Our Board

CHIEF EXECUTIVE & CHAIR

Sandy Grant

Co-founder of Hardie Grant, Sandy has a distinguished career in book publishing and media. He was formerly MD of Heinemann, Octopus and Reed Australia, and CEO of Reed Books UK. In addition to his key strategic role guiding Hardie Grant, Sandy has always been actively involved in the industry, including as a former director of Meanjin, the Australian Republican Movement, Chair of the Melbourne Writers Festival, member of the UNESCO City of Literature Bid Committee, President of the Australian Publishers Association, and Chair of the Copyright Agency. 

CHAIR, HARDIE GRANT MEDIA & DIRECTOR

Fiona Hardie

Co-founder of Hardie Grant, Fiona had a career in book and magazine publishing in Australia and the UK, before heading up what is now Hardie Grant Media for nearly 20 years. Fiona is now the Chair of Hardie Grant Media and oversees culture and workplace rights across the Hardie Grant business. In addition to her role at Hardie Grant, Fiona is the Vice President of the AIER (Australian Institute of Employment Rights) and a yoga teacher.

DIRECTOR

Ian Webster

Ian is a publishing industry veteran with a career spanning over four decades. After a postgraduate appointment at Consolidated Press, Ian had management roles at Channel 9 Sydney and Videotape Corporation, before becoming GM of Gregory’s Publishing Company and Golden Press. In 1984 he was the founding CEO of Universal Publishers, a position held until 1997. During this period Ian was a director of Universal Magazines/Publishers, Express Publications and TVET Australia, as well as serving the industry as a director of the Australian Publishers Association for over two decades including as Treasurer for most of that period. In 1999 he acquired Sally Milner Publishing, which he continues to run.

Ian became a director and shareholder in Explore Australia when Hardie Grant bought the company from Penguin in 2003, then when Hardie Grant bought Universal Publishers from Sensis in 2009 he resumed the role of MD of Universal. In 2012 he became an advisor to Hardie Grant.

GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR, HARDIE GRANT PUBLISHING & DIRECTOR

Julie Pinkham

With broad experience in the book industry, Julie started as a bookseller but now has extensive publishing experience, Julie has a deep understanding of both the creative and commercial in publishing. Experienced in establishing and running a number of publishing divisions for the Hardie Grant group, she works from Melbourne head office but has responsibility for the Hardie Grant Publishing businesses in North America and in the UK.

Julie is Group Managing Director of Hardie Grant Publishing Pty Ltd (HGP) which comprises Hardie Grant Books, Hardie Grant Explore, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, and London based Quadrille and Hardie Grant London. She is on the Board of the recently formed new publisher Ultimo Press, part of the Hardie Grant group.

Julie is a Director of The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne's Centre for Books Writing and Ideas. Julie chairs the Industry Advisory Committee for RMIT’s Masters in Writing and Publishing. She is a member of the Australian Publishing Association’s Trade Publishers Committee and serves on the Sustainability sub-committee of that body.

GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR, HARDIE GRANT MEDIA, HGX & DIRECTOR

Nick Hardie-Grant

Nick is the Group Managing Director of Hardie Grant’s marketing agency network, Hardie Grant Media, consisting of content agency Heads & Tales, PR agency tide.pr, and video production agency Sherpa. He also leads Hardie Grant’s digital venture division, HGX.

Previous roles include Chief Digital Officer at Hardie Grant, and Account Director at Dentsu’s digital agency, Isobar, after a role at Reactive (now Accenture). His current role at Hardie Grant also includes group strategy and he is a member of the Executive Leadership Team. Nick has a Bachelor or Arts from The University of Melbourne and completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School in 2018.

COMPANY SECRETARY & COO

Andrew Davis

Andrew has worked for over 20 years in book publishing and media. Prior to joining Hardie Grant, he was deputy CEO for Penguin Random House Asia-Pacific and MD of Random House Australia and New Zealand and served as a director and vice-president of the Australian Publishers Association. He has worked in finance roles in the diamond mining and exploration industry and Boston Consulting Group and a firm now known as EY.