CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BOARD

Emeritus Professor Christina Slade

Chair

Christina Slade is Emeritus Professor at Bath Spa University and Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney. She is passionate about international education and has studied and worked in universities in Europe, the US, Latin America and South Asia. She is currently writing on the future of work, digital innovation and media.

Board level appointments include: Chair of University of Gibraltar’s Academic Board, Trustee and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in the UK, Trustee of The Royal High School Bath and the Holburne Museum, Director and Chair of the Education, Heritage and Culture Sector Table with the Iraq Britain Business Council. She now serves on the Board of Charles Sturt University, chairs the Board of Lincoln Education Australia, serves on the Advisory Board of QS rankings, a UK based group, and on the Boards of the Adelaide based Media Centre for Education Research (MCERA) and Sydney based Culture at Work.

Christina's last executive role was as Vice -Chancellor and Chief Executive of Bath Spa University. Prior to that she was the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at the City University London and Macquarie University’s Dean of Humanities. She was Professor of Media Theory with the University of Utrecht and the Head of the Creative Communication School at the University of Canberra.

She has a PhD in philosophy of language and logic from ANU, a Diploma of Education from the University of New England and qualifications in Spanish, French and (very rusty) Arabic. She has led major EU funded research grants and has authored numerous articles, books and given presentations to the media, government and commercial organisations.

Sameer Pandey

Sameer Pandey manages a technology business as well as an educational institution based in Parramatta. Prior to starting his own businesses, Sameer worked with a Health Research Organisation as Head of IT, managing IT projects and systems in multiple countries.

He is passionate about community issues, social inclusion, preserving heritage, local services, youth programs, use of technology to improve services, services for older people and people with disability, education, infrastructure and ensuring our community has a strong plan for the future.

Sameer is currently involved in several committees including the Smart City Committee, Traffic Committee, Parramatta Councils Risk and Finance Committee among others. He is also a member of Sydney Central City planning Panel, Board Member of Parramatta, and Vice-Chair of Western Sydney Vocational Training Committee.

Sameer holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Master of Information Technology from University of Sydney, and a Master of Legal Studies from the University of Technology Sydney.

Hayley Saddington

With more than 10 years' experience in the physiotherapy, hospital and medical field, Hayley is a business and profit focused executive recognised as a technology pioneer in the evolution and implementation of specialised medical technology. Working from start-up phase as a Founder, through domestic and international design, commercialisation and scale, Hayley has secured a reputation for her ability to innovate essential industry technology to compliment future health trends.

Deploying creative innovation in the specialist area of medical technology, Hayley is equipped to manage and integrate almost any company’s engineering and manufacturing requirements. Hayley offers an international perspective and an enviable track record delivering business performance improvements and cost savings in a variety of corporate and diverse cultural environments.

Having founded HALO Medical Devices in 2010, Hayley grew the business through start-up phase to a proven company promptly scaling internationally. With offices in Perth, Sydney and Singapore, Hayley’s success is sustained by her management capacity to drive top line performance through revenue growth, increasing market share, expanding into new and emerging markets and introducing new products and services.

Throughout her career, Hayley has been involved in every level of company management and operation giving her an incredibly strong grounding in all facets of business operations. She has extensive knowledge of what it takes to run an effective national or multinational business and is an exciting and valuable contributor to any technology-based company at management level.

Hayley holds Bachelor of Applied Science and Bachelor of Physiotherapy degrees from Curtin University, as well as attending the Harvard University Executive Education programme.

Dr Mary-Ellen Feeney

Mary-Ellen is an experienced Technical Leader in large, complex, service organisations as well as professional associations and government programs. She has managed multidisciplinary projects and teams in infrastructure, digital engineering, information management, systems development, automation and geospatial domains. She holds Non-Executive Director roles on the Corporate Governance Board of Lincoln Education Australia, Locate Conferences Australia, and formerly the NSW Government Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI). She is an Executive Board member for Yokogawa Australia. Mary-Ellen is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, NSW Committee member and former Regional Chair (NSW) of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), a Homeward Bound Fellow (Global Women in STEMM Leadership Program) and a Diversity Ambassador (Sydney Build, Yokogawa Australia, Jacobs’ PRISM, EWAAB – Encouraging Women Across All Borders, SSSDLN – Space, Spatial & Surveying Diversity Leadership Network – SSSDLN).

Mary-Ellen specialises in business strategy, technical leadership and organisational change. She has held numerous roles driving technology roadmaps, capacity building organisations and clients for technical transformation. She has over 20 years’ experience in federal government, academic, consulting and private sector roles, as well as managing projects for government agencies and private sector. She is an alumna of the University of Melbourne Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructure and Land Administration (CSDILA) where she undertook doctoral studies in the inaugural research group – CSDILA recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Dr.Vinita Deodhar

A bureaucrat-turned-entrepreneur Vinita is a seasoned executive with deep experience in leading change and enhancing enterprise performance. She is Chief Product Officer and Consulting Principal at Open Orbit, a tech start-up based at Stone & Chalk. A well-rounded leader, Vinita brings a wide range of expertise from across public and private sectors - covering strategy, governance, management, budgeting, public policy, marketing and advertising. Prior to Open Orbit, she held the position of Executive Director with NSW Government. In Government, her experience spans NSW Treasury, Education, Environment, Climate change and Water, and Investment NSW. Vinita led NSW Government transformation to a more outcome focused culture – embedding citizen and customer outcomes at the centre of strategic planning, resource allocation and delivery. Through COVID-19, she led the rapid start-up and scale-up of Skilling for Recovery/Job Trainer, a key economic recovery initiative of NSW and Australian Governments.

Vinita holds a PhD in Economics from Macquarie University. She is company director with Woodville Alliance, a disability and community services organisation in South-western Sydney. Vinita is a committed Rotarian working on local and global philanthropic projects. She has introduced local community initiatives such as the annual Young at Heart Festival and Living Treasures Awards to celebrate and recognise the role of older people in society.