Patron

Noel Turnbull

Noel Turnbull is a Director of Growth Solutions Group and Adjunct Professor in Communications at RMIT University. Noel has had 35 years experience in communication strategy and issues management and was educated at Melbourne University before becoming a journalist and serving as an Australian Army officer. He was a Parliamentary Press Secretary, and Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority communications head, before establishing his own public relations consultancy. The company, initially known as Turnbull Fox Phillips and then as Turnbull Porter Novelli, became Australia’s largest public relations consultancy. Noel was TPN’s CEO, Chairman and a Porter Novelli International Global Director until his retirement.

As well as being the Victorian Writers' Centre Patron, Noel is a Director of Drinkwise, a body promoting responsible alcohol consumption, Deputy President of the Victorian College of the Arts Council, and an editorial advisory board member of a number of Australian and international communications journals.

He has been President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival; Chairman of the RMIT Communications Faculty Course Advisory Committee; Chairman of Visions of Australia, the Australian Government's exhibition touring grants committee; National Book Council Chairman; and a Leadership Victoria Council Member. His book A History of Port Melbourne was published by Oxford University Press and his most recent book, The Millennium Edge, was published by Allen & Unwin.

He is an honorary Doctor of Communication (RMIT University) and Fellow of both the Public Relations Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.