Accord Implementation Advisory Committee Members

Mr Tony Cook PSM, Chair

Mr Tony Cook is Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Education.

Professor David Lloyd

Professor David Lloyd is Vice Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia (UniSA). A Dublin-born and educated chemist specialising in computer-aided drug design, Professor Lloyd has re-focused institutional culture to position UniSA as Australia's university of enterprise, shaping its activities to better meet the challenges of the 21st century. 

Professor Lloyd is Chair of Universities Australia, the peak body representing the nation’s university sector, and was previously Chair of the Australian Technology Network group of technology-focused universities. Before joining UniSA, Professor Lloyd was Bursar and Director of Strategic Innovation at Trinity College Dublin, and Chair of the Irish Research Council.

The Hon Professor Verity Firth AM

The Hon Professor Verity Firth AM is the Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She is a Professor of Practice at the School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture. Professor Firth has over twenty years of experience at the very highest levels of government and education sectors in Australia. She has strong public policy experience and a proven capacity to drive large-scale reform across a range of organisations. Prior to her role at UNSW, Professor Firth was the Pro Vice-Chancellor Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney from 2015 to 2022.

Professor Firth was NSW Minister for Education and Training from 2008 to 2011 and Chief Executive of the Public Education Foundation from 2011 to 2014.

Professor Firth is a Board Director for Teachers Mutual Bank and The Front Project, Chair of Engagement Australia and Deputy Chair of the James Martin Institute. In 2023, she served on the Universities Accord Ministerial Reference Group and is currently a panellist for the NSW Vocational Education and Training Review.

Professor Stephen Duckett AM

Professor Stephen Duckett is a health economist with expertise in costing and pricing hospital services and the design of hospital payment systems. He is an Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Population and Global Health and the Department of General Practice and Primary Care at the University of Melbourne. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In addition to academic qualifications in his discipline (PhD DSc UNSW), he has a Doctor of Business Administration in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath. 

Professor Duckett is also currently Deputy Chancellor of RMIT University. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2023 for significant service to public health policy and management, and to tertiary education.

Professor Julia Horne

Professor Julia Horne, University of Sydney, writes on the history and politics of higher education including the history of Commonwealth higher education policy and reform. Her recent books include Australian Universities: A conversation about public good (co-edited with M.A.M Thomas) Sydney University Press, 2022; and, Preserving the past: The University of Sydney and the Unified National System of Higher Education, 1987-96, (co-authored with S. Garton) Melbourne University Press, 2017.

She currently leads an ARC-funded research project on the 1940s Curtin-Chifley higher education policy reforms.

Professor Tom Calma AO

Professor Calma is an Aboriginal Elder from the Kungarakan (Koong ara kan) tribal group and a member of the Iwaidja (Ee wad ja) tribal group whose traditional lands are southwest of Darwin and on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia, respectively. He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector for over 45 years and is currently on a number of boards and committees focusing on rural and remote Australia, health, mental health, suicide prevention, all levels of education, ageing and aged care, culture and language, justice reinvestment, research, reconciliation and economic development. In 2010 after a distinguished career of 38 years in the Australian Public Service, that included six years as a TAFE academic (1980-86), Professor Calma retired and currently works as a consultant, volunteer and academic.

From October 2008 to 31 December 2023 Professor Calma was a member of the University of Canberra Council including 2 years as Deputy Chancellor and 10 years as the 6th Chancellor of the University of Canberra and the first Indigenous male Chancellor of an Australian university. He served on the University Chancellors Council Executive Committee for 10 years.

After serving as a consultant with the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at The University of Sydney from 2009 to 2014, Professor Calma was appointed a Professor of Practice (Indigenous Engagement) at the University of Sydney Medical School from 1 January 2015 to present to perform the role of Chair and Patron of the Poche Indigenous Health Network. Poche Indigenous Health Centres are established in five Australian universities.

Professor Calma represented Australia's education and training interests as a senior diplomat in India and Vietnam from 1995 to 2002.

Professor Calma was awarded honorary doctorate appointments from Charles Darwin University (2010), Curtin University (2011) Flinders University (2014) the University of South Australia in June 2023 and the University of Canberra in February 2024.

In September 2019 Professor Calma was appointed a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and Patron of the Winston Churchill Scholarship Trust. 

Professor Calma has Honorary academic appointments at ANU, the University of Queensland and Macquarie University and is a member of the Australian Genomics Independent Advisory Board (June 2021) and the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board (AMRAB) (September 2021).

In May 2022 Professor Calma was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the first Aboriginal person to be honoured in this way, in November he was inducted a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) and in November was elected a Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA) and in February 2024 was appointed a Professor Emeritus at the University of Canberra.

On 9 November 2022 Professor Calma was announce ACT Senior Australian of the Year 2023 and on 25 January 2023 was announce the national Senior Australian of the Year 2023.

Professor Calma is an accomplished public speaker, a published co-author of numerous academic journal articles and Investigator and Chief Investigator on eight current and past research projects.

Professor Barney Glover AO

Professor Barney Glover AO began his five-year term as Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia on 15 April 2024. Professor Glover is a distinguished academic leader, an accomplished mathematician and mathematics educator with significant experience in developing strong relationships with the vocational education sector. He is well respected for his engagement with First Nations Australians and disadvantaged communities.

He was Vice-Chancellor and President of Western Sydney University for ten years, from 2014-24, and in 2019 was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to tertiary education, professional associations and cultural organisations. In 2015, Professor Glover was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor for his outstanding leadership whilst Vice-Chancellor of Charles Darwin University from 2009 to 2013.

Professor Glover previously held the roles of Chair of Universities Australia from 2015 to 2017, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at the University of Newcastle and Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Development at Curtin University.

Professor Glover is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).

He has served on the boards of a diverse range of corporate organisations and several state and national centres covering areas such as health and medical research, energy, mineral exploration, and telecommunications.

Ms Jenny Dodd

Ms Jenny Dodd is Chief Executive of TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) and leads TAFE positioning in tertiary education for TDA members. TDA members consist of all TAFEs and dual sector universities with vocational education and training divisions.

Prior to leading TDA. Jenny was CEO of TasTAFE in Tasmania from 2018 to 2020, Chief Academic Officer and General Manager Gold Coast for TAFE Queensland from 2014 to 2017 and Deputy CEO Education, Marketing and National Positioning for the Canberra Institute of Technology from 2010 to 2013. From 2000 to 2009, while Head of Department at CIT, Jenny was a member of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group and led strategic policy and change projects for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. Jenny began her career in marketing with AGL, transitioning into vocational education and training after ten years in industry.

She has worked for a not-for-profit community provider in Sydney and a private training provider in Canberra. She has had thirty years as a member of the TAFE workforce working in three jurisdictions. She has higher education qualifications in commerce, human resource management and education, and the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Ms Natalie James, ex-officio

Ms Natalie James is the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Mr Ben Rimmer, ex-officio

Mr Ben Rimmer is the Deputy Secretary, Higher Education, Research and International Group in the Department of Education.