Pauline Duncan

Director - Knowledge Box

Pauline is an educator, management consultant, speaker and company director.

A primary trained teacher, Pauline became the Head of Junior School at Wesley College Melbourne, at the age of 25 making her the youngest primary Principal nationally at that time.

Pauline was Senior Manager at KPMG working in Government Advisory Services on social policy and education projects utilising her expertise in policy development, reform, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication and workshop facilitation.

Recently Pauline was the General Manger of Not for Profit organisation, YGAP, looking after risk, governance, and strategy for impact programs with social entrepreneurs and had responsibility for social enterprise restaurant, Feast of Merit.

Knowledge Box is Pauline’s own education advisory company – projects currently include Business Development for School RTOs with VETtrak; supporting innovation agenda in schools through the Plato Project; Fundraising and Philanthropic strategy development for leading NFPs; a variety of mentoring programs; strategic communications and marketing strategy for schools and she is a sought after public speaker.

Pauline is a Non-Executive Director in the education and not-for-profit sectors.

At the heart of all Pauline’s work is the simple, yet powerful driver to “Barrack for Young People”.

John Price

Director, John Price & Associates Pty Ltd

John Price has been an educator and trainer for over 40 years and in that time has worked as a Head of Department at TAFE, mentor, facilitator of national workshops covering delivery and assessment, risk management, auditing, leadership and interpersonal skill development.

John has been a keynote speaker at conventions and conferences, and maintained a grass roots level approach to dealing with people at all levels of the organisation.

He has also assisted over 300 organisations in Australia to achieve quality certification to the range of National Training Standards including: Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations (versions 2012 and 2015); Australian Quality Training Framework standards (AQTF from 2001 – 2010) Australian and International ISO9001 standards (AS/NZS and ISO from 1987 – 2008) and worked with these organisations in establishing continuous improvement systems and strategies.

Melanie Alexandra

Resource Developer and Consultant - Velg Training

Melanie has held a variety of roles within the Academic and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sectors over the past 25 years including trainer and assessor, Head of Faculty, Program Manager, RTO Manager, and Head of Quality Assurance and has won awards for practice excellence in teaching and learning, and outstanding leadership.

In recent years, Melanie worked as a Senior Lead Auditor, conducting regulatory audits and registrations against the current VET Quality Framework and Standards for RTOs 2015, and has authored and built a number of online professional development programs to support VET practitioners nationally.

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

Kerri Buttery & John Price

John has been an educator and trainer for over 40 years and in that time has worked as a Head of Department at TAFE, mentor, facilitator of national workshops covering delivery and assessment, risk management, auditing, leadership and interpersonal skill development.

John has been a keynote speaker at conventions and conferences, and maintained a grass roots level approach to dealing with people at all levels of the organisation.

He has also assisted over 300 organisations in Australia to achieve quality certification to the range of National Training Standards including: Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations (versions 2012 and 2015); Australian Quality Training Framework standards (AQTF from 2001 – 2010) Australian and International ISO9001 standards (AS/NZS and ISO from 1987 – 2008) and worked with these organisations in establishing continuous improvement systems and strategies.

Kerri Buttery has worked in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector for almost two decades as a Trainer/Assessor, RTO Manager and as a Senior Lead Auditor. Kerri has worked as a consultant for a range of organisations in the areas of establishing Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), conducting internal audits, consulting on VQF compliance, developing accredited courses, convening state and national conferences, developing training and assessment materials, conducting professional development workshops and delivering Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. She has authored several textbooks and has experience lecturing and tutoring at university. Kerri is currently employed by Velg Training as the Director of Content & Strategy.

Melanie Alexandra

Resource Developer and Consultant - Velg Training

Melanie has held a variety of roles within the Academic and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sectors over the past 25 years including trainer and assessor, Head of Faculty, Program Manager, RTO Manager, and Head of Quality Assurance and has won awards for practice excellence in teaching and learning, and outstanding leadership.

In recent years, Melanie worked as a Senior Lead Auditor, conducting regulatory audits and registrations against the current VET Quality Framework and Standards for RTOs 2015, and has authored and built a number of online professional development programs to support VET practitioners nationally.

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

Fiona Bogaart

Owner - ViSE

Fiona Bogaart has over 10 years’ experience in the VET sector. Since 2010, Fiona has been a Qld Schools consultant supporting schools through VET services including internal audits, reviews, quality products and professional development, and is also on retainer for many schools on the Sunshine Coast. In 2014, Fiona became a Qld Schools consultant for Velg Training. From 2007-2012 Fiona was an RTO manager in Qld Schools and from 2011-2014 she was a member of the Senior Phase Network as part of Sustainable Partnerships Australia, an organisation that provides Professional Development opportunities to VET teachers. Fiona has qualifications in TAE50111, TAE50211, TAE40110 and BSB51607.

Penny Driessen

Director - Southern Tasmanian Catholic Colleges Trade Training Centre

Penny Driessen is the Director of the Southern Tasmanian Catholic Colleges Trade Training Centre. In this role she coordinates the VET in Schools provision for all of the Catholic colleges in southern Tasmania. Penny has worked in Vocational Education and Training for the past 25 years. Initially she worked in policy development in the Tasmanian government followed by 15 years as Executive Officer of Industry Training Boards. Later Penny was the Executive Officer for Hobart Education Business and Training Partnership (HEBTP) which coordinated VET in Schools activity across all three education sectors in southern Tasmania. As a consultant to the Tasmanian Government, Penny has conducted several evaluations of VET in Schools.

Mark Maddox

Manager of the Vocational Education and Training unit - QCAA

Mark has been working in the education industry since 1989 in various roles including high school teacher, head of department, Review and Executive Officer for the Arts. He is currently the Manager of the Vocational Education and Training unit for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA). He has an in-depth knowledge of current curriculum development in Creative Arts and VET.

In his current role, Mark undertakes the overall management of the functions of the QCAA VET Unit and compliance with state and national VET legislation and implementation of the delegation from the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as a registering body.

Kerri Buttery

Director of Content & Strategy, Velg Training

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.

Phillip Anthony

Chief Technical Officer - QTAC

QTAC is the predominant service provider for prospective university and TAFE applicants in Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Phillip has over two decades as Manager of Assessment Services, and has recently been appointed as the Chief Technical Officer at QTAC. In this role he is responsible for oversight of QTAC’s technical capability, including a special focus on ensuring record veracity, designing education comparability, and complex problem solving on behalf of institutions.

Phillip has led QTAC’s response to significant changes which have occurred in education in Queensland, including the replacement of the Tertiary Entrance Score with the Overall Position, and now the replacement of the Overall Position with the ATAR.

Phillip holds a Masters degree in International Relations and Asian Politics from The University of Queensland, and is a member of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM).

John Emery

Director, Training Queensland Customer Centre - Department of Employment, Small Business and Training

Director, Training Queensland Customer Centre - Department of Employment, Small Business and Training

John Emery is the Director of the Training Queensland Customer Centre — the department’s multi-channel contact and information service for Queenslanders and stakeholders in the training and skills arena.

John has held various executive roles within the department across a broad range of policy, regulatory and operational areas, with a particular focus on key areas of change in the Queensland vocational education and training (VET) landscape, including consumer experience, quality delivery and public investment priorities.

John holds several postgraduate qualifications from the University of Queensland in economics and organisational psychology, and has expertise in change management.

At the personal level, John has three sons at high school. All are at critical decision-making points in their educational journeys, considering academic and vocational pathways, giving John personal insight into a young person’s journey as they prepare for life after school.

Mark Maddox

Manager of the Vocational Education and Training unit - QCAA

Mark has been working in the education industry since 1989 in various roles including high school teacher, head of department, Review and Executive Officer for the Arts. He is currently the Manager of the Vocational Education and Training unit for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA). He has an in-depth knowledge of current curriculum development in Creative Arts and VET.

In his current role, Mark undertakes the overall management of the functions of the QCAA VET Unit and compliance with state and national VET legislation and implementation of the delegation from the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as a registering body.

Jan Owen AM - CEO, Foundation for Young Australians

CEO, Foundation for Young Australians

Jan is a highly regarded social entrepreneur, innovator, influencer and author who has spent the past 25 years growing Australia's youth, social enterprise and innovation sectors.

In 2012 she was named Australia's inaugural Australian Financial Review and Westpac Woman of Influence; in 2014 she received the Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney; and was awarded membership to the Order of Australia in 2000. She is the author of Every Childhood Lasts a Lifetime (1996) and The Future Chasers (2014).

Jan is the CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians and YLab, the global youth futures lab. Her lifelong mission is to unleash the potential of young people to lead positive change in the world.

Suzanne Wauchope

Since commencing as Deputy Director-General in August 2015, Suzanne Wauchope has provided strategic leadership for the training and skills area of the department, including working to identify investment priorities and increasing the quality of training in Queensland.

Suzanne also represents Queensland on the Skills Senior Official Network and more recently has been appointed as a Director of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

Suzanne is a Chartered Accountant and has gained experience in a broad range of areas during approximately 23 years in professional services.  During that time Suzanne worked with both private and public sector clients to design and enhance governance, business process, systems, performance and reporting.  Suzanne joined the Department of Education and Training in 2015, initially as the Head of Internal Audit, before being appointed as the Deputy Director-General, Training and Skills in late 2015.

The Training and Skills Division has now transitioned to a new agency, the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.

The Honourable Karen Andrews, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills