Board Members
Howard is a corporate and tax lawyer with over 30 years of experience working in London, Sydney, Asia and New York. He was a barrister in the UK, has worked for top tier and boutique law firms and was a partner and principal of Ernst & Young for 20 years.
Known for his commercial, practical approach Howard puts his clients first and ensures that they are at the heart of decision making. He is a strong communicator and is able to both simplify legal issues for clients and convey their views effectively in negotiations.
Howard studied artist management and the music industry at Berklee College Boston. He also volunteers on the pro bono scheme For Arts Law. Howard founded Corner Soul to provide Australian clients with an alternative source of high quality affordable commercial advice in the music and entertainment sector.
Angie Dunbavan is the founding Company Director of Red Chair, an independent Queensland performing arts company based on Kabi Kabi Country on the Sunshine Coast.
With a background in community development and social work, Angie has spent over 24 years building Red Chair into a leading producing and touring company for Queensland’s independent arts sector. Her producing credits span regional touring, community-engaged live art, festival production and arts management, including the COMPASS Project, The Keeper Project, The Playlist, Flamenco Fire, The People’s Orchestra, Dawn Awakening and Storyplace. She has produced work for QPAC, Brisbane Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Horizon Festival and numerous regional Queensland venues and councils.
Angie is a passionate advocate for sustainable independent artistic careers and for the genuine inclusion of First Nations voices in the creative sector. She has maintained a long and deep collaborative relationship with Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi traditional custodians, embedding cultural knowledge and protocol into all of Red Chair’s work.
Multi-award winning Managing Director of Sorrento Strategic Music, a taxation preparation & financial advisory firm that specialises in the music industry.
With over 35 years’ experience within this sector, Kylie is a passionate advocate for artists, championing their ability to create a sustainable music career financially, whilst protecting their personal wellbeing and mental health.
Kylie devotes a significant portion of her personal time and resources to the industry, as demonstrated by her position as Treasurer of Australian Live Music Business Council and Boss Arts Creative. She is also a Support Act Ambassador and strategic partner, providing valuable contributions in donor matching campaigns.
She is committed to educating musicians to maximise the use of grants and allowances that have been made available to alleviate the burden of financial hardship. In support of this mission, Kylie also partners with Support Act to provide her services to their ‘Tax Help’ program to deliver accounting and taxation support.
Kylie’s passion is to pave the way for artists to do what they do best. Create art.
Inaugural Chair of the ALMBC, Stephen Wade is one of the most respected workers in live music in Australia.
Select Music opened its doors in 2005 and has grown to be one of the most successful Australian owned independent agencies in the country.
Select is an agency that looks after some of Australia’s most successful artists across all genres, ranging from acts right at the beginning of their careers to multi-platinum, festival headlining & ARIA award winning major acts.
Previous Deputy Chair of the ALMBC and National Entertainment Manager of ALH Hotels, with over 350 venues across the continent.
Co-founder of Australia’s biggest independent ticketing company Oztix and industry veteran across some of the nation’s most well known festival names such as Big Day Out, Livid and more.Â
Hayley Ayres is an artist manager and entertainment programmer with over 15 years in the music industry.
Co-founder of 360 Artist Logistics, she has delivered events and tours for clients including TEG, FIFA and Oztix, and programmed WAMCon.
She founded the Sound States mentorship program and is a Golden WAM Award winner and 2024 APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award recipient.
Larissa Jane Ryan is an artist development, brand strategy, marketing and A&R specialist, across recorded and live music. She’s worked with independent and major label talent on singles, albums and touring. A proud Wamba Wamba and Dhudhuroa woman, she’s active in cultural heritage and language revival, co-creator of sessions platform and live pressings label baked, and a former TMN 30 Under 30 honouree.
Risk and insurance expert, Queensland-based CPA and founder of Xcelerate Group, Andrew has spent decades helping businesses calculate and recover income losses, specialising in business interruption claims. Andrew leads ALMBC’s insurance advocacy work, partnering with the Insurance Council of Australia to tackle the soaring public liability premiums squeezing live music venues right across the country, including through digital risk reduction apps that he has created.
Founder and managing director of Midnight Assembly, a Melbourne based event management company spanning logistics, workforce and event resources through brands like Creww and Raft Projects.
With fifteen years across events, hospitality and brand management, he has delivered site and operations management for major productions including Good Things Festival, Beyond the Valley, Factory Summer Festival, the Royal Melbourne Show and Adelaide Fringe hub Gluttony, with a people-first focus on safety and clarity.
Letisha Ackland is a proud Gugada, Wirangu and Mirning woman from Ceduna and the founder and director of Balya Productions, an independent First Nations led event and production company.
With nearly two decades in the live music and festivals sector, she has helped deliver some of the country’s biggest events, including Yabaardu Festival, Laneway and the National Indigenous Music Awards, while creating culturally safe spaces, leadership pathways and employment opportunities for First Nations artists and crew across Australia.
In 2026, Letisha and Balya Productions were recognised nationally with a First Nations Arts and Culture Business Innovation Award from Creative Australia, celebrating their work advancing visibility, equity and excellence in the live music industry.
Rod Smith is Group General Manager of Corner Group, the team behind some of Melbourne’s most loved live music rooms.
The stable includes the legendary Corner Hotel in Richmond, an 800 capacity rock institution that’s been a music venue since the 1940s and hosted everyone from Mick Jagger to Queens of the Stone Age, plus the much loved Northcote Social Club, the National Hotel and the Railway Hotel.
Across the group, Rod oversees venues that have long backed emerging and established Australian artists.
On the ALMBC board, his hands on experience makes him a strong voice for the grassroots sector.
Ben Tillman is the co-founder of Yours & Owls, one of Australia’s fastest growing independent music brands.
Alongside childhood mates Adam Smith and Balunn Jones, he turned a series of house parties into a Wollongong cafe, then a live music venue and booking agency.
The Yours & Owls Festival launched in 2014 and now draws around 30,000 punters to Wollongong each year.
In 2014 he also co-founded the record label Farmer & the Owl with Music Farmers’ Jeb Taylor, signing acts like Hockey Dad.
Beyond the festivals, Ben and the Yours & Owls team have built a national footprint as booking agents and promoters. They coordinate bookings and promotion across a roster of venues spanning Wollongong, Sydney, Canberra, the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, with spaces ranging from 150-capacity rooms up to 6,000-plus. Known as trusted tastemakers of the Australian live scene, they nurture local talent while bringing top-tier domestic and international artists to stages around the country, including their Farmer & the Owl and Lazy Mountain festivals.
A genuine grassroots success story, Ben has helped put the Gong firmly on the national music map.
Tom Caughey is an events professional, music producer and artist with experience delivering major live events, festivals and community initiatives across multiple countries. He brings expertise in strategic planning and an on-the-ground pragmatism in delivering outcomes from remote desert communities in Australia to mountaintop major venues and festivals in Japan.
Growing up in remote Western Australia, Tom is passionate and committed to strengthening communities through arts, culture and live experiences.
Staff
Ant Mckenna is a music industry consultant of 30 years experience.
As well as Executive General Manager of the ALMBC for a number of years, he also provides income stream development consulting to groups such as Queensland Music Festival and Yama Nui Records.
He undertook a stint as Director of Programming – Industry Development for QMusic, returning to the QMusic fold after 17 years. He played a significant role in the development of BIGSOUND and ran the event in 2005 and was the first Artist Representative on the QMusic Board.Â
He consults to local government across the country on live music industry policy and planning development to a number of regional local governments and is also the Secretary for the Sunshine Coast Music Industry Collective, on the Board of the Gold Coast Music Industry Alliance and a member of the Queensland Grassroots Live Music Task Force.
He played in the iconic (pre-social media era!) Melbourne touring act Those Bloody McKennas for many years.
