Governance
Our Board of Directors
Dr Matthew Minehan
Dr Matthew Minehan has held various academic positions during a career spanning nearly two decades, including Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame (Australia) and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University’s Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security. His areas of expertise include ethics and evidence-based criminology.
Dr Minehan also has considerable public sector experience with a focus on interagency collaboration. In 2020, Dr Minehan was awarded a fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (Australia) to research international ethics and misconduct prevention training and strategies.
His academic qualifications include:
- Doctor of Philosophy, the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Studies in Practical Ethics with Distinction, the University of Oxford (2022).
- Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management, the University of Cambridge (2020).
- Master of Education with Merit (Higher Education), the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Criminology, the University of Sydney (2011).
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I – Philosophy), the University of Sydney (2003).
- Associate Degree in Policing Practice with Distinction, Charles Sturt University (2009).
Phillip Cenere
Phillip Cenere FAIM GAICD is an experienced and seasoned C-Suite executive with demonstrated success in strategic management of large and complex world-class institutions.
For more than 20 years he has served in senior leadership roles including as Associate Vice Chancellor, CEO, Executive Dean and Professor. During this time, he has made a distinguished service to higher education management, the business professions and executive education through his governance roles, fostering professional and business ethics education and volunteering for charitable and not-for-profit causes.
Phillip’s most recent appointments include serving as CEO of Australian Vision Research, Executive Dean, Professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Business Intelligence and Associate Vice Chancellor and Head of Campus (NSW) for CQ University.
Phillip has served on the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) NSW Council as well as the institute’s National Education Advisory Committee, Curriculum Development Committee (responsible for the flagship Company Directors Course) and Director Professional Development Committee. He has also served on the councils and committees of the Banking and Finance Oath, RDA Sydney, Australian Business Deans Council, Australia China Business Council, Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM), Public Relations Institute of Australia, Early Bird Marketplace and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA).
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Prof Geoff Morris
Professor Geoff Morris served as Dean of the School of Business at The University of Notre Dame Australia and Dean and Director of Learning and Teaching at Asia Pacific International College.
While at Notre Dame, he led the expansion of the school from an undergraduate focus to include postgraduate and doctoral studies across the business disciplines of accounting, management, market, public relations, and human resources management. During his time at Notre Dame, his focus was on academic integrity, student outcomes, and academic standards. As a result, Notre Dame became recognised through the Federal Government QILT assessments as one of Australia’s leading business schools.
Geoff’s managerial and leadership career has included executive positions in public utilities and private companies for more than 30 years.
He has had an extensive career in the NFP and commercial sectors, including as Director of World Youth Day (Sydney 2008), Project Manager, Building the Education Revolution for the Archdiocese of Sydney and as a senior executive for TAB, Sydney Water and Australian Water Technologies with working periods in the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Outside of work, Geoff is strongly committed to his family and community.
Prof Ann Brewer
Independent Chair
Professor Brewer is the Director of Careers and Capstone Program at The Scots College. She is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master of Commerce (Honours) from University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Arts (Behavioural Science) from Macquarie University. Her career has spanned organisational behaviour, psychology, education, and business, as a researcher, lecturer and author. She has held numerous senior university executive roles including Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Sydney for 12 years and Dean of the University of Newcastle in Sydney.
Professor Brewer has published ten books, most recently on careers as well as leadership, coaching and mentoring. She has written over 50 publications in journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. She is a member of external boards, an accredited executive coach, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Her academic qualifications include:
- PhD (Organisational Behaviour), University of N.S.W
- Master of Commerce (Honours), University of N.S.W
- Bachelor of Arts (Behavioural Sciences), Macquarie University, (Majors in Psychology and Sociology)
- FAICD. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
- 40116 CERT IV Training and Development
- BSB40320 CERT IV Entrepreneurship and New Business
- BSB50120 Diploma of Business
- BSB50420 Diploma of Leadership and Management
Yvonne Howie
Independent Director
Yvonne is a highly experienced CEO and company director, contributing broad professional experience across many sectors of the economy.
She has worked with around 1000 businesses from start-ups to major international companies through her CEO, consulting, and board roles.
Yvonne was CEO of the 500-member Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce working with members to develop their business skills and networks. Later Yvonne was CEO[NSW] for The CEO Institute, with 300 members, a peer-to-peer group mentoring group for CEOs, C suite leaders and Future CEOS to develop and heighten leadership skills. Yvonne contributed to significant growth in profitability, membership growth and membership satisfaction for both organisations.
At board level, Yvonne is a Graduate of the Australia Institute of Company Directors [AICD] Company Directors course and has served as non-executive director on a diverse range of boards spanning government, health, pharmacy, sport, gaming, international philanthropy, public relations, and management consulting.
She is a business awards judge in Australia and internationally, rewarding and acknowledging the achievements and successes of both small to medium enterprises and major international companies.
Yvonne is passionate about collaborating with tomorrow’s leaders to consider and discuss management and business issues and trends. She is a guest lecturer for MBA students at UWS and has also been on advisory committees for the business schools at ACU and UWS.
She is looking forward to working with Chancellor Institute leadership and students in this exciting and innovative, contemporary new entry to the education space.
Claire Bibby
Independent Director
Claire Bibby is a senior lawyer and professional coach, based in Sydney, Australia. Claire has over 30 years of experience gained through senior management appointments with some of the world’s largest companies and at top-tier law firms.
As well as practising law via her boutique law firm, Claire is an internationally qualified coach (PCC) and in 2018 she founded a global professional coaching practice in which she coaches private and corporate clients, specialising in lawyers and executives. As a member of both the International Coaching Federation and The Institute of Coaching McLean/Harvard Medical School, Claire is passionate about helping others to rewrite the rules in what they want from their careers.
Outside of her executive life, Claire is a non-executive director of multiple ASX listed and private companies, charities and is an Industry/Professional Fellow with the University of Technology Sydney, School of Law.
Claire has been recognised as one of Australia’s best lawyers and female executives, including having been awarded the “Excellence Award for Women in Law” and “Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia & New Zealand”.
Part and parcel with her passion for coaching, Claire is an active public speaker on issues of innovation, diversity and inclusion, psychological wellness, developing high performing teams and women’s leadership. Claire is also a mentor for 7 x World Surfing Champion Layne Beachley AO’s “Aim for the Stars” Foundation.
Her post nominals include:
• PCC, International Coaching Federation
• ProfCertArb, University of Adelaide
• PRIMed, Resolution Institute
• GAICD, Australian Institute of Company Directors
• FIML, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management
• Grad Dip Company Secretarial Practice, Chartered Secretaries Australia Ltd
• LLB (Hons), Bond University
• BCom, Bond University
• FGIA & FCIS, past fellow Governance Institute of Australia
James Solomons
Independent Director
Innovative People Leader & Business Leader who has a true knack for ‘humanising the numbers’. With experience drawn from a range of industries including professional services, financial services, HR, software development, & academia James has been able to bring this together into a unique approach to helping businesses scale both nationally and internationally. Working in some of the world’s leading Fintechs, HRTechs and RegTechs he understands the SaaS market and has positioned himself as a leader in the space. He is an experienced accountant who has successfully made the transition from public practice to CFO/COO of an ASX listed tech company.
Skills & Experience
> Demonstrated & proven leadership skills
> Retail & Channel Distribution, SaaS & Financial Products
> Budgetary & Financial discipline
> Corporate governance & risk management, Investor relations, capital markets & investment management
> Business transformation & improvement
As Xref CFO, James has been successful in managing its exponential growth by building an efficient and effective finance division which supports the entire business. He has done this by remaining lean and adopting technologies that scale and adapt to the constantly changing requirements of a publicly listed, global, in-demand tech platform.
To this role, James brings many learnings from his position as Xero Australia’s Head of Accounting, where from 2014 to 2018 he was responsible for providing a clear vision and positive guidance to accountants to help them leverage the opportunity digital disruption has created in the accounting profession.
James has over 20 years experience in public practice and after joining Xero in late 2014, made the decision to start a new 100% cloud based firm from scratch & co-founded Aptus Accounting & Advisory in January 2015 which has doubled in growth every year since its beginning. It was recognised as one of the Top 50 Cloud Accounting Firms in Australia by HubDoc in 2018 and in 2019 won the Most Innovative Accounting Firm in Australia award at the Australian Accounting Awards.
He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (FCA) and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD)
As the host of the successful CFO Magazine Lunchtime Live Webcast series & CFO Magazine Breakfast events, since 2019 he has interviewed over 250 CFOs, Finance & Business leaders, helping to share their knowledge & experiences for the benefit of the finance & business globally.
Our Academic Council
Dr Matthew Minehan
Dr Matthew Minehan has held various academic positions during a career spanning nearly two decades, including Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame (Australia) and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University’s Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security. His areas of expertise include ethics and evidence-based criminology.
Dr Minehan also has considerable public sector experience with a focus on interagency collaboration. In 2020, Dr Minehan was awarded a fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (Australia) to research international ethics and misconduct prevention training and strategies.
His academic qualifications include:
- Doctor of Philosophy, the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Studies in Practical Ethics with Distinction, the University of Oxford (2022).
- Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management, the University of Cambridge (2020).
- Master of Education with Merit (Higher Education), the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Criminology, the University of Sydney (2011).
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I – Philosophy), the University of Sydney (2003).
- Associate Degree in Policing Practice with Distinction, Charles Sturt University (2009).
Phillip Cenere
Phillip Cenere FAIM GAICD is an experienced and seasoned C-Suite executive with demonstrated success in strategic management of large and complex world-class institutions.
For more than 20 years he has served in senior leadership roles including as Associate Vice Chancellor, CEO, Executive Dean and Professor. During this time, he has made a distinguished service to higher education management, the business professions and executive education through his governance roles, fostering professional and business ethics education and volunteering for charitable and not-for-profit causes.
Phillip’s most recent appointments include serving as CEO of Australian Vision Research, Executive Dean, Professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Business Intelligence and Associate Vice Chancellor and Head of Campus (NSW) for CQ University.
Phillip has served on the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) NSW Council as well as the institute’s National Education Advisory Committee, Curriculum Development Committee (responsible for the flagship Company Directors Course) and Director Professional Development Committee. He has also served on the councils and committees of the Banking and Finance Oath, RDA Sydney, Australian Business Deans Council, Australia China Business Council, Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM), Public Relations Institute of Australia, Early Bird Marketplace and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA).
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Maree Piper
Independent Member
Maree Piper has served in senior academic leadership positions with several institutions, most recently as Associate Dean of the School of Business and Senior Lecturer and Coordinator (Marketing and Advertising) at The University of Notre Dame Australia.
She has also taught undergraduate and post graduate marketing subjects at the University of Newcastle, the University of Technology, Charles Sturt University and RMIT International University in Vietnam. She has designed and delivered management and marketing courses for Hunter and Canberra Institutes of Technology and the Australian Capital Territory government.
Maree has held management positions in NSW Government funded pre-vocational training centres, The International Student Unit at the Hunter Institute of Technology and the Charles Sturt University Pathways Program for the Canberra Institute of Technology.
Maree also has marketing, sales, publicity, event management, strategy, advertising and broadcasting experience across a range of industry sectors including tourism, indigenous tourism, newspapers, radio, local government, international education and small business.
Her research interests are brand personality and the consumer anthropomorphisation of brands.
Prof Geoff Morris
Professor Geoff Morris served as Dean of the School of Business at The University of Notre Dame Australia and Dean and Director of Learning and Teaching at Asia Pacific International College.
While at Notre Dame, he led the expansion of the school from an undergraduate focus to include postgraduate and doctoral studies across the business disciplines of accounting, management, market, public relations, and human resources management. During his time at Notre Dame, his focus was on academic integrity, student outcomes, and academic standards. As a result, Notre Dame became recognised through the Federal Government QILT assessments as one of Australia’s leading business schools.
Geoff’s managerial and leadership career has included executive positions in public utilities and private companies for more than 30 years.
He has had an extensive career in the NFP and commercial sectors, including as Director of World Youth Day (Sydney 2008), Project Manager, Building the Education Revolution for the Archdiocese of Sydney and as a senior executive for TAB, Sydney Water and Australian Water Technologies with working periods in the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Outside of work, Geoff is strongly committed to his family and community.
Dr. Melissa Bordogna
Independent Member
Dr. Melissa Bordogna, PhD is an internationally known speaker, educator, 3x nationally award-winning learning experience designer, and human communication and behaviour specialist.
For 25 years, Dr. Bordogna has worked with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, universities, and not-for-profit institutions as well as numerous small to medium-sized enterprises producing measurable results through strategic learning and development projects emphasizing internalised and action-oriented learning.
Dr. Bordogna has created hundreds of courses and taught thousands of adult learners from around the world using various modalities. As an advocate for 21st-century teaching and learning practices, Melissa has been at the forefront of educational trends and capability-building for learning professionals.
Dr. Bordogna earned her PhD and MA in Human Communication Studies from the University of Denver where she segmented her studies into the three areas of Conflict & Communication, Intercultural Communication and Rhetoric and Persuasion. As a trained mediator, she served as a casual Community Mediator for the NSW Attorney General’s Department for 10 years. Dr. Bordogna also holds a BA in Public Relations from Susquehanna University and has experience working in corporate marketing and public relations departments.
Adjunct Prof Sally Robertson
Independent Chair
Adjunct Professor Sally Robertson
RN; BN(UNE); MEd(Adult)(UTS); GCHigherEd(Macq); FCN; FHEA.
Adjunct Professor Robertson is an experienced academic with over 25 years experience in higher education. Adjunct Professor Robertson was the Dean of the School of Nursing, Sydney at the University of Notre Dame (UNDA) and prior to this the Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching. During her time in the School of Nursing she led both undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum development and engaged with industry partners to ensure programs were contemporaneous and met the needs of the profession and industry. She has previously worked at a non-self-accrediting higher education provider where she led the registration of the organisation as a non self-accrediting higher education provider and was responsible for curriculum development including internal and external accreditation.
Adjunct Professor Robertson has extensive experience in learning and teaching, curriculum development and stakeholder engagement. At UNDA she served on the Academic Council, was the Chair of the Educational Technology Advisory group and the Chair of the University Learning and Teaching committee.
Adjunct Professor Robertson is passionate about education and has a keen interest in learning and teaching, curriculum development, standards and accreditation.
Helen Phillips
Independent Member
Helen has over 25 years’ experience in education across the sector in Higher Education, VET, ELICOS, and secondary schools. She has subject matter expertise in academic governance, quality assurance and compliance with legislation and regulatory standards, including the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (ESOS), the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) and the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards).
During her years in the university sector, Helen held the senior management role of Academic Registrar. She was a member of both Academic Council and its Program and Course Accreditation Committee for 12 years. She also chaired the Academic Standards and Policy Committee of Academic Council, and was a longstanding member of the IT Governance Committee.
In addition to her experience in the academic domain, Helen was responsible for ISO compliance at another university, managing the internal audit team and all major external audits. She was also Vice Principal of a VET college, responsible for Facilities, Human Resources, IT and Student Services.
Helen is a NSW Justice of the Peace and an accredited NAATI translator.
Dr Roxy Dawidowski
Independent Member
Roxy is an experienced cross-cultural scholar, guest lecturer and tutor with a demonstrated commitment to exploring how culture affects the business world and human interactions. She first learned about cross-cultural adjustment when at age 6 she moved from the United States to Argentina with her family, and as a child and as an adult she has had many experiences moving to very different cultural and language environments. She understands what it is like to be out of one’s depth and what is required to feel comfortable again. Her personal experience led her to complete a PhD researching how expatriates adjust to new environments as an employee or international students and how growth mindsets and cultural intelligence can help people adjust and thrive in new cultures.
Roxy understands the importance of culture and its relevance to every aspect of business. She has experience developing behavioural change content and applies evidence-based research when doing so. Roxy provides 1:1 coaching to help individuals manage cross-cultural challenges, enhance their cultural competence, and support individuals relocating to a new country with their cross-cultural adjustment. She helps individuals build cross-cultural skills, networks, and relationships to enhance business and personal opportunities. She also advises higher education institutions on cross-cultural matters impacting international students.
Roxy holds a PhD in Organisation and Management from the University of New South Wales, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in International Business from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an Emphasis in Global Management and a Minor in Psychology from the University of Southern California. Roxy’s research has been presented at Australian national conferences, such as the Industrial Organisational Psychology (IOP) conference.
Roxy has worked in the consulting, commercial real estate, higher education, healthcare/medical technology (MedTech), technology, and medical publishing industries. She has implemented and managed an international technology user research project that required the establishment of Sydney-based research labs for in-person participant interviews using handheld devices to test AI technology for one of the largest international technology company.
Our Industry and Program Advisory Committee
Dr Matthew Minehan
Dr Matthew Minehan has held various academic positions during a career spanning nearly two decades, including Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame (Australia) and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University’s Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security. His areas of expertise include ethics and evidence-based criminology.
Dr Minehan also has considerable public sector experience with a focus on interagency collaboration. In 2020, Dr Minehan was awarded a fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (Australia) to research international ethics and misconduct prevention training and strategies.
His academic qualifications include:
- Doctor of Philosophy, the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Studies in Practical Ethics with Distinction, the University of Oxford (2022).
- Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management, the University of Cambridge (2020).
- Master of Education with Merit (Higher Education), the University of Sydney (2007).
- Master of Criminology, the University of Sydney (2011).
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I – Philosophy), the University of Sydney (2003).
- Associate Degree in Policing Practice with Distinction, Charles Sturt University (2009).
Phillip Cenere
Phillip Cenere FAIM GAICD is an experienced and seasoned C-Suite executive with demonstrated success in strategic management of large and complex world-class institutions.
For more than 20 years he has served in senior leadership roles including as Associate Vice Chancellor, CEO, Executive Dean and Professor. During this time, he has made a distinguished service to higher education management, the business professions and executive education through his governance roles, fostering professional and business ethics education and volunteering for charitable and not-for-profit causes.
Phillip’s most recent appointments include serving as CEO of Australian Vision Research, Executive Dean, Professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Business Intelligence and Associate Vice Chancellor and Head of Campus (NSW) for CQ University.
Phillip has served on the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) NSW Council as well as the institute’s National Education Advisory Committee, Curriculum Development Committee (responsible for the flagship Company Directors Course) and Director Professional Development Committee. He has also served on the councils and committees of the Banking and Finance Oath, RDA Sydney, Australian Business Deans Council, Australia China Business Council, Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM), Public Relations Institute of Australia, Early Bird Marketplace and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA).
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Maree Piper
Independent Member
Maree Piper has served in senior academic leadership positions with several institutions, most recently as Associate Dean of the School of Business and Senior Lecturer and Coordinator (Marketing and Advertising) at The University of Notre Dame Australia.
She has also taught undergraduate and post graduate marketing subjects at the University of Newcastle, the University of Technology, Charles Sturt University and RMIT International University in Vietnam. She has designed and delivered management and marketing courses for Hunter and Canberra Institutes of Technology and the Australian Capital Territory government.
Maree has held management positions in NSW Government funded pre-vocational training centres, The International Student Unit at the Hunter Institute of Technology and the Charles Sturt University Pathways Program for the Canberra Institute of Technology.
Maree also has marketing, sales, publicity, event management, strategy, advertising and broadcasting experience across a range of industry sectors including tourism, indigenous tourism, newspapers, radio, local government, international education and small business.
Her research interests are brand personality and the consumer anthropomorphisation of brands.
Prof Geoff Morris
Professor Geoff Morris served as Dean of the School of Business at The University of Notre Dame Australia and Dean and Director of Learning and Teaching at Asia Pacific International College.
While at Notre Dame, he led the expansion of the school from an undergraduate focus to include postgraduate and doctoral studies across the business disciplines of accounting, management, market, public relations, and human resources management. During his time at Notre Dame, his focus was on academic integrity, student outcomes, and academic standards. As a result, Notre Dame became recognised through the Federal Government QILT assessments as one of Australia’s leading business schools.
Geoff’s managerial and leadership career has included executive positions in public utilities and private companies for more than 30 years.
He has had an extensive career in the NFP and commercial sectors, including as Director of World Youth Day (Sydney 2008), Project Manager, Building the Education Revolution for the Archdiocese of Sydney and as a senior executive for TAB, Sydney Water and Australian Water Technologies with working periods in the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Outside of work, Geoff is strongly committed to his family and community.
Richard Batterley
Independent Chair
After gaining his first degree, Richard Batterley has had a successful career in the worlds of both business and academia.
In business he worked for a number of the world’s leading advertising and marketing groups primarily in strategic planning. His career commenced in London where he was responsible for developing and managing major campaigns of note for clients such as The English Tourist Board, Alfa Romeo and the RAC. He moved to Australia in the mid 1980’s as General Manager of DMB&B in Perth before moving to Sydney where he became Asia Pacific Regional Strategy and Planning Director for Carlson Marketing Group working on major clients such as Citibank, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Intel, Microsoft and Sola Optical. He was a much sought-after keynote speaker at major conferences in many countries as well as a regular author of journal articles on relationship marketing. His book, “Leading Through Relationship Marketing” was a required text at several universities in the APAC region.
He has been an industry guest lecturer at many of Australia’s leading universities and higher education providers such as the University of New South Wales, RMIT and UTS. He has also been a lecturer and coordinator in marketing, management and public relations at both Macquarie University and The University of Notre Dame Australia and most recently chaired the NSW Regional Engagement Committee for the University of Central Queensland.
This dual career has meant Richard is highly regarded as an innovator in bringing the commercial world into the realms of university and higher education.
Chris Gray
Independent Member
Chris Gray is Managing Director of Twenty6Forty4 Communications, a consulting firm that provides organsiations with public relations, communication and issues management support.
Chris formed Twenty6Forty4 (a nod to the 26 letters and 44 sounds of the English language) in May 2021 after running several firms in the communications field over the past 25 years.
He was co-founder and Managing Director of PR firm ICON International Communications (part of the global Ketchum PR network), Daylight Agency (an advertising and communications agency) and First Light Consulting, a specialist risk and reputation consultancy.
Chris has worked for a range of public, private and NFPs across most industry sectors. He regularly advises CEOs and management on reputational matters and undertakes training in the areas of media, crisis, sales and presentation skills. He provides ‘on-call’ support to several organisations and has responded to major crises both here in Australia and overseas.
He has provided strategic consulting advice and support to a range of organisations in the tertiary education field including International College of Management Sydney (ICMS), University of Technology (UTS) Sydney and La Trobe University. He has sat on industry bodies and advisory committees for the University of Notre Dame Sydney, Central Queensland University (CQU) Sydney. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at Notre Dame and a guest lecturer at UTS.
He is a life-time member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and a regular contributor and speaker at industry events on the topic of branding, marketing and crisis management.
Prior to working in the PR and communication field, Chris worked as a journalist for News Corporation and Nine/Fairfax.
Amy Miller
Independent Member
Amy Miller is currently the leading Arts Professional lecturer in Media & Communication at UNSW Global. Amy lectures with Notre Dame University Australia (PR, Events, Business) and University of Technology Sydney (Ecology of Communication) with over 15 years’ experience in program development and teaching.
She is Managing Director of PR and Marketing consultancy ADM Communications and Industry Project Manager across business/education sectors (Think Education) and consumer (Lord Howe Is) in media relations and events (Vivid Sydney, Garvan Medical Institute).
Amy has a Masters of Communication Management, Integrated Communications UTS and Bachelor of Education, COFA UNSW.
Susan Zhang
Independent Member
Susan Zhang is a high-energy businessperson and serial entrepreneur. Susan’s career has taken her to Australia, China, and the United Kingdom. She effectively brings a combination of technical prowess and commercial acumen in her roles at Google, later for ByteDance (TikTok), Amazon and currently Canva.
In 2014, Susan joined Google Sydney and quickly advanced to the role of Business Development for Google Arts & Culture. Susan was promoted to Google UK as a lead creative technologist and made an international name for herself crafting innovative data-driven solutions and global award-winning campaigns utilising advanced AI technologies.
Susan resigned from Google in 2018 to join a startup company in China, ByteDance. She led the company’s international expansion and monetisation, contributing to its success.
Susan is an author, an inspirational speaker in international forums including TEDx, Vivid Sydney and the London Business School Asia Business Forum, and a mentor for young entrepreneurs. In 2019, the Australia China Alumni Association named Susan the Young Australia China Alumni of the Year, and in 2022, Susan received a Judges’ Commendation in the Australian Ambassador’s Award for Women in Leadership.
Susan holds a dual B.A. in Computer Science from Zhengzhou University and the University of Wollongong, and a Master of Information and Communication Technology from UOW. While transitioning her career from Software Engineer to Corporate leadership roles, Susan completed her Executive MBA degree jointly offered by Columbia University, London Business School and the University of Hong Kong. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Information Technology at UOW with a focus on educational key opinion leaders at the intersection of e-learning technology and pedagogy transformation.
Jayne-Louise O’Connell
Independent Member
Jayne-Louise O’Connell is an experienced senior marketing expert with demonstrated success in formulating strategically-focused, end-to-end marketing programs that drive business objectives.
With over 15 years of diverse industry experience spanning automotive, SaaS, tech, telco, entertainment, and advertising, Jayne-Louise has made significant contributions to companies such as Toyota Australia, Nearmap, Vocus, and the Australian Academy of Cinema Television Arts (AACTA).
With a passion for ABM and digital marketing, she is dedicated to delivering customer-centric growth strategies while utilising the latest technologies.
Gilliane Cooper
Independent Member
Gill is the Executive Director of THE HR & PR EFFECT, with over 25 years of international experience spanning a broad array of industries, cultures, and languages. During her career, she has developed extensive knowledge working with multinational corporations, local and global businesses across Australia, Asia Pacific, United Kingdom, and the United States.
She has held a number of C-suite roles and worked at the highest levels, as a trusted partner advising chief executives and senior management across the core functions of strategy, communications, crisis management, human resources, legal, operations, compliance, training, ethics, and reputation management.
She has worked both inhouse and as an external consultant for organisations in the aviation, education, emergency services, finance, government, health, not-for-profit, technology and tourism sectors. She is particularly well-versed in undertaking greenfield projects, analysing existing operations and providing solutions to enhance and evolve an organisation’s capabilities at all levels. She has also spent time working for one of the world’s largest advertising groups and overseen the Indonesian operations of a leading Australian public relations firm.
Brands she has worked for include the Australian Government, Blackboard, Boeing, Cameragal Montessori School, Dentsu Aegis, Habitat for Humanity, HMD Nokia Phones, Korda Mentha, Matrix Health, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Mitsubishi Electric, Pizza Hut, Red Cross, Regal Springs, Room to Read, Save the Children, Victorian State Government, University of NSW, Westfield, and disaster management firms Kenyon and International SOS.
Gill has served on boards with a number of companies including ICON International, AVISIS and Cameragal Montessori School. She has spoken at industry conferences and been a guest speaker at Notre Dame University, Jakarta Business Networkers (JBN), the Australian Indonesia Business Council (AIBC) and the Indonesian Australian Business Council (IABC). She holds memberships with JBN and the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI).
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
Ray Kroc, CEO of McDonald’s