Emma Dunch is an experienced nonprofit CEO and senior executive with a strong track record of leading large teams to deliver complex organisational projects. Recently, she has managed the delivery of large-scale national and statewide electoral events. As Senior Election Talent Lead for the New South Wales Electoral Commission, she was responsible for training and managing the executive leaders of the 70 electoral regions in NSW for local government elections who successfully delivered democracy to 5.5 million voters through impartial and trustworthy electoral processes. This followed earlier engagements for Australia's Voice to Parliament Referendum (AEC) and the NSW State Government Election (NSWEC). In 2025, she will return to the Australian Electoral Commission as a senior election official.Previously, for 25 years, Emma was a CEO and senior leader in the international cultural sector, where she worked with more than 125 arts companies across the USA, UK, and Australia. As CEO of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2021, with her senior team of eight, she delivered a successful 12-city tour to Europe, undertook a global artistic search to secure Simone Young AM as Chief Conductor, and commissioned 50 new orchestral works from Australian composers. She change-managed through multi-year venue displacement alongside the unanticipated financial impacts of COVID-19. During the pandemic, Emma and her team successfully restructured the business, renegotiated wages with multiple labour unions to preserve full employment, and obtained emergency government funding, while delivering a record 42% increase in philanthropy. She also launched Sydney Symphony on Demand, led a whole-of-company strategic planning process, commissioned a workplace culture review by Australia's former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick AO, took strong actions to transform organisational culture and strengthen workplace protections for employees, and laid important new groundwork for the Orchestra’s successful return to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.From 1999-2017, she built a successful arts management career in New York, working in leadership roles across all artistic disciplines. Her company, DUNCH: Cultural Leadership for a Creative World, worked globally and specialized in fundraising, strategic planning, and executive search for the cultural sector. During its final year, the firm ranked in the top 1% of U.S. women-owned businesses by annual turnover, ran teams and projects on three continents, and managed $245m in fundraising campaigns.