors.
Born and raised in Western Australia, Lizzy undertook further study and worked in the Eastern States before returning to Perth at the end of 2019. Motivated by a lifelong passion for arts and culture, Lizzy holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in History, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies and a Graduate Diploma in Art History.
Prior to joining The Lester Prize team, Lizzy worked in collection management at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, community engagement at Science Gallery Melbourne (SGM), exhibition co-ordination for Sculpture by the Sea, and in training and development for the Australian Museum and Galleries Association WA (AMaGA WA).
Lizzy is enthusiastic about connecting artists and audiences and believes arts and culture should be engaging and accessible to all.
Mia Davis is an early career arts professional driven by a love of connecting audiences to art and ideas. Key to Mia’s practice is the process of cultivating platforms which encourage engagement, and nurture supportive and safe spaces to experience (as well as to create) visual art.
Mia joined the Prize as a volunteer in 2021 prior to taking on the role of Volunteer Coordinator. Over the past few years Mia has worked and volunteered across a range of arts organisations including Art On The Move, Martumili Artists, Sculpture by the Sea and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Mia’s diverse experience allows her to understand the vital role volunteers play in the delivery of arts initiatives, exhibitions and events.
Adelene Gumina is a marketing and communications professional with over 10 years of industry experience across agency, higher education, and retail environments. Her specialty is engagement through marketing strategy and social media strategy, having spoken at several social media marketing conferences on the value of authentic marketing and content marketing in connecting with audiences on a deeper level.
Prior to joining The Lester Prize, Adelene led The University of Notre Dame Australia’s WA marketing team and was one of the youngest managers to be appointed within the University, implementing successful marketing strategies to increase application numbers, youth engagement and create memorable impressions at every touch point.
Adelene joined the Prize in 2021 and is passionate about engaging the community through art and storytelling.
She holds a Bachelor of Marketing & Public Relations from The University of Notre Dame Australia and is currently undertaking postgraduate Business studies.
