Catherine Reiser

Catherine Reiser brings more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in the arts and not-for-profit sectors, with expertise in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and fundraising. She currently serves as Director of the Victorian Program for the Board Observership Program, where she fosters governance and leadership capability in emerging directors.

In the UK, as Director of The Islington International Festival and Associate Director of The Mayor’s Thames Festival, she programmed large-scale spectacles reaching audiences of over 2.5 million.

Catherine also co-produced Sing for Water, a mass choir concert raising funds for WaterAid’s clean water and sanitation programs, presented at Brisbane Riverfest and as part of the Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival with the City of Melbourne.

Her career has included consulting for the Australia Council, producing two documentaries (Women of the Sun: 25 Years Later and Lindsay’s Reserve), and lecturing in Arts Management at London’s City University and Birkbeck College. An alumna of the Common Purpose leadership program, Catherine is known for her ability to lead diverse teams, deliver complex projects to tight budgets and deadlines, and build meaningful collaborations across sectors and communities.