Board
Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley AC, the former Vice Chancellor and President of the
University of South Australia has been extensively involved in national education policy groups for three decades.
In 2008 she chaired the Expert Panel which reviewed Higher Education in Australia and recommended a new framework for Higher Education. Its key recommendations have been adopted.
She is currently a member of the Education Infrastructure Fund Advisory Board; a member of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO; a member of the Advisory Council for the NSW Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation; Director of SEEK Ltd.; Chair of the National Advisory Panel for the National Trade Cadetships program; and Chair of VERNet.
On Australia Day 2008 Professor Bradley was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia’s highest honour, in recognition of her service to higher education.
Sendur Kathir is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Head of Infrastructure at the University of Melbourne. The role of CIO has University wide carriage for IT strategy and policy development, and delivery of required information and communication technology services to support the University’s mission in research, teaching and learning, and engagement. As Head of Infrastructure, Sendur has oversight of the University major projects, property and campus services.
Sendur has played an important role is developing the University’s eResearch infrastructure over the past 2 years, culminating in the release of the first research cloud in Australia. Other significant achievements in research infrastructure have been the construction of a large data centre, high performance computing and very high speed networks.
Sendur serves as company director for a number of organizations including Victorian Education and Research Network (VERNet) and Council of Australian University Directors of IT (CAUDIT). Sendur is also actively involved in key Commonwealth funded research initiatives such as the $47M National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR), $50M Research Data Storage Initiative (RDSI) and National Research Network (NRN) projects.
Prior to joining the University, Sendur spent five years in the consulting industry having undertaken a number of roles for both the private and public sectors. During this time, Sendur worked for a number of organizations including Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Fujitsu, where Sendur served as a Program Manager assisting Optus with the rollout of its optical fibre network throughout Australia.
Ms. Michelle Beveridge is the Chief Information Officer at Open Universities Australia where she leads and provides oversight to the core organisational capabilities of the company. This position has been held since 2010.
Initially pursuing a career in accounting (CPA), and later in Information Technology across various industries including logistics, financial services and international education, Michelle has leveraged these combined skills to facilitate significant business change programs. As CIO for Oamps Insurance Brokers, IDP Education and now OUA, Michelle’s specialty is the use of technology for business development through revenue and profit growth.
Michelle is also Secretary of Australian Computer Society (Vic), and a Trustee for the Queen Victoria Women's Centre.
Michelle studied at University of New South Wales completing her Master Business Administration (Executive) and Charles Sturt University for her Bachelor of Business.
David is Chief Information Officer at CSIRO with responsibility for IT, eResearch and Library functions. Prior to this he was responsible for finance, property and procurement functions at CSIRO. Before joining CSIRO in 2003, he held senior positions in other Commonwealth Government agencies.
Lawrence has more than 30 years experience in all facets of the telecommunications industry including mobile, fixed, broadband, satellite and international networks both domestically and internationally.
Lawrence has had responsibility for nationwide infrastructure programs, operations, sales, customer service and regulatory issues, and for integrations including network transformations and deployments across multiple technologies. He has extensive experience in regional and rural communications.
He serves as a Director of the leading Asian Telecommunications group Maxis Communication Bhd. and as Chairman of its Technology Committee. He is also a Director of the national carrier Sri Lanka Telecom PL, Wi-Max operator Sky Networks PL and Mobile/Broadband operator Mobitel PL. He is a Board associate of Indian operator AIRCEL.
He formerly was a Senior Executive with Telstra. He served as a member of the Board of the Australian Government’s Internet Assistance Program and has been an invited speaker at the Australian Health Informatics Conference, and the Australian Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering. Mr Paratz holds an M.Sc. (Telecommunications Systems) with Distinction, and was awarded the Philips Prize from Essex University, and an M.Eng.Sc from the University of Queensland.
Lawrence is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) and an alumnus of the Stanford University Executive Development Program. He holds Bachelors Degrees in Science and Engineering (Honours). He was formerly Chairman of the OnTrac@PeterMac Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Programme, and has involvements and experience in agriculture, M2M, e-Health and aerospace.
Mr. John Dixon is the Director and Chief Technology Officer, Information and Communication Technology Services at the University of Ballarat.
Having held this position since 2008, his daily responsibilities include provision of strategic advice and guidance of information and communication technologies as well as managing the daily operations of client services, print, application and infrastructure services for University of Ballarat. He has been with University of Ballarat (including predecessor institutions) for 21 years holding the positions of Manager Computer Services, Manager ICT Services, Manager Planning and Projects, and Manager ICT Client Services.
John has been involved in the ICT industry for 29 years, originally starting out in private industry specialising in computer and daily accounting operations. He returned to obtain his degree in applied science specialising in computer science and laboratory instrumentation at Ballarat University College.
John is a past Director of the Midlands Golf and Bowls Club.
Mr. Peter Brusco is the Executive Director of Information Technology at Deakin University. This is a position he has held since 2006. His responsibilities include the provision of IT infrastructure, services and all strategic IT projects for the University. Peter’s particular strengths have been in the transformation of service delivery, performance management, program management and the improvement in the business value created through the use of digital technology.
Prior to taking up this role, Peter has held several executive positions in Information Technology at ANZ Bank. His banking and finance experience spanned technology, business and operational focused disciplines.
Peter has several technical qualifications and also holds a Master of Business Administration. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
John is a distinguished academic who is committed to innovative technology-enhanced teaching. He has ongoing and active relationships with the computer industry and with both State and Federal governments in relation to international education. He is the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Deakin University, and currently the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at La Trobe University, is the founder of two IT companies, and has taken a strong interest in driving innovation and entrepreneurship within universities.
Peter Dawkins became the third Vice-Chancellor and President of Victoria University, in Melbourne, on 19th January 2011.
From 1996-2005 he as was the Ronald Henderson Professor and Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. This was followed by six years working for the Victorian Government, first as Deputy Secretary of Treasury and Finance and then as Secretary of Education and Early Childhood Development.
An immigrant from the UK, where he obtained a BSc. and Ph.D. from Loughborough University and an MSc from the University of London, he became a Professor of Economics at the age of 35, at Curtin University in Western Australia in 1990.
While at the Melbourne Institute, in 2001 has was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia for contributions to research on economic and social policy issues. He has subsequently been elected a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration in Australia, and an Honorary Fellowship of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders.
He has served on a range of Committees and Boards for federal and state governments and in the tertiary educator sector, including for example, the Prime Ministers Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (2003-2005), the COAG Productivity Agenda Working Group (2008-2009), the Business higher Education Roundtable (B-HERT)) (2011-) and the Victorian Education and Research Network (VERnet) (2012-).