Our people

Faculty leadership

Our leadership team encompasses representatives from all areas of business, working collaboratively to improve and enhance the faculty’s teaching and research.

Dean
Professor Gregory Whitwell

Deputy Dean
Professor Elizabeth Cowley

Deputy Dean (Students and External Partnerships)
Professor Suresh Cuganesan

Associate Dean (Academic Resourcing and Development)
Professor Ann Davis

Associate Dean (Education)
Associate Professor Peter Bryant

Associate Dean (Indigenous Strategy & Services)
Dr Danika Wright

Associate Dean (Programs)
Associate Professor Catherine Hardy

Associate Dean (Research) and Associate Dean (Research Education)
Professor Susan Thorp

Faculty General Manager
Elaine McFadzean

Board of Advice

Martin Blake (Chair)
Partner, KPMG

Martin is KPMG's Lead Partner for NSW Government. From 2005 –2011 Martin was the Head of Business Development for the Advisory Division and the Head of the Financial Services Advisory practice in Australia. Martin has played a key role in building KPMG’s Advisory business which now represents over 50% of the firm’s business in Australia. Martin has over fifteen years’ experience in managing large transformation programs and developing business strategies for insurance companies & wealth managers in Australia and Asia.

Jo Burston
CEO and Founder, Rare Birds

Jo Burston has been recognised as one of Australia’s top 50 entrepreneurs for the past five years. She is the founder and CEO of Job Capital as well as Rare Birds, which seeks to promote women in entrepreneurship and has a global vision to inspire 1 million women to join its community by 2020.

Jan Pacas
CEO and MD, Hilti Australia

Since joining Hilti Australia in 2009 Jan Pacas’ global and leadership expertise has played an integral part in Hilti’s domestic success. Prior to his arrival Jan held the position of Chief Marketing Officer Global Business Unit Power Tools, working on projects in the United States, Europe, Hong Kong and China.

John Meacock
Global Chief Strategy Officer, Deloitte

John is a highly influential leader experienced at leading, growing and innovating business on a global stage. He has deep cross-industry expertise in strategy, risk, finance, technology impact, innovation, geopolitics and governance and excels at developing people and building strong relationships.

Georgie Skipper
Chief of Corporate & Government Affairs

Georgie is a foreign policy and trade and investment expert. She is currently the Chief of Corporate & Government Affairs to Sun Cable, developing a $20 billion infrastructure project to supply renewable energy to the ASEAN region. Prior to this Georgie was the Director of Global Public Policy at Atlassian and the Senior Adviser to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (2013-2018). Georgie is also a Fulbright Scholar and will focus on driving impactful investment into the Indo-Pacific region.

Tim Soutphommasane
Former Race Discrimination Commissioner

Dr Tim Soutphommasane has just finished a five-year term as Race Discrimination Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission. He is a political philosopher, having held posts at the University of Sydney and Monash University, and he is an influential thinker on multiculturalism and national identity.

Arlene Tansey
Chairman, Non-Executive Director

Arlene Tansey is Chairman of Urbanise.com Ltd and Future Fibre Technologies and a Director of Adelaide Brighton, Primary Health Care, Infrastructure NSW, Lend Lease Investment. She serves on the advisory board of Serco Asia-Pacific. She has also worked in banking and law in Australia and the US. 

Karina Kwan
Non-Executive Director

Karina is a non-executive director with experience on boards in financial services, regulatory technology and disability NFP sectors. She spent 30 years in banking as a treasurer, financial controller and CFO. She is an Adjunct Professor of the Discipline of Finance, within the Business School.

Andrew Petersen
CEO, Sustainable Business Australia

As CEO of Sustainable Business Australia Andrew Petersen was legal adviser on matters relating to environmental risk, law and policy, including climate change. A practising lawyer, he was also the Legal and Advisory Lead of PwC Australia's sustainability and climate change team, 2007-10.

Nicholas Flood
Client Executive - Services Australia at IBM

Nicholas Flood has worked extensively in successful leadership roles with Federal government agencies including the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Human Services and the Digital Transformation Agency supporting the Australian government's vision to be a top 3 digital government by 2023.

Maria MacNamara

Maria has specialist expertise in policy, strategy, digital transformation, marketing and communications. She sits on the Advisory Council for the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police and chairs the strategy board for the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES). Maria also sits on the advisory board of IdeaSpies and cyber security company Internet 2.0 and is non-executive director of the Spark Festival. She is the inaugural Convenor of the Australian Innovation Council.

Andrew Baxter

Andrew is a non-executive director with experience on boards in communications, financial services, primary industry and retail. He spent 25 years in the marketing and communications industry, including as CEO of two of Australia’s largest agency groups, Ogilvy and Publicis, and as the Senior Advisor to KPMG’s Customer, Brand and Marketing Advisory practice. Andrew is an Adjunct Professor of the Discipline of Marketing, within the Business School, and the former Chair of Deakin University Business School’s Advisory Board.