Angela McGregor

Principal Consultant, RTO Consulting

Owner and principal consultant of RTO Consulting (since 1999) Angela McGregor is an RTO mentor and consultant. Specialising in compliance mentoring, course accreditation and RTO set ups.

 Angela’s passion for training and the VET sector has resulted in the creation of on demand professional development courses for administrators, trainers and anyone wanting to develop their compliance knowledge.

Having owned her own RTO for 9 years Angela has first hand experience and understanding of the rewards and challenges of operating an RTO.

Ben Jenkinson

Doctoral Research Candidate, Queensland University of Technology; Associate Director - Education (Foundation, Schools & Pathways), Chisholm Institute

Ben Jenkinson is an experienced education leader with a career spanning over 20 years in some of Victoria’s most innovative and high-performing educational organisations, including K-12 Schools, TAFE and the STEM-based, Victorian Tech Schools.  

A senior education executive in Victorian TAFE, Ben is passionate about improving the post-secondary study and career pathway opportunities for youth across Victoria, particularly in STEM fields. 

 With extensive experience in curriculum design and STEM education, Ben’s Doctoral research with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) investigates the co-design of thematic STEM pathway curriculum prototypes to engage secondary students in the field of VET Engineering (Advanced Manufacturing) at TAFE.

Bernard Agana

Assistant Team Leader - Science Health and Agriculture, VETASSESS (a subsidiary of Bendigo Kangan Institute)

Bernard has obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Victoria University Melbourne under the Australian Leadership Awards program.  Bernard has previously worked in the construction and manufacturing industries and has also taught in some of the top learning Institutions in the Philippines.  

His most recent research work focused on evaluating selected Chinese vocational qualifications against the Australian standard.  The research identified some gaps needed to be addressed by the Chinese institutions for their courses to meet the Australian standard.

Claire Bunkum

Director - Risk, Assurance and Evaluation, ASQA

Claire is the Director of Risk, Assurance and Evaluation at the Australian Skills Quality Authority.

She has over 20 years' experience in the Australian Public Service and in that time has led a variety of regulatory, policy and service delivery teams.

ASQA’s Risk, Assurance and Evaluation team works across ASQA to provide expert advice on risk and assurance matters, enhance ASQA’s evaluation methodologies and support agency compliance with legislative requirement.

Coleen Rivas

Managing Director, Raspberry Training and Consulting

Coleen is the Managing Director of Raspberry Training and Consulting.

She has 20 years of experience in the VET sector having owned and managed various RTOs, and she is an experienced instructional designer and VET professional.

She is passionate about quality vocational education and the delivery of best practice competency assessment.

David Garner

Principal Consultant, [consult dg]

David Garner is the Principal Consultant at [consult dg] and provides advice, development and research to the VET sector. He has worked in a variety of compliance related roles for over 15 years.

As the General Manager Regulatory Operations for the Australian Skills Quality Authority, David was responsible for implementing ASQA’s regulatory strategy nationally, including monitoring compliance of both training providers, and intending providers, against the VET Quality Framework and Educational Services for Overseas Students Act.

David was also Director, Training Quality, in the Queensland Department of Education and Training. 

Prior to joining the Queensland department in 2005, David worked in and managed training providers for many years. 

David has been active in sports administration for over 30 years and sat for many years on the board of the Queensland Fitness, Sport and Recreation Skills Alliance.

Donna Mortlock

Director and Chief Disorganiser, Blueprint Career Development

Donna has a string of letters behind her name and almost none of them relate to her two current passions! With over 25 years experience in VET, she now focusses on developing learning products and methodologies that engage and inspire learners.  These range from the unique Certificate III in Personal Empowerment offered by Blueprint Career Development, to creating online simulations for training in TAE, hospitality and business.

Donna is described as a dynamic trainer who demonstrates a flair for innovation.  With her wide ranging experience and high energy levels, Donna is able to inspire others long after she has left the training venue.

Dr Deniese Cox

Founder, TeachingOnline.com.au

Deniese is known as the go-to source for exceptional online teaching strategies that really are effective. Every research-driven strategy presented by Deniese has been extensively trialled, refined, and proven to work in a variety of VET settings by diverse educators and learners.

With extensive hands-on experience of her own in the online space, a Masters in online learning and a PhD in online VET, Deniese is ideally placed to help all educators and teams cut through the noise around teaching online.

Her ongoing research is what enables Deniese to continuously bring you the latest insights, and her commitment to developing practical strategies is what makes her sessions really stand out. Consistently one of our most highly rated speakers, you don’t want to miss her presentations!S/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational Health & Safety) 

Dr Deniese Cox and Chemène Sinson

Founder, TeachingOnline.com.au & Founder, Blackwater Projects

About Deniese:

Deniese is known as the go-to source for exceptional online teaching strategies that really are effective. Every research-driven strategy presented by Deniese has been extensively trialled, refined, and proven to work in a variety of VET settings by diverse educators and learners.

With extensive hands-on experience of her own in the online space, a Masters in online learning and a PhD in online VET, Deniese is ideally placed to help all educators and teams cut through the noise around teaching online.

Her ongoing research is what enables Deniese to continuously bring you the latest insights, and her commitment to developing practical strategies is what makes her sessions really stand out. Consistently one of our most highly rated speakers, you don’t want to miss her presentations!

About Chemène:

Chemène is a freelance learning and performance specialist who helps individuals and organisations design, develop and deliver learning and assessment experiences that lead to improved performance.

She has worked in the VET sector since 2000 and specialises in TAE qualifications.  In recent years she has focussed her own professional development on foundation skills and is the administrator of the LLN and VET Meeting Place website. Chemène is a regular speaker at conferences and special events.

Dr Phil Rutherford

Training Manager Defence Projects , Nova Systems

Phil Rutherford has had a dual career, spanning over 50 years with the military (regular and reserves) while at the same time building a civilian career in vocational education and training. 

In between periods on full-time military service he worked in both the public and private sectors at every level of training, from trainer to training manager, manager of training establishments, to university lecturer.

He has presented papers at national and international conferences on best-practice VET training and assessment. He began his military career in communications and served on a number of overseas postings. As a reservist, he concluded his career researching and providing advice to the CDF and relevant Ministers and the Governor General on matters concerning honours and awards. 

His greatest successes have included leading the creation of some of the world's largest VET systems while at the same time reforming training across the Australian Defence Forces. 

He is currently advising government and managing training that supports the introduction into service of a number of critical Defence capabilities.

Fay Staios and Lauren Zelunka

Strategic Lead Workforce Development and Education Officer, Turning Point

About Fay:

Fay Staios is an experienced Director/Manager who has worked in both Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training (public and NGO) for over 25 years, across a range of sectors.

Her experience includes work at a federal agency implementing public policy in education at a national level, working with all jurisdictions across Australia. Fay holds a degree in Education and a post graduate degree in Business.

About Lauren:

Lauren is an education officer at Turning Point working in a number of programs including BreakThrough: Families Understanding Addiction and VET courses. 

As part of the BreakThrough team, Lauren develops content and facilitates online and face-to-face education and support sessions for families across Victoria dealing with a loved one's drug use. Lauren is a qualified counsellor and has worked in the AOD for the past 10 years in both community and residential services. Throughout this time, Lauren has also completed a graduate certificate in Addictive behaviours and holds a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Harry Dimitroff & Nicholas Robert

Head of Product, Year13 & CEO & Founder at Learning Vault

About Harry:

Harry Dimitroff is the Head of Product at Year13 (Australia’s largest digital platform for Gen Z). He began his career at Canon Finance Australia as a Financial Operations Manager in 2015. In 2017, he Co-Founded The Bean Index. 

 Since 2019, he has been employed at Year13 and he holds a Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing and Management from the University of Technology Sydney.

About Nicholas:

Nicholas is a co-founder of Learning Vault and loves leveraging technology and education to help build the workforce of the future. 

He believes learning is a life long process, and Learning Vault was designed to enable educational experiences consistently throughout a persons lifetime. From digitally credential achievements, down to assisting in the design of educational products.

Janelle Manton

Personal Empowerment Facilitator & Coach, Trainer of Trainers

Janelle has trained in VET sector for nearly 11 years delivering TAE products, mostly Cert IV TAE. 

She has more than 20 years experience in Personal and Professional development facilitation and coaching and currently also facilitates the 10860NAT Cert III in Personal Empowerment with Blueprint Career Development.

She has extensive public speaking experience and is dedicated to helping people and trainers be more engaging, authentic and dynamic in life and their careers..

Jason Ash

General Manager, MRWED Training and Assessment

Jason has more than 15 years of training and assessment experience, gained predominantly in corporate environments. He has specialised in delivering training in sales, coaching, business communication and management and has received international acclaim for his work in Learning and Development. Jason was the winner of the Platinum Award for “Best Young Learning Leader” at the 2011 LearnX Asia-Pacific Awards and was named a young trainer to watch by US Training Magazine in 2012.

Jason is a two-time MRWED Trainer of the year and is one of only three trainers in Australia certified to deliver Bob Pike’s Train-the-Trainer Boot Camp, the world’s most well-respected trainer training program. A strong advocate for the participant-centred approach to training, Jason has spoken on the topic of Creative Training Techniques at conferences all over Australia and at multiple events in the United States.

Jason Blinman

CEO & Founder, The Maven Effect

Jason Blinman is currently the Chief Executive Officer & Founder of The Maven Effect, but more recently, feedback has founded him to be classified as “A Unicorn; a majestic creature to behold both personally and professionally yet amazing to watch in action due to our limited comprehension of its magical abilities”.

Jason has held Senior, Executive and Board roles in RTO’s, Corporate L&D, Human Resources and Operations arenas.

Before opening The Maven Effect, Jason held the role of Operations Manager of a prominent club in Sydney Australia. Combining exceptional strategy building techniques with “out of this world” people skills, Jason lead the company to boost its profit growth by $15 million in one financial year.

Jason is a highly regarded Leader of industry, who brings a wealth of experience to each interaction, working with and learning from some of the World’s most recognised and loved brands such as The Disney Institute and McDonald’s Australia’s RTO. Jason's Vision - "I want to change the hearts of Leaders everywhere".

Joanne Waugh

Senior Research Officer, NCVER

Joanne is an early career researcher with 15 years’ experience working in the Australian VET sector. 

Joanne has worked as a VET trainer, as an industry liaison developing training package content and in VET policy for the South Australian government. 

Her research interest include qualitative research in education access, equity and pathways.

Josh Michel

NSW Campus Manager, William Angliss Institute of Education

I am a chef with over 25 years experience in some of Sydney's and the worlds best restaurants. 

In 2006, I embarked upon a career into Hospitality training and assessing and never looked back. 

I have worked in a number of different roles over the years including trainer, education manager and most recently, as a member of the William Angliss Institute Education leadership team as the NSW Campus manager. 

I still work in the industry and strongly believe in maintaining currency through my own lifelong learning journey, as this benefits our students. Establishing rapport, trust and upmost respect between trainers and students through open communication and creating an engaging learning environment is key. 

As with all things in hospitality the most successful dishes involve finding that right mix of ingredients such as engagement, empathy and passion. My session will help you find your key ingredient to help keep your teams and students engaged.

Katerina Lawler

Assistant Secretary, VET Quality and Regulation Branch

Kay Schlesinger

Founder and CEO, kgedconsulting

Kay Schlesinger has worked in numerous educational sectors, including a position as a Deputy Principal where she took responsibility for the professional Development of educators and supported new leaders in the sector. In the last 20 years Kay has worked in VET, Higher Education and as an Educational Consultant.

Kay has received awards for Teaching and Adult learning in the VET sector. She has continually demonstrated innovative approaches to teaching a diverse range of students. This was exemplified in 2018 when she presented at the AVETRA conference around Interactive Teaching and Learning Strategies.

In 2020 Kay was awarded an International Specialised Skills Institute fellowship by the Department of Education and Training for her work with new teachers. Kay is currently mentoring organisations around empowering new educators for organisational improvement.

Kay has also designed programs around Industry mentoring and was one of the keynote speakers at the 2021 VDC Annual Conference where she addressed: 10 Ways to Empower New Teachers for Success. A pathway for organisational success. Kay has also been a speaker at TAFE Director’s Australia and spoke at TAFE Queensland/ Holmesglen annual conferences. Kay is currently working with The Department of Education in a consulting role.

Developing the capability of educators has been Kay’s passion for many years. She is focussed on partnering with educators to create interesting, interactive learning experiences.

Kerri Buttery

Founder, Digital Literacy Licence

Digital Literacy Licence (DLL) is the brainchild of Kerri Buttery, who founded the company in 2021 after a rewarding, decades-long career in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

Kerri's first foray into education saw her delivering VET in Schools (VETiS) programs in Queensland as a qualified secondary school teacher. This evolved into working as an auditor in the VET sector, then as a consultant assisting RTOs in maintaining compliance and delivering quality eLearning solutions

Kerri is also the founder of VETNexus. An Organisation that works alongside education providers to strengthen the relationship between compliance, technology and innovation.

Kevin Ekendahl

CEO & Principal Lead Auditor, Audit Express

Kevin is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Lead Auditor at Audit Express. 

He has extensive experience working in senior management positions across the training and education sector and as a board member on health regulation and community organisations.

 Having built and managed a registered training organisation, Kevin understands the importance of ensuring there is the right balance between growth and compliance.

Lauren Hollows

Director, Aniwaya Education Services

Lauren is the Director of Aniwaya Education Services, who provide highly contextualised assessment tools for RTOs, schools and higher education providers.

Over the last ten years, Lauren has worked in a range of roles including as a teacher, trainer, administrator and a range of senior management roles relating to compliance, quality, operation and business development.

Bringing her unique perspective to the conference based on her experience in recent audits, Lauren is passionate about helping individuals and organisations find practical and actionable ways to improve the quality of VET through developing quality VET practitioners. 

Laurie Kelly

CEO, Brain Friendly Training Pty Ltd

Laurie speaks Nationally and Internationally on how to use current knowledge of ‘how the Brain works’ to maximize the Impact of Training and new Learning.

He is one of Australia’s Master trainers, having built a reputation since 1992 on delivering ‘Skills-based’ Professional Training for Adult educators in how to deliver content so Learners learn and the Learning Sticks.

He brings with him an enormous variety of life and corporate experience, working with groups as varied as Major and small RTOs, The Banking Ombudsman’s Office, Jockeys, H.R. Managers, CEO’s, Railway Gangers, Students, and Nursing Educators, Medical Consultants and Registrars from some major Australian Hospitals.

Laurie promises to ‘walk the talk’.  No fluff - just practical skills. Expect to experience the principles of Brain-Friendly Training in practice and see how it works for you.

These are the skills of delivery that trainers need, and student so desperately seek.

Loraine D'Silva

Director, ConsultNOW

I am the Director of ConsultNOW, a RTO consultancy service that champions support for the VET industry in Queensland.  My vision is to ensure every RTO is supported in its endeavour to establish, develop and maintain quality training/assessment management systems with 100% compliance outcomes.

Having worked as a Senior Regulatory Auditor with the Queensland Department of Education and Training in the past, I have had the opportunity to audit RTO's across a wide range of industries and know the pulse of this industry and the compliance issues it is plagued with. This role reversal enables me to work with RTO's and help bridge this gap between regulatory bodies and the VET sector.

At ConsultNOW, we specialise in helping RTOs interpret the requirements of User Choice, Certificate 3 Guarantee and the Standards for RTOs 2015. We will help you establish and maintain:

• reliable management systems to comply with specific funding program requirements
• consistent and quality training and assessment processes
• low risk status with the regulatory bodies (ASQA and DET)

My extensive background in the VET industry, predominantly through my years of experience with the Queensland Department of Education and Training, has shaped me into a proficient VET industry expert. My subject matter expertise ranges in all aspects of:

• Queensland User Choice
• Queensland Certificate 3 Guarantee
• NVR Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015.
• ISO Standards Integrated Management Systems (ISO 9001:2015 Quality, ISO 14001:2015 Environment, AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational Health & Safety) 

Marc Ratcliffe

CEO and Founder, MRWED Training and Assessment

Marc is a multi-award-winning trainer, author and education entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of MRWED Training and Assessment, a private RTO that specialises in Trainer Training.

He is a strong advocate for "edu-tainment" and believes that learner involvement and fun are integral to student success. He continues to be an in demand conference speaker and workshop facilitator, having presented at more than 50 conferences in a dozen countries in the past decade and was recently named as the winner of the “Best Training and Development Leadership” Award for 2017 at the World Training and Development Congress in Mumbai.

Marianne Bateup

Founder and Director, Abilitise

Marianne is the Founder and Director of coaching, consulting and training practice Abilitise. She is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, a TAE Diploma Certified Trainer, and a TDD Diploma Certified Instructional Designer. She has been a winner in CEO Today Magazine’s Executive Coaching Awards for Australasia for 2022, was ranked third in Influence Digest's list of the top 20 coaches in Sydney for 2021, and has been published in Coaching World. For 2022 her practice Abilitise has been awarded Leadership Coaching Firm of the Year for Australia and Best Leadership Development Training Provider for NSW.

Marianne has demonstrated success in supporting individuals, teams and businesses to recognise their potential, expand their capabilities and achieve personal and organisational excellence. With 25+ years across five continents, she has broad experience in a range of sectors. Marianne is skilled in executive, leadership, business, intercultural, career, life and wellness coaching, and facilitates workshops, strategic planning days and accredited courses. Marianne’s passion lays in supporting individuals, teams and businesses to achieve their goals, clarity on next steps and tangible, material outcomes.  

Marianne has an Executive MBA, a Master of Asian Studies and various qualifications in coaching, training, business and project management. 

Matthew Dale

Co-founder, Educonomy

Matthew Dale has worked in a range of roles across the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector for more than 15 years, initially starting as a hospitality trainer to international students, before building a specialisation and focus in the areas of learning design, quality assurance and compliance. 

In 2012, Matthew established Audit Express, which is an award-winning consulting firm that specialises in quality audits and advisory services to the education, workplace health and safety, and the health and aged care sectors. Matthew is also the co-founder of Educonomy, an Australian-based consulting firm with a global reach. 

The team at Educonomy helps organisations to navigate their way through the digitisation of education and the complexity of the EdTech space. Educonomy works with industry, large employers, education providers, as well as both state and federal government departments and agencies. 

Melanie Alexandra

Education Services Advisor, Independent Schools Queensland Founder and Primary Consultant, VETExcel Consulting

Melanie has held a variety of roles within the academic and vocational education sectors over the past 25 years beginning as a schoolteacher and trainer, then progressing through roles such as Advanced Practitioner, Head of Curriculum, Head of Faculty, Head of Quality Assurance and RTO Compliance Manager. Melanie has also won awards for practice excellence in teaching and learning, and outstanding leadership in schools.

In recent years, Melanie worked as a Senior Lead Auditor of Vocational Education and Training (VET), conducting over 500 regulatory audits and registrations against the current VET Quality Framework and Standards for RTOs 2015. She has also developed a range of training, assessment, management and governance tools and resources to support VET practitioners nationally including a number of professional development programs to aid learning through online platforms.

Today Melanie continues her work as an Education Services Advisor of Vocational Education, Skills and Training for VET practitioners in Queensland schools and provides consulting support services to RTOs as a VET Consultant in her own right.

Melanie Evangelista

Sessional Academic, RMIT

Melanie started her PhD(Ed) in January 2020, having completed a Master of Education (Career Development) in 2019. Melanie undertakes research to determine the career influences of students pursuing STEM careers and is currently researching the career guidance given by school Career Development Practitioners.

Melanie is a qualified and registered Career Development Practitioner and Trainer/Assessor. Melanie has over 20 years’ experience in the VET sector, from being an Office Administration and First Aid trainer, to managing Registered Training Organisations.

CURRENT TEACHING:

• Trainer  - TAE40116 + TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (Monash Uni Student Association)
• Casual Academic in the 106011 GradCert of Career Development program (James Cook Uni)
• Teaching and Research Sessional in the GC044 GradCert in Careers Education and Development program (RMIT)
• Careers Counsellor (Buckley Park College)
• Trainer and Assessor - TAE40116 + TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE Training Academy)
• Tutor in the  Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) (Uni of Southern Queensland)
• Online Learning Advisor for GradCert Careers Education program (Queensland Uni of Technology)

QUALIFICATIONS

• Completing: PhD (Education)
• Completed: MEd, GradDipVET, BSci(AppPsych), BEd(FurtherEd&Trng), TAE50116, TAE50216, BBus(HRM) TAE40110"

Melinda Cox

Director, Regulatory Policy, ASQA

Melinda is the Director of Regulatory Policy and Standards Implementation at ASQA.

She joined ASQA six months ago, continuing a 20+ year career in the employment and training services sectors.

Melinda’s team is responsible for working with providers and government stakeholders to help ensure the regulatory policy settings in VET are fit-for-purpose, focussed on continuous improvement in terms of both quality and integrity across the sector, while still being sufficiently flexible to support provider innovation and excellence.

Michael Crossland

As seen on Sunrise, Studio 10, Daily Edition, Australian Stories, MTV, Fox Sports News to name just a few, Michael Crossland is a businessman, elite Australian representative sportsman, Queens Baton bearer for the Commonwealth Games and one of Australia's most in-demand keynote speakers.

He is a best-selling author across 6 different countries and with his charity work, runs an orphanage and school in Haiti. He will no doubt help shift your mindset, instill perspective but also leave you with powerful tools that will assist in both your personal and profession lives. Highly in demand, Michael has shared the stage with the likes of Sir Richard Branson & the Dalai Lama, & a recent video of him speaking in Los Angeles been viewed by more than 87 million people.

Nancy Pavlovic

Managing Director, PAVLOV GROUP

The PAVLOV GROUP - Behavioural conditioning of Your business is focused on developing integrated and sustainable systems, process, people, performance, product service, and strategy, in a knowledge economy. She has worked in multiple sector industries including but not limited to multi-nationals in Aviation, Automotive, Construction, Defence, and Information Technology, at Federal and State Govt. She is an education strategist who works across the L&D, VET and HE sectors.

Undertaking her Master’s in eLearning is also an Academic Board Member of the Higher education Leadership Institute, representing the voice of the student. Nancy continues to make waves with her trademark engaging yet straightforward approach to developing lateral solutions where her clients feel a sense of ownership of the changes implemented because she makes the complicated and complex simple.

She is passionate about enterprise risk management and is disrupting cybersecurity education globally because cyber security is everyone’s responsibility.

Sam Schischka

Product Manager, National Careers Institute

With a career spanning over 25 years in the design, development and management of enterprise digital platforms, Sam Schischka serves as the Product Manager for the National Careers Institute (NCI) flagship career guidance website, Your Career. In this role, he provides both technical and customer experience insight for product development and design on the Your Career and My Skills websites.

Instrumental in the initial design and development of the Your Career website, Sam officially flicked the switch in October 2020 to launch the governments digital source of truth for career development advice and support. In the nearly three years since the platform was released, he has been the key business assurance and technical subject matter expert for the NCI, as the site underwent two significant functional and visual upgrades.

Sarah Phillips & Melissa Palmer

Co-Founder & Managing Director and Director, Pop Education

About Sarah:

Sarah is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Pop Education. Since 2005, she developed VET resources in the online and blended space. Sarah has developed assessments for over 300 unique units of competency and began her assessment career developing assessments for 12 months under the guidance of an ASQA auditor.

Sarah’s previous background in e-learning has allowed her to combine her skills to be a thought leader in the niche space of online assessment, in particular simulations, and has designed models for validating online assessments and assessment methodology. She is highly regarded in the sector for her management of large projects and her personable approach to client needs, and delivers high quality materials and training, leading her team by example. With a Bachelor of Adult Learning and Development, coupled with a Diploma of e-learning and qualifications in Auditing and Project Management, Sarah knows all facets of resource development.

About Melissa:

Melissa is a Director at Pop Education, joining the team in 2017. She brings 15 years’ experience in the VET sector across a wide range of roles and training organisations both in the public and private sectors. Melissa’s career has seen her become a leading assessment specialist. With the past seven years specifically working in roles providing assessment specialist services in assessment development, assessment validation and training and mentoring.

In particular, Melissa specialises in developing assessments for the digital space, and writing detailed simulations for a range of simulation types, including class-based role plays, animated decision trees, and project based simulation work place activities.

Saxon Rice, Chief Executive Officer at Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)

Saxon Rice has extensive experience across the VET and employment services sectors as well as the public policy process. Ms Rice previously held a range of senior government, VET and management positions. 

She was Assistant Minister for Technical and Further Education in the former Queensland Government from 2012 to 2015, and Chair of the then Ministerial Industry Commission responsible for industry engagement. 

Ms Rice is a former Director of Global Business Development for an Australian employment services company and was responsible for significant growth into new countries in the European and Asian markets. 

Ms Rice commenced as a Commissioner of ASQA on 16 April 2018, before being appointed as Chief Commissioner and CEO (initially Acting) on 7 October 2019. 

With effect from 1 January 2021, Ms Rice was appointed CEO for a period of five years.

Stephen Huntley

Assistant Director Volunteer Learning & Development, ACT Emergency Services Agency

Steve is currently responsible for training  the ACT Rural Fire Service and ACT State Emergency Service volunteers. A current volunteer with the ACTRFS, Steve has previously held roles with NSW National Parks in operational support and as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Steve has been engaged with VET training for the last ten years and currently sits on the AFAC Technical Advisory Committee for fire training.

Steve holds a MBA from Monash University, a Bachelors degree in Management and Incident Management qualifications as a planning and operations officer.

Steve has facilitated VET training in units of competency from the public safety and conservation and land management qualifications.

Toby Jones

Director Strategic Partnerships, Learning Vault

Toby Jones is a leading education technologist with a focus on emerging technologies and their potential impact on education. As Director of Strategic Partnerships at Learning Vault, Australia's first digital badging agency, Toby is at the forefront of the digitisation of learning. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his role, working with educators and institutions to leverage emerging technologies.

Toby is a passionate advocate for this sector and enjoys exploring the fundamentals of these emerging technologies and their potential to transform the educational landscape. With a focus on practical applications and real-world examples, Toby provides a unique perspective on the future of education and the tools that will shape it.

Tony Kirton

Founder & Senior Designer, Engage Learning and Development

Tony Kirton is an instructional designer and learning facilitator with more than a decade’s experience in learning and development.

Known for his engaging and evidence-based approach to workplace learning, Tony facilitates training with several of Australia’s leading training providers including speaking at various conferences around Australia.  

Tony’s extensive experience in the application of learning design theory includes the design of hundreds of training programs and more than one thousand assessment resources from nearly 30 different qualifications.

Tracie Parisi

Founder of Student Convert

Tracie is a multi award winning business woman with over 25 years of business experience. 

She specialises in media buying, marketing, sales and strategic consulting to RTOs & Education Companies.

As the Founder of Student Convert, Tracie’s advice and campaigns have netted tens of millions of dollars in revenue for her private clients.

Will Wheeler

Founder, Neurodiversity Academy

Will Wheeler is a proud neurodistinct person with dyslexia and ADHD, who has worked with people and organisations all over the world.

Will is also the Founder of Neurodiversity Academy, which is working hard to create the world’s first adult education college for neurodistinct people.

Will works closely with other community leaders to help promote and encourage organisations to develop neuro-inclusive working environments. This includes areas like recruitment, career progression, leadership, training and education. One of Will’s goals is to help schools and corporate organisations to fill job shortages. Will hopes to provide neurodistinct people with the proper training to fill these jobs and thrive in neuro-inclusive workplaces.