Our
People
Four Winds is led by a dynamic and dedicated team whose work is inspired by our founders and all those who have contributed to the development of Four Winds since its launch in 1991.
Four Winds Co-FOUNDER
+ Benefactor
Neilma Gantner
CO-FOUNDER + BENEFACTOR
Passed away June 15, 2015
Four Winds founder Neilma Gantner, was a writer, philanthropist, independent woman and lover of music and the outdoors. She was devoted to the region she called her home, Barragga Bay and Bermagui, from the 1980s until her death in 2015.
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More on our founder
Neilma grew up as a daughter of Melbourne’s Myer family and as such was a committed and inspired philanthropist. Throughout her lifetime she quietly helped many small organisations and individuals. However, as her friend Rodney Hall has said of her ‘Neilma preferred to make her contributions out of the limelight. She avoided publicity and had no interest in power.’
Neilma was drawn to the magical far-south coast by her brother Ken, who by the 1980s along with architect and artist Roy Grounds, had already set up their locally famous bush property at Bithry Inlet, deep in the Mimosa Rocks National Park.
Neilma fell in love with the region, rejoicing in its ocean and estuaries, winds and nature, and she spent much of her time out in it all, sailing and walking, writing stories, letters and journals along the way.
Her son, actor Carrillo Gantner says “She was an independent woman before feminism became a movement. Sailing was the physical expression of this ideal, and at any opportunity she would drop everything to sail. Sailing gave her freedom, inner peace, and the deep power and immediacy of living in the moment.”
Although literature was her passion, Neilma could not conceive of a life on her beloved coast without music. Thus the invitation to her friends and neighbours one afternoon in the late 1980s, to gather and talk about an idea.
What the group talked about was art and music, and the fact they didn’t want to travel to the city for great music. ‘Why not bring the music here?’ asked Neilma, thus laying the foundation of what is now Four Winds, the Festival and the arts organisation.
What has taken place at the Barragga Bay site since that moment in 1980s has been an immense cultural transformation. The Festival is now in its thirtieth year, and the organisation continues to invest in year-round work with the local community, encouraging and inspiring creative and musical practice and education throughout the region.
‘Beyond my mother’s personal qualities, this is perhaps her greatest living legacy to the place and the people she loved so much,’ Carrillo Gantner said at his mother’s memorial service, held in the Windsong Pavilion in 2015.
Neilma never wanted to be known as a philanthropist, she wished to be remembered simply as a ‘writer and music lover’.
And so every Easter we raise a glass in tribute, to Neilma Gantner, Writer and Music Lover.
Four Winds BOARD
Chair
Michael Darling
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2013
Michael is the Chair of a family investment group alongside his role as Chair of Four Winds Concerts Inc. He has been a consultant with McKinsey & Co and a Director of the Australian Stock Exchange. He is a former Chair of the Centre for Independent Studies and Art Exhibitions Australia. He was a Trustee of the National gallery of Victoria, a Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), and a Director of the Power Institute, Sydney University.
Treasurer
Geoff Steel
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2013
Geoff has held senior positions in financial oversight, accounting policy setting and regulation of major Australian financial institutions, including Head of Accounting Regulation at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, and Head of Group Accounting Policy for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group.
Director
Sian Morgan-Hall
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2018
In the mid-eighties, Sian’s role as director of development for the Australian National Gallery focussed on corporate donors. Sian was, until recently, responsible for Audience Development (Outreach) for Sydney Living Museums (previously the Historic Houses Trust of NSW). While living in the UK, Sian managed the European Community Baroque Orchestra.
Director
Dr Stephen Mills
Dr Stephen Mills is an honorary senior lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of Sydney. He was previously a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a political adviser (speechwriter) to Prime Minister Hon R J L Hawke (1986-91), and a corporate affairs adviser in the financial services sector (ASX Ltd, Citigroup and Bankers Trust Australia, 1996-2006). He is a director of Barnardos Australia, and was a director and chair of Australian Business Foundation (2004-11). He graduated BA Hons (Melbourne), MPA (Harvard) and PhD (Sydney). He is the author of books and articles on election campaign management, campaign finance and political parties. He is married with two adult children and lives at Cuttagee.
Director
Leigh Small
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2024
Leigh Small brings over 25 years of leadership in Australia’s premier performing arts organisations to her role as Executive Director of Four Winds, a position she has held since June 2023. Leigh’s career includes executive roles at Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre Company, and a decade as Executive Director of Sydney Dance Company. She also served for as CEO of Sydney Film Festival, 2010-2022 through a period of substantial growth. Leigh was chair of Red Line Productions at The Old Fitz 2014-2020. As a member of the Four Winds board, Leigh contributes her wealth of expertise and passion for connecting audiences with powerful shared experiences through music and performance.
Director
Honor Northam
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2025
Honor Northam is co-founder of Honorbread, a values-driven artisan bakery renowned for its commitment to sustainability and community integration. With a background in communications and psychology (BA Communications, UTS; Grad Dip Psychology, Monash University), and currently undertaking a Diploma of Governance through the Institute of Community Directors Australia, Honor brings a unique blend of strategic insight and hands-on experience in collaborative, community-led initiatives.
Her leadership has encompassed cooperative model development, cultural preservation projects, and fostering resilient local economies. Honor also brings deep expertise in relational labour, having held primary responsibility for the emotional and logistical care of a family of four over 24 years. Her work is grounded in an ethos of care, connection, and long-term stewardship — values that align closely with the spirit of Four Winds.
Director
Andrea Lam
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2025
Pronounced a “real talent” by the Wall Street Journal, ARIA award-winning pianist Andrea Lam performs with leading orchestras and conductors across Asia, Australasia and the USA, with conductors such as Simone Young, Sir Donald Runnicles, Jaime Martín, Alan Gilbert, Michael Christie, and Wing-sie Yip. Recently returned after two decades based in New York, Andrea has played thrilled audiences from New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House, with works from Bach, Mozart and Schumann to Aaron Jay Kernis, Liliya Ugay and Nigel Westlake.
Widely recognised for her star role as classical expert in the ABC’s hit television series, The Piano – watched by over a million viewers each week – Andrea’s solo album ‘Piano Diary’ (ABC Classics) won the 2025 ARIA Fine Arts Award for ‘Best Classical Album’, topping the classical charts for weeks. Voted finalist for 2025 Limelight Artist of the Year for the second year running, with soloist performances with almost all the major Australian orchestras and at Sir Donald Runnicles’ Grand Teton Music Festival, in 2026 Andrea performs with the Melbourne, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, in recital with Sir Bryn Terfel for the Sydney Symphony, with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Australian String Quartet, and more. Winner of multiple international prizes, Andrea holds a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and Artist Diploma and Master of Music from Yale University (USA). Andrea is a board member for the Australian National Academy of Music and is Lecturer in Piano at the University of Melbourne’s Conservatorium of Music.
Director
Leslie Loble AM
BOARD MEMBER SINCE 2026
Leslie Loble AM is a recognised leader of public policy reform in Australia and the US, with a substantial track record delivering major innovations in education and related economic domains. In addition to her role as Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Paul Ramsay Foundation Fellow, she chairs the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education, is Deputy Chair of Australia’s national curriculum and assessment authority (ACARA) and a board member of the Australian Education Research Organisation and Copyright Agency, amongst other appointments.
Previously, Leslie served as Deputy Secretary in the New South Wales Department of Education, leading work across schooling, early childhood and tertiary education. Leslie was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022, named an Australian Financial Review Top 100 Women of Influence and one of Australia’s top 50 school education innovators.
Prior to coming to Australia, Leslie was appointed by President Bill Clinton to high level executive roles, including Chief of Staff to Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich, Counsellor to the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for Policy.
Four Winds TEAM
Classical Concerts Curator
Timothy Walker
Advisor, Contemporary Music & Residencies
Sophia Brous
Easter Concerts Curators
Slava & Leonard Grigoryan
FOUR WINDS BENEFACTORS & AMBASSADORS
Neilma Gantner
Benefactor
Carrillo Gantner AC
Benefactor
Sheena Boughen OAM
LIFETIME AMBASSADOR
Founding Member: 1991-1997
Re-joined Board as Chair: 2008-2016
Sheena’s professional experience lies in strategic facilitation with global civil society groups and major companies including Nestlé, ANZ, BHP Billiton, Oxfam and Rio Tinto. Sheena spearheaded the festival team’s success in raising $3 million to create Nature’s Concert Hall.
LIFETIME FellowS:
Bill Caldicott
Dr Moira Scollay AM
Bill Southwood
FORMER CREATIVE DIRECTORS
MATTHEW HOY, 2023
Dr Lindy Hume AM, 2021, 2022
James Crabb, 2018, 2019
Paul Dean, 2016
Paul Kildea, 2014
Genevieve Lacey, 2010 – 2012
Christopher Latham, 2006 – 2008
Carrillo Gantner & Rodney Hall, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004
Michael Brimer, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
FOUR WINDS PATRONS
Sir William Deane, Patron-in-chief
Louise Cox
Philip Cox
Lady Grounds
Daryl and Kaye Jackson
Jonathan Mills
Mirka Mora
Carl Vine
Gough Whitlam (d. 2014)