The ACECQA Board
The ACECQA Board is appointed by, and responsible to, the Education Ministers for the overall strategy, governance and performance of ACECQA. The responsibilities of the Board include:
- providing strategic direction and assisting management in the development and monitoring of strategic and performance objectives required to effectively and efficiently implement the functions of ACECQA
- overseeing the ongoing performance of ACECQA consistent with its enabling legislation
- providing policy advice about future directions and making recommendations to the Education Ministers for implementing and administering the National Quality Framework (NQF)
- guiding and monitoring ACECQA’s performance against its strategic plan and operational work plan.
The Board of ACECQA brings together a dedicated team, with a wealth of relevant experience and commitment to improving education and care outcomes for Australia’s children. Up to eight members are appointed from nominations by each state and territory, up to four members are appointed from nominations by the Australian Government and the Chair is appointed independently by the Education Ministers. The Deputy Chair is appointed from the 12 members.
ACECQA Board Members
Ms Annette Whitehead – Chair
Annette Whitehead has 40 years of experience in social policy development and program management across a range of government agencies. She has held strategic leadership positions in several portfolios including ageing, disability, early childhood, child safety, and education and training.
Dr Anne Glover AO – Deputy Chair
Anne Glover is an international education and development consultant with extensive experience in designing, implementing and evaluating development programs. Anne specialises in systemic reform and the development of fair and efficient education systems. For more than 20 years she has worked with regional governments – Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and Vanuatu – to develop and implement education reform agendas at national, state and local levels.
Anne also has specific expertise in early childhood care and education. A child advocate with a long commitment to promoting and protecting children’s rights and working proactively to support children’s access to and participation in education, Anne has more than 30 years of experience in the early childhood education and care sector as a practitioner, academic, researcher and mentor. Beginning her academic career at the University of South Australia in 1983, Anne has been responsible for early childhood program and course development and coordination, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and supervising higher degrees. A keen researcher committed to rigorous and ethical research, she was a Foundation Member of the UniSA Early Childhood Research Group and the Paediatric Wellbeing Research Group, and is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at UniSA.
Anne is actively engaged in various organisations concerned with children’s well-being and is the Presiding Member of the SA Child Development Council.
Ms Maree Bredhauer
Maree Bredhauer has over 40 years’ experience in school, corporate and community leadership - in primary school and early childhood settings across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in the Northern Territory. Maree’s experience includes 14 years as primary school principal, six years as executive manager of a large not-for-profit organisation and six years in an elected position in local government as Mayor of Litchfield Municipality.
As President of the NT Schools Principals’ Association (2011–13), Maree’s role included bringing together government, independent and Catholic primary school leaders to work with the highest levels of collegiality, to enhance the quality of educational leadership and to influence the direction of the Northern Territory educational agenda. During this time Maree held an executive role in the creation of the Northern Territory Centre for School Leadership. This centre was formed as a partnership organisation between Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the Department of Education to deliver high quality educational leadership programs to emerging and experienced Northern Territory school leaders.
In June 2014, Maree left her position as General Manager Early Childhood Policy and Regulations in the NT Department of Education to work in the not-for-profit sector as Executive Manager of Early Childhood Australia NT Branch. Under Maree’s leadership this organisation was highly successful in areas of advocacy and business development.
Currently Maree has several board and NT Government strategic advisory group membership positions within early childhood, public sector leadership and community banking. She also works as an allied health business mentor. Maree is a member of the Early Childhood Australia NT Advisory Committee, NT Government Key Stakeholder Advisory Group, CDU-Pathways to Politics Advisory Group and the Coolalinga Bendigo Community Bank Board.
Maree has a long-term commitment to promoting leadership development, community participation and engagement and advocacy to ensure quality, social justice and equity in early intervention, and disability access.
Mr Mark Campling
Mark has over 40 years of experience in education. During this time, he has been a principal of a range of schools. He was also the Assistant Director-General of Education for Queensland, where he led the development and implementation of statewide teaching and learning initiatives including reviews, the supervision and coaching model for school principals, Curriculum into the Classroom, as well as overseeing the implementation of the state schooling response to the National Partnerships initiative.
In his final four years as a senior public servant, Mark was the Regional Director of Education for the Metropolitan Region in Queensland. As part of this role, he had accountability and responsibility for all state schools, training facilities and early childhood centres.
During his career Mark has chaired the Queensland Sports Board, was a member of the Executive Management Board for Education in Queensland and chaired a range of cross-government committees tasked with addressing the needs of students in out of home care and student disengagement.
In 2018 Mark retired from fulltime work and established a consultancy where much of his work has focused on coaching senior public servants, school leaders and their teams, as well as working with systems in their change management processes. He has also facilitated many communities of practice across Queensland in K-2, where the focus has been quality, transition, partnerships and improved performance.
Professor Marc de Rosnay
Marc de Rosnay is the Professor of Child Development and Academic Director at Early Start, University of Wollongong. He leads transformational early childhood initiatives involving the university and community, with the goal of improving developmental, educational, and social opportunities for vulnerable children. With the team at Early Start, Marc works to translate current evidence on child development and early learning into everyday care and professional practices, and to develop systems to support children, families and educators in regional and remote contexts. He also provides support for various community and charity organisations, as well as state and Australian government initiatives.
In 2003 Marc was awarded a Churchill College Fellowship (University of Cambridge) in recognition of his original work on emotion understanding and development in infancy and early childhood. In 2006 he moved to the School of Psychology, University of Sydney, where he held an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellowship between 2007 and 2010.
Marc’s own research focuses on how children become socially and emotionally competent, with a particular interest in the ways in which we understand and care for children, on the one hand, and the ways in which they understand us, on the other. In addition to his scholarly outputs, Marc has worked consistently to communicate research about early childhood and development into the public forum and has taken a leading scientific role in various documentaries (including the Life at series on ABC television).
Ms Kate Hamond
Kate Hamond has management experience and expertise in consumer protection, community sector management, education, governance and the regulation of various professions and industries.
Kate served for seven years as Victoria’s statutory Legal Ombudsman, regulating barristers and solicitors through complaint handling, investigations and prosecutions. She was CEO of the national peak industry body for retirement villages, a Victorian Commissioner for the regulation of liquor and gambling and, in semi-retirement, has recently undertaken consultancies in the management of an early childhood community centre and a community legal centre.
Kate commenced her career as a primary teacher, followed by management of a municipal family day care service and TAFE teacher/supervisor in early childhood development. She moved to the regulatory sector, initially managing a community consumer agency specialising in public protection policy and advocacy, followed by her appointment as senior policy advisor to the director of Fair Trading and Business Affairs. Establishing an independent consumer advocacy consultancy, Kate supported NFP community groups and small businesses in governance, sound financial management, dispute resolution system development, strategic planning, grant applications and acquittals, team building and effective stakeholder engagement. Concurrently Kate presented the ABC Radio Consumer Watch program for five years.
As a teacher, parent, advocate, manager and regulator, for over 45 years Kate has maintained strong relationships with government and community through voluntary service on statutory and not for profit boards, and ministerial advisory committees. She is passionate about the support and protection of vulnerable people, and the application of exemplary ethics and operational integrity.
Ms Akiko Jackson
Akiko Jackson is an internationally experienced non-executive director and strategy adviser with more than 30 years of experience as an executive in the financial services industry including CBA, Macquarie Bank and Westpac in Australia; Shinsei Bank and Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Financial Group in Japan; and as a strategy management consultant in the US and Australia. She has worked in both the private and public sectors, in both large corporations and start-ups and has extensive experience in risk management, large scale digital transformation, strategy development, equity raising and leadership development. Akiko is a Fulbright Scholar with an MBA from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Laws from Keio University, Tokyo. She is bilingual in English and Japanese.
Akiko is a non-executive director of Pepper Money Ltd. and Foundation & Friends (F&F) of the Botanic Gardens. She also chairs the F&F Finance, Audit & Risk Committee, is a member of the Infrastructure NSW Audit & Risk Committee, the Transport for NSW Audit & Risk Committee, and the Pepper Money Audit & Risk Committee and Nomination & Remuneration Committee. Akiko is on the coaching panel and an executive coach to senior executives in the Victorian public sector.
Her past non-executive director and strategy advisory roles include non-executive director of 86 400, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Australian Treasury, the Portfolio Advisory Council of Services Australia and the Strategy Advisory Committee of the Department of Home Affairs, and Chair/Senior Reviewer of Capability Reviews of multiple Commonwealth Departments.
Ms Sandra Lambert AM
Sandra Lambert has more than 35 years of experience working in the public sector and education. She was a teacher and principal before moving into a number of roles in educational administration in the ACT Government, including as Executive Director of Schools and Training responsible for policy and programs in government schools at all levels. She then worked in other senior executive ACT Government roles and was the Chief Executive of the then ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services from 2002 to 2010, where she was responsible for children’s services across public and private sectors.
After 2010, Sandra held a variety of positions including on the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, the Cultural Facilities Corporation, the Land Development Agency Board (LDA) and as Chair of the Risk, Business Continuity and Security Committee in the then Department of Human Services (DHS). She then spent almost two years in New York, New York State and California working as a consultant in educational leadership and English language arts.
On returning to the ACT in 2015, she resumed her role on the LDA and was Deputy Chair for its final year of operation. Currently Sandra is Chair of the ACT Remuneration Committee, a member of the ACT Homes for Homes Advisory Group and works as an executive leadership coach. She also participated as an independent member on two of the then Department of Human Service Committees. Sandra is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders and was admitted to the Order of Australia in 2012 for expertise in public sector leadership and management.
Ms Jenni Perkins
Jenni Perkins has had over 30 years of experience in social policy development, program design, community consultation, evaluation and performance reporting, and has led policy reform agendas across disability and community services.
Mrs Amanda Price-McGregor
Amanda Price-McGregor has more than 20 years of experience in strategic planning, policy development, community engagement and project delivery.
She has a diverse industry background encompassing state and national project experience in private sector consulting, and state and local government sectors with widespread experience across an array of portfolio areas. These areas include land use planning, infrastructure planning, urban and regional development, education planning, retail planning, housing, land development, engineering and buildings and tourism nationally and in her home state of South Australia.
As the managing principal and owner of a strategic planning consulting firm, Amanda has considerable expertise in high-level consulting, project management, portfolio policy-making and implementation.
Amanda has an avid interest in early childhood education and child development and has been a devoted and active board member in a community childcare centre for more than three years. She also served on the centre’s strategic development and human resources planning committees.
Amanda has a strong interest in encouraging and empowering early childhood educators to work with parents and carers to help identify children with potential growth and development delay and is a passionate advocate for early intervention to help address these challenges.
Ms Madeleine Smith
Madeleine Smith has 35 years experience in the Victorian public service, including 20 years as an executive. Most recently Madeleine was the head of the Victorian regulatory authority for early childhood education and care services. She was instrumental in the development of the National Quality Framework and established the regulatory authority in Victoria.
Madeleine initially trained as a social worker, working in child protection in Melbourne’s western suburbs, and at the Royal Women’s Hospital. Madeleine has extensive experience in managing complex regional services including child protection, youth justice and public housing. She has expertise in organisational change and implementing significant sector reforms.
Madeleine has been regulating early childhood services for over 20 years and is currently on leave from the Victorian Department of Education and Training.
Mr Michael White
Michael White has had over 30 years of experience in the fields of child development, child protection, youth justice and early childhood education as an academic, teacher and administrator in both the government and non-government sectors.
Michael lectured in Human Development at the University of Tasmania and was responsible for the leadership of the Early Childhood Programs of the University for several years.
He has also undertaken significant roles in the non-government sector which have included state and national leadership roles in the early childhood professional association.
Michael was Director of Schools in Victoria and subsequently, Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. In the health and human services sector he held the positions of Executive Director Children, Youth and Family Services Bureau (ACT) and State Program Manager for Children Youth and Family Support in Tasmania.
In Victoria Michael was responsible for the development of “whole of government” policy on children and young people, and for the creation of a system to monitor the health, safety, learning, development and well-being of all children aged 0-18. The Child and Adolescent Monitoring system remains a major research and policy resource on children in Australia.
Michael’s work also includes an active interest in the economic and social context which frames the development of systemic responses to the needs of families in Australia. From 2009 to 2011 he held the position of Director in the Economics and Policy Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers focussing specifically on early childhood issues.
Michael provides strategic advice to Government and non-government agencies delivering services to children and their families. He has developed a model for building and maintaining partnerships in the health and human services sector and works with agencies to improve the impact of collaborative networks.