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 Leisa Sargent

Deputy Dean and Head of School
Professor Clinton Free

Deputy Dean (Students and External Partnerships)
Professor Suresh Cuganesan

Associate Dean (Academic Resourcing and Development)
Professor Ann Davis

Associate Dean (Education)
Professor Peter Bryant

Associate Dean (Indigenous Strategy & Services)
Associate Professor 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)

Martin was formerly 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.

John Meacock
Non-Executive Director

John is a Non-Executive Director and Global Adviser working with a range of ASX 100 organisations and growth technology platforms. From mid-2017 to late 2020,  John was the Global Chief Strategy Office of Deloitte based in New York; sitting on the Global Executive and responsible for strategy and innovation. For the four years prior, John was the Chief Strategy Office for Deloitte in Asia and the Deputy Chair of Deloitte’s Global Board.

Daljit Singh
Director, Transforming Talent

Daljit has extensive experience with professional services firms in the Accounting, Consulting and Legal sectors, with over 30 years of experience in learning and development, human resources, talent management and leadership development.

Daljit has held senior roles with KPMG and Baker McKenzie. This included Director of Professional Development and General Manager of Human Resources for KPMG Australia and global roles as Director of Talent Management and Director of Leadership Development with Baker McKenzie.

Daljit is also a Teaching Fellow at the College of Law where he teaches two subjects in the Master of Legal Business - Workforce of the Future and Leadership.

Georgie Skipper
Chief of Corporate and Government Affairs, Sun Cable

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

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
CEO and Co-Founder, Portal    

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
Non-Executive Director

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.