David Orsmond is Professor of Economics, Macquarie Business School and Director of Policy and Communications, Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence at Macquarie University. He previously worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia, holding senior positions in the Financial Stability and Economic Analysis Departments. Dr Orsmond also spent an extended period at the International Monetary Fund working on economic stabilisation and technical assistance issues across numerous countries. He has written on a range of topics, including the emergence of artificial intelligence, regulatory policies in the financial sector, China’s economy and the mining sector. He holds a PhD from Duke University, a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the University of Sydney and completed studies in economic policy at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany.

Richard Cox is currently Director Economic Strategy in NSW Treasury. With more than thirty five years experience as a public policy economist, Richard has worked on a wide range of issues including electricity industry reform, climate policy, fiscal strategy, tax policy, regulation and competition policy, housing policy, economic evaluation, industry policy, productivity, and commercial policy. Richard’s strong commitment to staff professional development and knowledge transfer is a major part of his current role. Richard is a longstanding member of the ESA, and would like to help the ESA build better bridges between the academic and the public policy economic community.

Andrea Chareunsy is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University (Sydney), in the Department of Economics. She is an applied microeconomist with a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on the equity of renewable energy transition, natural capital and biodiversity management, and the diffusion and adoption of sustainable technologies. Andrea has extensive experience in economic curriculum development from foundation undergraduate courses to capstone and research postgraduate courses. She also leads the curriculum development and management at postgraduate course level for more than four years and is a recipient of the highly esteemed Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s 2022 Educational Leaders Award.      

Dev Govil is a Senior Economist at the NSW Productivity and Equality Commission. He holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Sydney (2017). Dev began his career at the Brattle Group, providing consulting services in the energy and regulation sectors. In 2019, he relocated to Brattle’s London office, where he specialised in international arbitration. In 2021, he took a career break from economics to work in the hospitality industry, before returning to Sydney in 2023 to join the Commission.

Samir Sultani is an Economist for the NSW Department of Education, within the Early Childhood Outcomes division, focusing on providing advice on, and building an evidence base to support investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC).

Samir holds a Master of Research in Economics from Macquarie University. He aims to leverage his role on the council to promote the importance of continuous economic education for young people in NSW.

Dr Le (Lyla) Zhang is an Associate Professor at Macquarie Business School. She specialises in utilising experimental economics methods and behavioural insights to study human decision-making. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Macquarie Business School Experimental Economics Laboratory and Chair of the Women in Economics Network (NSW).  

Florence Stoker is a Senior Economist at NSW Treasury in the Economic Strategy and Productivity Group, where she works on tax policy advice. Prior to joining NSW Treasury, she worked in regulatory roles covering global markets, specifically equities electronic trading. She hopes to help facilitate a dynamic and inclusive community for young economist within NSW ESA.

Gigi Foster is a Professor with the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales and a Senior Scholar at Brownstone Institute. Formally educated at Yale University (BA in Ethics, Politics, and Economics) and the University of Maryland (PhD in Economics), she works in diverse fields including education, social influence, corruption, lab experiments, time use, behavioural economics, and Australian policy. Her research contributions regularly inform public debates and appear in both specialised and cross-disciplinary outlets (e.g., Quantitative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Economic Psychology, Human Relations). Her teaching, featuring strategic innovation and integration with research, was awarded a 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Named 2019 Young Economist of the Year by the Economic Society of Australia, Professor Foster has filled numerous roles of service to the profession and engages heavily on economic matters with the Australian community as one of Australia’s leading economics communicators.

Matthew Read is a Research Manager in the Economic Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). His recent research has focused on identifying and conducting inference about macroeconomic shocks using time series methods. His work has been published in high-impact journals, including the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and the Economic Record.

Matthew holds a PhD in Economics from University College London and a combined Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney.

Robert Smith has been a member of the Economic Society of Australia for over 20 years and on the NSW council for eight. He is the Principal Consulting Economist at East Economics and has a background in management consulting, banking and finance, infrastructure and energy.  Robert’s experience covers economic evaluation, economic policy & regulation, market design, demand management, industry analysis, forecasting and performance improvement. He is passionate about using economics to find creative, efficient, and practical solutions described by clear and compelling narratives.  Robert’s other interests include technology and innovation, mentalism, ocean swimming and freediving.