2020 VET CEO Conference

Avril Henry, Founder and CFO AHAA! (Avril Henry and Associates Pty Ltd) – renowned transformational leadership expert, leading keynote speaker nationally and internationally, author of 4 business best sellers, executive coach, consultant, facilitator and media provocateur! 

She has worked with a range of organisations over the past 16 years to change their culture and build their leadership capability. Avril’s career has spanned senior roles in finance, project management, change management and human resources in South Africa, Australia, the UK and USA.

In 2015 Avril was named one of the AFR Westpac 100 Women of Influence in Australia, and one of the 10 most influential women in the diversity space. She has been recognised by the Human Rights Commission and received business awards in Australia and the USA, for her diversity programs. She has received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in HR Award at the Australian Human Resources Awards and received a global award for Excellence in Leadership Coaching.

Avril has been a senior advisor on cultural transformation, gender and diversity to the Chief of Defence, Chief of Army, Australia; the ACT Commissioner of Emergency Services and was a member of the Navy People & Capability Committee. Avril has coached Generals and Brigadiers in the Australian Army, including the Chief of Army and Head of Special Forces. Her clients cover banks, mining, construction, IT, health, universities, pharmaceuticals and biotech’s, and state & federal government departments. She is the author and co-author of several books on leadership, the different generations at work and gender. Avril is a regular panellist on TV on ABC’s The Drum, ABC national radio and writes for several business magazines.

Mette Creaser is the General Manager Research, Analytics and Reporting at the Australian National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), a national professional body responsible for collecting, managing, analysing and communicating research and statistics on the Australian vocational education and training sector. Her career with NCVER spans over 10 years in which she has held a variety of roles, including Interim Managing Director and National Manager Statistics and Analytics.  In her current role, Mette is responsible for maximising the power of data analytics integrated with research to transform national understanding of VET.  Before joining NCVER, Mette held a variety of roles at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI).

Coming soon!

Leonie Davis worked with Velg Training from its inception for 8 years, providing QLD Schools and RTO consulting services, developing and delivering professional development workshops and webinars, and being the Director of Client Services until 2012.

She then worked at a private RTO specialising in Traineeships, RPL, and diploma-level training products. During those five years, she held the positions of QLD State Operational Manager and Director of Learning and Development.

Leonie returned to Velg Training in 2017 and is the Director of Operations.

For almost 20 years, Maciek Fibrich has been challenging the status-quo in the VET sector, often pushing the limits to achieve unexpected outcomes for RTOs. Some will also argue that disruption is part of Maciek’s DNA, but the reality is, Maciek is truly passionate about ensuring quality within the VET sector and working out ways to use technology to push quality, yet ensuring it never impacts on the human nature of training and assessment. Maciek commenced his VET journey in 1999 when he started his first RTO with his mother, and since then, he has seen the industry morph many times. He has enjoyed the many challenges faced due to the never-ending changes, but has never lost sight of the industry's main focus, educating our students.

Marc Ratcliffe 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.

Matthew Dale is the Chief Operations Officer of Audit Express, Matthew is passionate about Australian training and education, specialising in organisational development, knowledge management, quality, compliance and internal audit. He has been a vocal and energetic campaigner for policy change and the reduction of regulation and red tape in the VET sector. Matthew was previously a senior policy advisor to the Victorian Minister for Skills and Training, and also publishes regularly on the topic of regulation and industry best practice. Matthew is a graduate of Monash University with his studies focussed on Adult Learning and Development, he has previously worked as an RTO Manager, and Compliance Manager for both an industry focussed not-for-profit organisation and a large national RTO which operated in all states and territories.

Troy Hazard is a serial entrepreneur having owned 12 companies over 25 years, and being the leader of leaders as the Global President of The Entrepreneurs Organization (www.eonetwork.org). He is also one of the few Australians to crack the American speaking circuit having lived there for ten years, and hosting his own business talk television show into 40 million homes each week on American Cable TV.