Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC is the 30th Governor of Victoria and the second woman to hold the office. Prior to her appointment in August 2023, she was the 9th and first woman President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University from September 2014 until August 2023.
Prior to joining Monash, the Governor was Vice-Chancellor and President of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) from April 2005 until August 2014. She has extensive academic experience, having held various leadership positions in Australian universities throughout her career, including as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at The University of Queensland and Pro Vice-Chancellor at Griffith University in Queensland.
She attained a first-class honours degree in Economics and a PhD from the University of Sydney. In 1988, she was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, spending time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, New York, and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
The Governor was Chair of the Group of Eight Universities in Australia from 2020 to 2023. She was also a Director of Infrastructure Victoria from 2015 to 2023, the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) from 2015 to 2023 and Chair of CASE Asia-Pacific Regional Council from 2019 to 2023.
The Governor was Chair of Universities Australia from 2017 to 2019 and Museum Victoria from 2008 to 2016 and chaired the Strategic Advisory Committee and the Expert Panel of the Office of Learning and Teaching (Federal Government Department of Education and Training). She has also been a member of various other boards and committees, including the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, the ANZAC Centenary Advisory Board and the International Education Advisory Committee, which led to the Chaney Report.
In 2007, the Governor was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of service to tertiary education, particularly in the areas of university governance and gender equity, and to industrial relations. Subsequently in January 2020, the Governor was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for her eminent service to tertiary education through leadership and innovation in teaching and learning, research and financial sustainability.
In her inauguration speech, the Governor expressed a desire to listen to the voices of all Victorians, and to support and preserve the State’s democratic institutions.
Read the Governor’s full inauguration speech.