MEDIA RELEASE
Three of Australia’s most promising public service leaders win Wolfensohn scholarships to Harvard
The Harvard Club of Australia (HCA) is delighted to announce the winners of the Sir James Wolfensohn Public Service Scholarships for 2026 to attend executive education at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government:
- Tessa Piper, Deputy Director-General, Justice Policy and Reform, Queensland Government
- David Sinclair, Acting Director-General of the Department of Customer Service, Open Data, Small and Family Business, Queensland Government
- Richard Windeyer, Deputy Secretary, Budget Group, in the Department of Finance.
The 2026 Wolfensohn scholarship winners have chosen courses in Executive Leadership and Government and Leadership for the 21st Century.
With the support of the former chairman of the World Bank and Harvard alumni, the late Sir James Wolfensohn, HCA established the Wolfensohn Scholarship in 2012 to promote the development and delivery of good public policy. The scholarship is now funded solely through the fund raising efforts of the HCA. Each of the candidates was chosen based on their potential to contribute to the benefit of Australian society through the design and implementation of public policy.
The three recipients were chosen from a wide field of candidates, all nominated by a Commonwealth, State or Territory department or agency head. A shortlist of candidates was interviewed by a panel of Harvard alumni comprising the Honourable Gabrielle Upton, Elizabeth Carr AM, Dr Ian Watt AC, and Scholarship Chair, Mat Franklin.
HCA is especially grateful to the Secretaries and agency heads from the winners’ home departments and agencies for personally nominating and supporting their candidates. This cohort of winners attending Harvard would not be possible without an engaged group of public service leaders.
By funding executive education at the world’s leading school of public policy, the Wolfensohn Scholarship supports the design and delivery of good public policy in Australia. It also rewards outstanding individuals for their achievements in Government and motivates recipients in their successful public sector careers.
Further information:
Mat Franklin
Chair, Wolfensohn Scholarship
mat.franklin@fujitsu.com
0400 868 766