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Roland Jabbour OAM
Mr Roland Jabbour OAM is a distinguished leader in public service and business entrepreneurship with extensive experience of commerce and international trade relations. He is the Chairman of Jabbour Holding Group of companies, with its corporate headquarters based in Melbourne-Australia and offices across the Middle East region and globally. He has held numerous community positions and government appointments. Former president and national chairman, he is currently a Director, of the National Board of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AACCI) as well as the Honorary consul of the Kingdom of Morocco in the state of Victoria. He is the founding and current Chairman of the Australian Arabic Council (AAC); founding director of the Australia Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ALCCI); and founding and current director of the Australia Oman Business Council (AOBC). He served as vice president and board member of the Council for Australian Arab Relations (CAAR) under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to the Australian community. Mar Jabbour is the recipient of the Medal for the Centenary of Federation
of Australia.
Professor Sally Totman
Professor Sally Totman PhD is a political scientist specialising in the Middle East and North Africa and is currently the Head of School of the School of Social Work and Arts at Charles Sturt University. Previously Professor Totman has held positions at Deakin University in Melbourne, Macquarie University in Sydney, and Champlain College in Vermont.
Dr Rodger Shanahan
Dr Rodger Shanahan is a former army officer, with operational service with the UN in South Lebanon and Syria, with the Parachute Battalion Group in East Timor, in Beirut during the 2006 war, and in Afghanistan. He was the former director of the Army’s Land Warfare Studies Centre, and has also been posted to the Australian Embassies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Dr Shanahan has MAs in International Relations and Middle East Studies from the ANU, and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Sydney. He has been an Associate Professor at ANU's National Security College and a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute's West Asia program where his work focused on Australia's interests in the Middle East. He is also a part-time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and an Assistant Inspector-General Australian Defence Force as an army reservist. He has written numerous journal, media and policy articles, is a frequent commentator on Middle East issues for Australian and international media, has appeared as an expert witness in dozens of terrorism trials in Australia and is the author of Clans, Parties and Clerics: the Shi’a of Lebanon.
JB
James Bryan
Mr James Bryan is an officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and is
currently Director of the Levant Section in the Middle East and Africa Division. Prior to that he
served as the Political and Economic Counsellor at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. Earlier roles were in the US and Indo-Pacific Strategy Division, where he focused on
implementation of Australia’s Indo-Pacific agenda, and the Iraq and Syria Task Force, where he
worked on Syria policy and supporting Australian engagement in the Defeat-ISIL coalition. Prior to
joining DFAT, Mr Bryan was an adviser with International Division in the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet.
