Mr Russell Taylor commenced a five-year term as Chief Executive Officer (Principal) at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in late March 2009.  Russell (Russ) Taylor was born and raised in Millers Point, an inner city waterfront suburb of Sydney which today forms part of the tourist precinct area now more commonly known as ‘The Rocks’.  Mr Taylor proudly identifies as a Kamilaroi man with family connection to La Perouse in Sydney and to traditional country in the New England area of New South Wales.  

Mr Taylor most recently held the position of Chief Executive Officer at the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office.  His career includes more than 15 years in various Senior Executive Service positions including terms with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the Australian Development Commission and previously as Principal at AIATSIS (1997 – 2003).  Mr Taylor’s career also includes 20 years in the banking financial sector.

Michelle Patterson joined AIATSIS as the Deputy Principal in January 2013. She brings extensive SES policy and leadership experience to the job (Departments of Workplace Relations, Transport and Regional Development, Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and a passion to contribute to role and the future of AIATSIS.

John Paul Janke is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent - Wuthathi from Cape York Peninsula and from Murray Island in the Torres Strait.

He has passionately worked within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs for over two decades, developing a well-respected enthusiasm, talent and demonstrated track record of initiating and implementing a wide range of communication and media strategies, solutions and materials.

From 1993-2004, with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS), he coordinated and managed several major national events including; the triennial ATSIC elections, the National NAIDOC Awards Ball, ATSIC’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sports Awards, and the annual Prime Minister’s XI v ATSIC’s Chairman’s XI. In 2000, he worked with domestic and international media at the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In 2004, he was the Media Advisor for The Long Walk, Michael Long’s historic trek from Melbourne to Canberra.

From 2004-2009, he worked for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council. Appointed as Director of Media and Marketing in July 2008, he worked in collaboration with key stakeholders to develop and implemented effective communication strategies promoting NSWALC’s Land Rights policies and processes and the need for further constitutional reforms to recognise the rights of Aboriginal peoples, particularly in NSW.

Rhonda Black has spent most of her working life in publishing. For many years she was the Editorial/Production Director at Allen & Unwin (A&U), a large independent publisher. Responsible for producing 200 new titles a year and publishing a small list of academic and general books, she was later part of a management buy-out of the company.

Since leaving A&U in 1993 she has been a publishing consultant whose clients include a variety of publishers, the Literature Board of the Australia Council and the Australian Publishers Association. She has undertaken publicity and marketing, worked as a manuscript assessor, written for publication, and produced and taught writing and publishing-related courses at Macquarie University and Sydney University’s Centre for Continuing Education.

As the Director of Aboriginal Studies Press, she is committed to fostering the work of new and established writers in Indigenous Studies.

Jeff Hobson is Director (Chief Finance Officer) Corporate Services. Jeff has over 30 years experience in public sector financial management, is a Fellow of CPA Australia and holds degrees in Master of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts (Accounting). He also holds Diplomas in Computer Programming and HR. Jeff is also a Justice of the Peace in the ACT.

Lyndall Osborne has worked extensively as an executive manager in local government in Queensland and Victoria in the fields of community, arts and cultural development and services, libraries and corporate services. She is also a qualified librarian with years of experience in this field, especially at management level. The last 4 years she has been travelling, living and working overseas, primarily in Egypt as owner and part of the management team of a Class A tourism company, assisting clients from all over the world to enjoy the unique attractions of Egypt. Lyndall also works with Youth Impact Ethiopia, a local Ethiopian NGO based in Addis Ababa, assisting with strategic and financial planning and the development of a youth library.

Joining AIATSIS as the Library Director, she has special interests in strengthening access to the library’s collections for all clients through online services and collections and in engendering increased support for the Institute and its collections through the opportunities offered by the digital world and social media.

Di Hosking joined AIATSIS in 1987 and has been the Director of Audiovisual Archives since 1998. Ms Hosking’s previous roles include Collection Manager, Recorded Sound (Linguistics and Oral History) and Linguistics Research Fellow. She has undertaken research on the Wiradjuri language and has been a strong advocate for Indigenous languages for two decades.

For many years, Ms Hosking has been concerned with the digitisation of and electronic access to the Institute’s audiovisual collections in a culturally appropriate manner. She has represented AIATSIS in a number of forums including membership of the Australian Research Council Review of Applied Linguistics Committee, the NSW Aboriginal Languages Research and Resource Centre Advisory Committee and is a current member of the Australian Memory of the World Committee.

Ms Hosking’s interests include Australian Indigenous and Asian languages; and the dialogue between the various stakeholders in Indigenous knowledge, from the Ministerial level to the Indigenous community/individual level.

Dr Jakelin Troy is a Ngarigu woman whose country is the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Jakelin’s academic research is diverse but has a focus on languages and linguistics, anthropology and visual arts. She is particularly interested in Australian languages of New South Wales and ‘contact languages’. Her doctoral research was into the development of NSW Pidgin. Since 2001, Jakelin has been developing curriculum for Australian schools with a focus on Australian language programs.

Her most recent project is to co-write the National Languages Curriculum framework document for ACARA. She previously worked on major government initiatives in Indigenous affairs including developing and writing the Native Title Act, managing Commonwealth land rights legislation, and, managing national languages and broadcasting programs. She began life as an academic researching Indigenous anthropology and linguistics.

Jakelin has lived and studied in Mexico and Japan where she was able to develop her interest in the art, culture and languages of those countries. She is particularly interested in world ‘Indigenous art’ and has recently been developing her own art practice in the area of ceramics.

Jakelin was formerly teaching in the Faculty of Education in the University of Canberra which enabled her to develop her research in the field of arts and languages education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Dr Lisa Strelein is Director of AIATSIS Research Program, Indigenous Country and Governance and Director of the Native Title Research Unit (NTRU). Lisa’s research and publications have focused on the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state, and the role of the courts in defining Indigenous peoples’ rights. She has made a significant contribution to academic debate on native title in Australia, including her recent book Compromised Jurisprudence: Native Title Cases since Mabo, which was heralded by members of the judiciary and Indigenous community alike.

Lisa also writes for a wide variety of audiences and has worked with teams in creating a catalogue for a native title art exhibition and an award winning multi-media package on native title.

She maintains strong networks within the native title system, conducting research projects in partnership with or in response to the needs of native title representative bodies and claimants as well as government departments.

Lisa is the convenor of the annual National Native Title Conference, which remains the leading annual Indigenous policy conference in Australia. She has degrees in Commerce and Law and was awarded a PhD, for her thesis examining Indigenous sovereignty and the common law, from the ANU Research School of Social Sciences in 1998.