BWF Board
The Hon Justice Thomas Bradley
Chair
Justice Bradley is a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He is a Vice-Patron of the Qld Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art Foundation, Chair of Access Arts Inc, Chair of the Brisbane Festival Giving Committee and a former member of the Council of the National Library of Australia.
Emma Hansford
Vice Chair
Emma Hansford has over 20 years’ experience across strategy development and execution, change management, marketing, communications and consulting with 13 years’ experience in the financial services sector. She is currently the General Manager of Strategy & Initiatives at QIC, an institutional fund manager specialising in alternative investments. Emma holds a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She is a passionate supporter of the arts and lover of literature.
Christine Jackman
Secretary
Christine Jackman is an author, journalist and communications consultant. Over 20+ years, her work in media has taken her from a newspaper cadetship in Brisbane to a posting as a foreign correspondent in New York and to Canberra’s Federal Press Gallery. She is a Walkley finalist and has won a number of journalism awards, including a Quill, for her feature writing.
Christine’s first book, Inside Kevin07, documented the 2007 federal election campaign and victory by the Labor Party, led by Kevin Rudd. Her latest book, Turning Down the Noise, explores how external noise and digital distractions erode our wellbeing, undermining our capacity for creative or innovative work.
As a communications consultant, Christine has advised some of Australia’s top business and political leaders. She is a passionate advocate for the arts; books, films and theatre are among her greatest passions.
Emily Blauberg
Treasurer
Emily is a qualified Chartered Accountant with extensive experience across a broad spectrum of clients and industries. She has worked with a diverse range of clients from start-ups to family owned business and global entities. In her current role, Emily oversees the finance function of a global business. She enjoys enhancing process and finding efficiencies for business owners to assist with their financial reporting. Emily spends her spare time either triathlon training or reading her never ending TBR.
Georgina Buckley
Board Member
Georgina is a lawyer at Hamilton Locke specialising in commercial litigation and dispute resolution. She acts for and provides advice to corporations, individuals, state departments, and not-for-profit organisations, and has been involved in multi-million dollar disputes. In her spare time, Georgina is also a writer and an avid reader.
Sean Jacobs
Board Member
Sean Jacobs is a Port Moresby-born Australian writer, government relations and policy specialist. He has worked with all levels of government in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Sean currently works in local government and is the author of three non-fiction books. He is a graduate of Griffith University and Macquarie University, and features at www.seanjacobs.com.au.
Alexandra Payne
Board Member
Alexandra Payne is a publisher at Murdoch Books, Australia’s leading lifestyle publisher. She has worked in book publishing for more than 25 years, with books she has commissioned winning awards such as the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the Queensland Literary Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for History. She’s enthralled by books, authors and readers and firmly believes books can – and do – change the world.
Karen Lee
Board Member
Karen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Professional Editors. She has over twenty years of leadership experience in strategy, government relations, philanthropy, and policy. Karen is a writer of Malaysian Chinese background with formal qualifications in law. She also shares a love for literature, the arts and travel.
Tiffany Johnson
Board Member
Tiffany Johnson has had a long and rewarding career in book production and publishing for over twenty years in the UK and Australia. She has had a hand in producing some of the most awarded books of the last two decades and has taught book production to many. During the same period she has been by her sister Kylie Johnson's side, working on paper boat press ceramic exhibitions and projects. Turning an interest in writing and photography into her first authored project, together they wrote and photographed 'Utsuwa: Japanese objects for everyday use' in 2021 and followed up with 'Earth and Fire' in 2023, both published by Thames & Hudson Australia.
Angela Leitch
Board Member
Ms Barney-Leitch is a Woppaburra woman with over 30 years of experience working in and with State and Federal Governments, the tertiary sector, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-based organisations. For over 20 years she worked within and led Queensland government policy and strategy units. Ms Barney-Leitch is a Land Trustee and Native Title Holder for the Woppaburra Nation and is currently the QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Australians) at Queensland University of Technology.