Structure
The EABC is an incorporated, not for profit organisation, with three principal categories of membership including Major & Corporate Partners, Board & Corporate Council Members and Charter & Associate Members.
EABC’s Major and Corporate Partners include Australian and European organisations who hold a major stake in the economic relationship through their activities in trade, politics, government and academic life.
Members are represented at the most senior levels mostly at the Chair/CEO levels on our Board and Corporate Council which also includes former political leaders and senior officials with deep experience and commitment to the bilateral relationship.
EABC’s Charter & Associate members include bilateral Chambers of Commerce, Embassies and Consulates, Trade Offices and Industry Associations.
Secretariat
Jason Collins
Chief Executive Officer
Jason Collins was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the European Australian Business Council in 2007. As CEO, Jason leads a team responsible for the delivery of the Council’s business advocacy and policy programmes, membership and institutional relations with government agencies, chambers, industry groups, and other stakeholders.
He is also the Chair of European Business Organisations (EBO Worldwide), a peak association headquartered in Brussels of European chambers of commerce and business councils in over fifty countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and in Europe. He also serves as the Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Sydney.
Jason is a non-executive director and chair of the governance, nomination & remuneration committee of Business Events Sydney; a member of Screen Producers Australia’s export advisory council; Chair of the Australia Youth Trust; and is a former Chair of the Australasian Sponsorship Marketing Association.
He also serves on the advisory boards of various Australian and Europe-based government, research centres and industry groups, including the UTS Business School Dean’s Industry Advisory Board, and as an Honorary Board Member of the Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce. Jason is also a regular commentator on trade and investment issues at business events and in the media.
Jo Johns
Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary
Jo Johns is EABC’s Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary. Since joining the EABC in 2003, she has worked closely with the Board and Members to develop and deliver the programme of events and governance. Jo oversees EABC’s busy programme of more than fifty events a year including boardroom forums, the on-line programme, large-scale events and annual high-level business missions to Europe. Jo is also a founding Director of the Australian European Leadership Dialogue (AELD) which was launched in Brussels; and the Official Secretary to the Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Sydney.
After studying economics at the University of Adelaide and financial instruments at the Securities Institute of Australia, Jo joined an Adelaide stockbroker as an equities trader and private client advisor. She worked in London, Melbourne and Sydney for around 15 years in stockbroking roles. During her children’s pre-school years, Jo co-founded the children’s ready-meal business “Yum Tums Australia”, and worked part-time as a digital photographer specialising in corporate property portfolio on-line marketing. She has also worked as a freelance writer for various magazines.
