Mr Philip Bullock (Chair) brings an impressive combination of high level leadership skills, a strong industry background and a commitment to education and training to the position of Chair of Skills Australia. Mr Bullock has more than 25 years experience working with IBM, culminating in his appointment as Vice President, Systems and Technology Group IBM Asia Pacific Region and including Chief Executive Officer of IBM Australia and New Zealand.
He was previously on the Board of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), The Business Council of Australia (BCA), where he also chaired their Skills and Innovation Taskforce, IBM Australia Limited, the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission and the Advisory Committee to the Australian Graduate School of Management. He was also very active in support of diversity in the workplace, being awarded the Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women, in 2004 by the Federal Government's EOWA. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Healthscope, a major provider of health services in Australia.
Professor Gerald Burke is executive director of the Monash–ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) and a professorial fellow in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. He has undertaken consultancies for government and non-government agencies in Australia and overseas. He has held the chair of the Victorian Qualifications Authority and was a member of the Victorian Learning and Employment Skills Commission and of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Professor Burke is currently a member of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Education and Training Statistics Advisory Committee and of Equity Research Centre.
Ms Sharan Burrow was the second woman to be elected ACTU President and was also the first woman to be elected President of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. This followed an impressive career as a teacher and a range of positions in both the NSW Teachers’ Federation and the Australian Education Union, including the President of the Australian Education Union.
Ms Burrow was previously Vice-President of Education International, the international organisation of education unions, from 1995 to 2000. She is also currently President of the International Trade Union Confederation, a member of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation and a member of the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative. As part of her ILO responsibilities, she Chairs the Sub-Committee on Multinational Enterprises.
Dr Michael Keating AC is currently the Chairman of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal in NSW. He is also a Visiting Fellow in the Economics program at the Research School of Social Sciences in the Australian National University.
His principle fields of research interest include the integration of social and economic policy, particularly as it relates to improving labour market outcomes, and research into the factors affecting governance, including how governments, institutions and policies are responding and how relationships between the citizens and the state are changing.
Dr Keating is a former Secretary of the federal departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Finance and Employment and Industrial Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Australian National University. He is an honorary Doctor of the University (DUniv) at Griffith University and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.
Ms Marie Persson was appointed Deputy Director-General, TAFE and Community Education of the NSW Department of Education and Training at the end of 2005 and is the first woman in 115 years to fill this position. Ms Persson has twenty years experience in vocational education and training and, as Director of Training Reform and Training Initiatives, was one of the original senior executives with the Australian National Training Authority. She is a member of the L H Martin Institute Advisory Board for Leadership and Management in Higher Education, Melbourne University, the Board of NSW TAFE Commission and a member of NSW Board of Studies.
Ms Persson has a Master of Education qualification from the University of NSW, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of Women Chiefs of Enterprises International. In 2003, she won the Telstra Business Woman of the Year, TMP/Hudson Community and Government Award.
Mrs Heather Ridout is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group - the leading industry association in Australia representing businesses in the manufacturing, construction, automotive, ICT, transport, defence, labour hire and other industries.
She leads an organisation committed to helping Australian industry to meet the challenge of change. Its focus is on building competitive industries through global integration, human capital development, productive and flexible workplace relations practices, infrastructure development and innovation.
Mrs Ridout is a leading figure in the public policy debate in Australia. In addition to Skills Australia she is a member of a number of policy setting and consultative groups including the Business Advisory Group on Workplace Relations, Infrastructure Australia and the Henry Review of Taxation.
Mrs Ridout holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree from the University of Sydney.
Mr Keith Spence is Chair of the WA State Training Board which provides policy advice to the Minister for Education and Training on matters relating to vocational education and training in Western Australia.
Mr Spence recently retired from his position as the Executive Vice President, Enterprise Capability at Woodside Energy Ltd. He had been with Woodside since 1994 in a number of roles including Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr Spence brings to the Board extensive knowledge of the resource industry having over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.
Mr Spence is a Non-Executive Director of GESB, Clough and Geodynamics, Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Energy and Process Training. He is a member of the board of the Australian Institute of Management (WA) and the Curtin University of Technology Council. He also chairs the Carbon Storage Taskforce, recently established by the federal Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism.