EMINENT academic and university sector leader, Professor Margaret Gardner AC, will be appointed the 30th Governor of Victoria.

The term of the current governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Linda Dessau AC CVO, will expire on Friday, June 30.

Professor Gardner will commence a five-year term as governor on Wednesday, August 9, after she concludes in her current role with Monash University.

During the interim period before Professor Gardner’s inauguration, Lieutenant Governor, Professor James Angus AO, will serve as acting governor.

A prominent and well-respected academic with a background in economics, industrial relations and organisational management, Professor Gardner has had a distinguished career in Australia’s university sector and abroad.

As the first woman to lead Monash University, Professor Gardner has served as president and vice chancellor since 2014.

Professor Gardner was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow spending time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Professor Gardner was chair of the Group of Eight Universities in Australia from 2020 until 2023 and chair of Universities Australia from 2017 to 2019.

She has also been a member of a range of boards and committees including Infrastructure Victoria, Museums Victoria, the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, the ANZAC Centenary Advisory Board and the Australian Technology Network.