Professor Anna Sullivan DipT, BEd, PhD

Chair, Director

Professor Anna Sullivan is the founding director of MCERA and was appointed the inaugural Chair of the Board in May 2016. Prof Sullivan is currently a Professor of Education at the University of South Australia. She has worked as an academic at Edith Cowan University and Curtin University of Technology.

Prof Sullivan is a leading expert in the fields of teachers’ work and school discipline. Her research and publications focus on ways in which schooling can be better for students and teachers. Prof Sullivan continually attracts research funding on significant research projects, including Australian Research Council Linkages, which involve collaborations with many education industry partners. Her research has informed education policy and practice across Australia. She communicates her research widely. She has appeared in numerous print, radio and television media and reported her research in social media and online platforms.

Prof Sullivan brings over 10 years school teaching experience to her research and lecturing having taught in the primary, middle and secondary years of schooling across South Australia, New South Wales and England.

Erin Gao

Director

Erin is a highly accomplished Finance Executive with a wealth of experience working within leading not-for-profit and corporate environments. Erin brings together her financial expertise, risk management, strategic decision making and board governance with a genuine passion for education and human empowerment, providing authentic and transformational leadership for the organisation. 

Erin is committed to promoting social inclusion and improving opportunities for disadvantaged groups to reach their potential. She oversees the finance and risk portfolios of Domestic Violence NSW Service Management (DVSM), a not-for-profit core funded by the Department of Communities and Justice. She also sits on the Board of Human and Hope Incorporated, a poverty alleviation organisation empowering local communities through education and employment opportunities. Prior, Erin served as Board Director and Company Secretary in Digital Gap Initiative Ltd, a not-for-profit in digital accessibility. 

Erin holds a Master of Commerce degree, and she is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). 

Didier Guerin

Director

Didier Guérin is the Executive Chairman of Media Convergence Asia-Pacific, a company he founded in 1999 to manage or assist the development of international media companies in the Asia-Pacific.

Previously, Mr Guérin was a senior executive with Condé Nast and Hachette-Filipacchi Media and he served as President CEO for Asia Pacific for each group. Before moving to Australia, he lived in the US for a decade where he launched ELLE. During his career, Mr Guérin has directed the launch of more than 40 magazines and websites, including 30 local editions of major international brands like VOGUE and ELLE in the Asia-Pacific region. He has a BA in law and a BA in communications from the University of Paris and a Master’s Degree from Michigan State University.

Mr Guérin recently published a book about his media career: From Front Row to Front Cover: Inside the Business of Fashion Magazines.

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Mark Robertson

Director

Mark is a private consultant specialising in research and educational publishing, Asia Pacific and career mentoring. He is also the Development Director for Asia Pacific for CHOR Inc (CHORUS). CHORUS is a not-for-profit organization supporting funding agencies, research institutions and publishers to monitor funded research output and open access compliance. Mark is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

For 36 years Mark led Wiley’s and, before that, Blackwell Publishing’s research journal program in Asia Pacific as Publishing Director with overall country responsibility for Australia and Japan as Executive Director. The former included building a program of 160 journals in partnership with learned and professional societies and the latter leading activity in the two largest markets in the region.

His contributions to the publishing industry and non-executive roles have included Board appointments with the Copyright Agency Limited, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the International Association of STM Publishers (STM), founding and chairing the Scholarly and Journal Committee for the APA and the Japan chapter for STM.

Professor Michele Simons

Director

Professor Simons is the Dean and Head of the School of Education at Western Sydney University. She has extensive experience in supporting learning in the fields of adult education, vocational education and workplace learning, and secondary teacher education programs. Professor Simons is a well-respected researcher, having won a number of nationally competitive grants from the Australian Research Council and the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation (NVETRE) Program. She holds Board-level and executive appointments with the Australian Association for Education in Research, Engagement Australia and University of Western Sydney Early Learning Ltd. Michele has recently been appointed to the Board of the Australian Council of Deans of Education.

Emeritus Professor Christina Slade

Director

Emeritus Professor Slade was Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University from 2012 -2017 following appointments as Dean of the Schools of Arts and of Social Sciences at City University London, Dean of Humanities at Macquarie University (2003-2008) and Professor of Media Theory at the University of Utrecht. She trained in mathematical logic and philosophy at ANU and Oxford and worked as a journalist and academic in Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas.

Christina’s research has focussed on issues of the media and education since 1990. Her monograph, ‘The Real Thing: doing philosophy with media’ (2002) examines the role of reason in the media, while ‘From Migrant to Citizen: testing language, testing culture’, (2010) jointly edited with Martina Möllering, looks at linguistic, legal and philosophical aspects of citizenship testing. Her most recent monograph, ‘Watching Arabic Television in Europe: from diaspora to hybrid citizens’ was published in 2014 by Palgrave MacMillan.

She has been at the forefront of devising curricula in entrepreneurship, digital arts and creative computing. She is competent in French and Spanish. She has served on a range of boards with different governance structures, in the UK and Australia, education and the impact of digital futures and ethical issues. She has chaired audit and risk committees, international marketing groups and research ethics committees.

Lincoln Smith

Director

Lincoln Smith is a Partner at Norman Waterhouse Lawyers specialising in Employment, Industrial Relations and Media Law, with over 17 years experience.

Lincoln has considerable experience representing individuals, corporate and not for profit clients in industrial, employment, occupational health and safety and discrimination proceedings across a range of jurisdictions and Courts, including the Federal Court, Supreme Courts of South Australia and Victoria, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its successor, Fair Work Commission.

Lincoln is a Director of the Mary MacKillop College and a member of the Law Society’s Industrial Relations Committee.

Susi Steigler-Peters

Director

Susi is currently the Company Director for Apex Social Group’s Australia/New Zealand operations with responsibility and accountability for governance, strategic growth and financial sustainability. She also had the privilege of being the Chief Executive Officer at ProLearning, an EduTech start-up designed to provide schools with real time access to their student learning data. Susi has previously worked in Executive roles, such as Global Education Lead, Chief Business Development Officer, and Chief Policy & Strategic Initiatives Officer, at Telstra and NSW Department of Education.

Susi’s key areas of focus are the provision of thought leadership, solution innovation, industry insight & strategic engagement with education C-levels and ministers. She is focused on collaborating with education leaders to help them arrive at their preferred future. Susi is a champion of the link between learning and fulfilling your potential as well as contributing to the nation’s economy. In 2010 Susi established and chaired the Education Leaders’ Circle which comprised highly respected education leaders from across Australia. The group represented the K12 sector, TAFEs, universities, education agencies and peak associations. The Circle met regularly to confront the challenges associated with the changing Australian education landscape. Particular attention has been given to the business issues of student engagement , teacher professional learning , the role of assessment and the use of technology to transform the learning environment . The views of the Education Leaders’ Circle have been formalised in white papers: Personalised Learning – Meeting the Australian Challenge released in November 2011; Quality Teaching for Personalised Learning: Leveraging Technology for Exceptional Results launched in December 2012, mEducation – Mobility Enabling Personalised Learning , May 2014; ‘The Role of Learning Analytics in Future Education Models’, Dec, 2015 & Data-Driven Personalised Learning, June 2016.

Before joining Telstra, Susi fulfilled a number of roles as educator, business development manager and chief education officer in Australian Education. Susi has published a number of conference papers about developing sustainable learning practices & integrating ICT. In 2013 Susi was invited to join the GSMA Global mEducation Advisory Group. In 2012 Susi was appointed Chair of the AIIA ( Australian Information Industry Association) National Education Special Interest Group; served as a Board member of the Greater Western Sydney Education Alliance; the ‘We Link’ Advisory Group hosted by Education Services Australia and, by invitation of the education minister, served as a board member on the New South Wales Community Languages Schools Board.

Catherine Vogel

Director

Catherine Vogel has worked in and has been associated with the education industry for many years, with a particular focus on IB professional development for IB schools in the Asia Pacific region. She has worked closely with school communities to help meet their PD needs and is responsive to schools’ requirements. In addition, Catherine has been Chair of the Board of a Sydney-based pre-school which introduced Reggio Emilia teaching methods in the early 1990s. She was a Board Member of Zurich International School, heading the Education Sub-committee for part of that time. She has also been a Board member of The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation in Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

Catherine has worked in the advertising and media industries managing large accounts and marketing many products from fast moving packaged goods to services for industries, large and small. She was Marketing Director for Time Magazine (Australasia). Catherine has a Master of Arts (MA).

Dr Jim Davies

Company Secretary, Director

Jim is an independent education consultant and researcher, recently researching principals’ professional practices that facilitate Indigenous education. He has previously held numerous leadership roles in the South Australian public education system including District Superintendent. He is the foundation principal at the innovative Australian Science and Mathematics School established in partnership with Flinders University. Jim was President of the South Australian Secondary Principals Association for 5 years prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Principals Australia Institute 2012-2015. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and serves as chair on the Veterans’ Children Education Board SA & NT.