President Ashlynne McGhee

Ashlynne McGhee is an award-winning reporter at the ABC’s flagship television current affairs program 7.30. Over the past decade she’s been a Federal Political Reporter in the Canberra press gallery, travelled the country as a video journalist and broken major stories from Australia and abroad. Ashlynne was awarded the 2015 Holly Whisenhunt Stephen fellowship by the US-based Investigative Reporters and Editors group as well as the 2013 MPC Young Journalist of the Year award. She has been on the board of the Melbourne Press Club since 2013 and was instrumental in setting up the club’s mentoring and training programs for young journalists.

Vice-President Nick McKenzie

Nick McKenzie is an award-winning investigative reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. His individual and collaborative work covers politics, business, foreign affairs, defence, human rights issues, the criminal justice system and social affairs. In his 18 years in journalism McKenzie has proven himself one of Australia’s most decorated journalists, winning 12 Walkley Awards, countless Quill awards and taking out the Melbourne Press Club's Gold Quill three times alongside colleagues at The Age.

Vice-President Heidi Murphy

Heidi Murphy is beginning a new career in 2022 as a television reporter at Channel Nine. The move follows 20 years of radio work in Melbourne, most recently as the long time executive producer of Neil Mitchell’s top-rating morning radio program on 3AW. She's had stints as a news presenter, editor and award-winning state political reporter in the 3aw newsroom. In her spare time, Heidi mothers two children and an outrageously cute spoodle.

CEO Cathy Bryson

Cathy Bryson is a highly experienced marketing, sales, sponsorship and membership professional with a proven history of success in large corporates, running her own small business and in the community not-for-profit sector. She has led teams and projects and provided guidance in strategy and at operational levels. Cathy Bryson joined the Melbourne Press Club after six years with the National Press Club in Canberra, where, as Marketing and Sales Manager, she worked closely with media, sponsors and news makers across Australia. Cathy has worked alongside senior journalists at the National Press Club, secured heavy-hitters from business and politics for agenda-setting events and ensured the club’s financial future through great relationships with sponsors. Prior to her role at the National Press Club, Cathy spent more than a decade providing extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector in leadership and revenue raising roles.

Treasurer Veronica Scott

Veronica is a senior lawyer specialising in media and privacy. After qualifying in England where she worked at London law firm Mishcon de Reya for five years, Veronica moved to Melbourne in 2000. She was Special Counsel in Minter Ellison’s leading media law practice for over 15 years and led its National Privacy Team. Veronica joined KPMG Law as a Director in 2019. Veronica has represented a wide range of media companies across all mediums. Her work focuses on digital content and covers defamation, FOI laws, court reporting, privacy and data protection, breach of confidence, pre-publication advice and reputation management. Veronica also serves on the Media and Communications Committee of the Law Council of Australia and is on the ANZ Advisory Board of privacy professional association IAPP.

Secretary Richard Leder OAM

Richard is a partner of the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He has practiced as a media lawyer and litigator for over 30 years. He is the principal legal advisor to Channel Seven Melbourne. Other media law clients include The Conversation Media Group, The Big Issue and the Elliott Newspaper Group. He represented Rebel Wilson.  His expertise, particularly in media law, has been recognised by a number of leading legal directors including Chambers Asia Pacific and the Best Lawyers peer review. He also serves on the boards of community and charitable bodies, including the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, Australian Friends of Asha for Slums and the Conversation Media Group, and is the deputy chair of the Mt Buller & Mt Stirling Alpine Resort Management Board. He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2019.

Tito Ambyo

Tito Ambyo is an award-winning journalist, writer and journalism trainer currently teaching at RMIT University. As a journalism educator he has won multiple awards, including the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia's Teaching Innovation Award. He has been actively involved in improving diversity in Australian media as a committee member of Media Diversity Australia. He also co-hosts the Talking Indonesia podcast and is an active researcher currently finishing his anthropology PhD on digital storytelling.

Ashley Argoon

Ashley Argoon is the Herald Sun's education editor and Night Chief of Staff. Argoon started her career as a cadet at Fairfax's Border Mail in 2011 and moved to the Herald Sun in 2013. She has covered courts, domestic violence, social issues and crime before moving into her current roles. Previous reporting by Argoon and her colleagues at the Border Mail exploring the impact of suicide and mental illness in regional areas and led to substantial local change in the Albury-Wodonga areas. Argoon and her colleagues were awarded Walkley awards for the work. Argoon has been on on the board of Albury-Wodonga community network Survivors of Suicide and Friends since its establishment in 2013.

Patrick Considine

Patrick is a senior lawyer with Minter Ellison specialising in media law and commercial litigation. He has worked in media law since being admitted in December 2010, and joined Minter Ellison’s media law practice as a Senior Associate in 2015. Minter Ellison has one of the longest-established media law practices in the country. Patrick has represented a number of media organisations in a broad range of matters, including Fairfax Media, Channel Nine, The New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, Domain Group, as well as a number of authors, actors, government departments and insurers.

Rachael Dexter

Rachael is an award-winning journalist and a podcast/video producer with The Age. She previously worked as a radio producer for ABC Radio Melbourne. Rachael is convenor of The Edit, the MPC forum that provides training, networking and support for young journalists. She is a passionate advocate for young people in the media industry and has previously been President of the SYN (Student Youth Network) - the Melbourne radio station that gave her a leg up into journalism.

Fotis Kapetopoulos

Fotis Kapetopoulos has 35 years experience in the arts and multicultural media. He works for Neos Kosmos, Australia’s leading Greek Australian media, serving as English edition editor between 2007 and 2011. After a stint as Multicultural Media Advisor to former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu Fotis returned to Neos Kosmos, where in 2020 he led a campaign to have multicultural media invited to state government press conferences. This was during the second pandemic wave in Victoria when over 140 Greek Australian elderly died. Neos Kosmos’ advocacy resulted in the Victorian government allocating $3.5m to the multicultural media sector. Fotis has led the development of the independent national Multicultural Media Association, heads multicultural communications and research consultancy Kape Communications, and has held leadership roles including CEO of Multicultural Arts Victoria. He is a Smithsonian Institution (short-term) Intern and an Asialink Arts Management Residency recipient. Fotis is a PhD Candidate at Deakin University looking at multicultural media and the role of Neos Kosmos.

Matilda Marozzi

Matilda Marozzi is an investigative journalist and radio producer at the ABC in Melbourne. She is also a regular guest on ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio Overnights. She was named 2018 Melbourne Press Club Young Journalist of the Year for her investigations of underpayment in the hospitality industry and won a UK Gold aria award for BBC Radio 5 live’s coverage of the London Bridge Terror attack. As well as her work producing and reporting for ABC Radio Melbourne, Matilda has freelanced for Monocle 24, ABC Radio National and the BBC. Marozzi has served as director and vice-president of SYN Media in Melbourne.

Patrick O'Beirne

Patrick O'Beirne is a Director of leading strategic communication firm, Six O'Clock Advisory. Over a 20-year career, Pat has held senior corporate affairs and executive positions in-house and in-agency, including at Telstra, Cricket Australia and the Dentsu Aegis Network. O'Beirne joined the Board of the Melbourne Press Club in 2011 and has been a member and sponsor of the club since 2003.

Paul Paton

Paul Paton is a Gunai and Monaro-Ngarigo man from southeastern Australia who is dedicated towards the preservation, continuation and promotion of Aboriginal cultures. He is presently CEO of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations, and has previously served as Executive Officer at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages and as a Director on the Board of First Nations Legal & Research Services.

Paul has broad experience in identifying, fostering and maintaining relationships across Aboriginal communities and like-minded organisations around Victoria. As FVTOC CEO, Paul is committed to building on the organisation's success as a key organisation that strengthens the voice of Traditional Owners in Victoria.

Tom Salom

Tom Salom is Commercial Director and Managing Editor at News Corp, providing a strategic and commercial link between editorial management an other parts of the News Corp business in Victoria. He has worked in the news media for over 25 years beginning at the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper on the WA Goldfields. Following journalism roles in Perth, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, Salom was appointed to a management position with the Herald Sun. He is also involved in managing News Corp's national sporting partnerships with organisations such as the AFL, Tennis Australia and Cricket Australia.

Lynne Scrivens

Lynne Scrivens is the Deputy News Director for Seven Network Melbourne. Lynne has 26 years experience as a journalist in radio and TV. She started her career in regional radio in NSW, before a five year stint at 2UE covering police, courts and state politics. She made the move to TV in 2006, joining Seven News in Sydney, where she worked as a senior news producer. She moved to Melbourne in 2013, choosing to a lifestyle change, to live in the best city in the world. Lynne has put to air countless hours of rolling coverage including during the Lindt Café siege, cyclones, earthquakes, elections and riots. She has a passion for knowing what’s going on in the world, and telling people about it in an entertaining yet informative way. She enjoys mentoring young journalists and creating career opportunities for journalists who share her passion for news.

Nicole Strahan

Nicole has more than two decades of experience in the media industry.

Nicole began her career in local newspapers as a cadet journalist, working her way up to become a senior reporter. She then spent several years as a reporter at The Australian newspaper. She joined Network 10 as a junior reporter in the Melbourne news room in 2001 and covered stories across Australia and around the world, including the Beaconsfield mine disaster, state elections, bushfires, the Bali bombings and the Christchurch terror attacks.

After leaving the network in 2014, Nicole worked as a journalism lecturer and tutor at Monash and Swinburne universities. She returned to the network in 2015 as a senior producer and reporter.
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Richard Willingham

Richard Willingham is senior state political reporter for ABC News in Melbourne. Willingham has been a journalist in Melbourne for more than 10 years, joining The Age in 2010 before moving to the ABC in 2017. He has previously spent time in Canberra as a political reporter. He has won two Quill awards in the news writing and radio categories.