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Judith Leeson AM

As a former National President of the Career Development Association of Australia, and founding member and inaugural President of the Career Industry Council of Australia, Judith has been able to influence Australia’s career development policies at a national level. In 1991, Judith and her husband Brian established Vector Consultants Pty Ltd, a career development company and in 2005, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community. Judith also holds the position of Adjunct Lecturer in Career Development at Edith Cowan University in Perth WA.

Professor Sandra Harding
Vice-Chancellor and President, James Cook University

Professor Harding has undertaken a wide variety of roles within the business community and the higher education sector. She is currently the Chair of the Innovative Research Universities Australia (IRUA) alliance; a Board Member of Universities Australia, the Business/Higher Education Round Table, TropLinks Inc, and the International Scientific Advisory Committee, Great Barrier Reef Foundation; and a Director of the Australian Institute of Commercialisation Pty Ltd, Townsville Enterprise Limited, Advance Cairns and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. She is also a non-executive Director of the Global Foundation for Management Education Ltd (Montreal).

Simon Brown Greaves
Chair, National Leadership Institute

Simon Brown-Greaves has worked extensively to develop leadership capacity throughout many of Australia’s major public and private sector organisations. Following an early career in the public sector, Simon has established a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost human resources consultants.

Professor Paul Thomas AM, BSc(Hons), DipEd, MA., PhD, FACE, LRPS
Vice-Chancellor and President, University of the Sunshine Coast

Professor Paul Thomas AM received undergraduate degrees at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and a research MA from Loughborough University before coming to Australia in 1976, where he received a PhD from the University of Queensland. In March 1994, he became Planning President for the University of the Sunshine Coast, the first university to be developed on a greenfield site for a quarter of a century. On 1 January 1996, Professor Thomas became the University’s inaugural Vice-Chancellor. In 2007, he was honored with an Order of Australia medal for services to higher education and the establishment of the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is also a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and a recipient of a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship.

Professor Scott Bowman
Vice-Chancellor & President, CQUniversity Australia

Professor Bowman began his professional life as a radiographer, training in the UK. He worked as a senior radiographer in a number of hospitals in London before becoming a student teacher at Guys Hospital Radiography Education Centre. Professor Bowman then became the Head of the Department of Radiography and Imaging Sciences at the University College of St Martin. He was appointed the foundation Dean of the Faculty of Health Science and Community at St Martins before moving to Australia to take up the position of Head of the School of Medical Radiations at Charles Sturt University. Professor Bowman then moved to the University of South Australia where he was appointed Dean of the Whyalla Campus. He then moved on to James Cook University to become Pro Vice Chancellor (Cairns and Academic Planning & Development). In 2005 as well as undertaking this role he was also acting Pro Vice Chancellor Corporate and Commercial. He then went to James Cook University where he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor University Services and Registrar. In August 2009 he was appointed the Vice Chancellor and president of CQUniversity Australia.

Professor Greg Baxter
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), Victoria University

Greg Baxter’s position has overall responsibility for all aspects of teaching and learning at the university, including building and improving learning, teaching, and professional teaching development for all staff of Victoria University. Greg is a member of the university’s senior management team. Prior to this position, Greg was Associate Dean (Research and Research Training), Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science at Victoria University. Greg has a PhD (Melbourne University) in Physics. He is also one of Victoria University’s strongest researchers with successive ARC grants continuously across 12 years.
Currently Greg is the sponsor of a number of strategic initiatives in teaching and learning at VU including development and implementation of a Learning Commons approach across the University’s campuses, founded on a student-centred learning and teaching philosophy; development of capability for researching teaching and learning at Victoria University; and effective implementation and embedding a comprehensive approach to developing graduate attributes through all university courses.

Professor Shelda Debowski
Winthrop Professor of Higher Education Development and the Director of Organisational and Staff Development Services,
University of Western Australia

In the last six years, Professor Debowski has received widespread recognition for a range of innovations relating to the academic practice of research and leadership across the Australian higher education sector. These innovations include academic mentorship initiatives, academic leadership programmes, and faculty-based development for early career researchers. Professor Debowski has been President of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) for the last four years and was elected President of the International Consortium for Education Development (ICED) in 2008. Professor Debowski also works as a consultant to industry and educational groups and regularly presents keynotes, seminars and workshops nationally and internationally.