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Course presenters

Lynne Kosky, Chair Industry people Development Council

Leading the DIPDC is Lynne Kosky who comes with years of government experience in the education, training and employment space.

Lynne has held the roles of Minister for Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment and Minister for Education, Minister for Finance, Minister for Public Transport and the Arts for the Victorian State Government.

Lynne brings a tremendous background in education, training and people development and strong networks across both business and government organisations to the DIPDC.

Ross Bawden

Ross joined Dairy Australia in 2010 and took up the role of Regional Development Programs Business Manager and is part of the Farm Productivity and Delivery team at Dairy Australia. Prior to this appointment Ross had held a number of roles in agribusiness including National Wool Manager at Landmark and was part of the senior management team at Wool International. Ross holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an Associate Diploma in Farm Management.

In the role at Dairy Australia, Ross is responsible for managing the relationship between Dairy Australia and the Regional Development Programs (RDPs). There are eight RDPs – one in each dairying region in Australia and all are independent organisations managed by their own Boards and executive support staff and are an important component of the dairy industry’s pre farm gate R, D and E program.
Ross also acts as Executive Officer to the Dairy Moving Forward strategic planning process. Dairy Moving Forward is a national initiative with the aim of improving efficiency in pre farm gate R,D&E through closer collaboration between all organisations involved in the dairy sector.

Sue O’Connor

Sue is an experienced Non Executive Director and Senior Business Executive in the information technology, utilities, consulting and sports sectors.

Sue is currently Chair of YMCA Victoria, Director of Goulburn Valley Water where she is Chair of the Audit Committee and a long term facilitator on the Australian Institute of Company Directors Diploma.

Sue has held a number of other non executive director positions. Sue is also currently Industry Director, Utilities with SMS Management and Technology, Australia’s largest publically listed Management & Technology Services Company. Prior to SMS, Sue was Managing Director of her own consulting business and before that she was a Group General Manager at Telstra Corporation where she worked for 13 years.

Sue holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, a Graduate Diploma of Business Management and has attended Harvard Business School.

Ross

 

Helen Dornom

Helen is a member of DA's senior management team. She was responsible for setting up the dairy industry's issues management program prior to the formation of Dairy Australia (DA) and was the inaugural manager of Issues Management when DA was established.

Helen's focus while at DA has been technical issues such as Food Safety, Integrity and Human Health; Animal Health and Welfare; National and International Food Standards and Regulations; Whole supply chain QA; Industry Integrity and Reputation Management/Issues Management.

Helen is now DA's Manager Sustainability including food safety and integrity

Kathy McKenzie

With a passion for leadership and coaching Kathy founded FIRE UP Coaching in 1998. She is a leader in human development and the coaching profession. Her experience includes:

  • Registered Nurse during the 80s
  • Senior leadership roles with Flight Centres in Australia and Canada during the 90s
  • International Coach Federation Australasian Board, Director of Marketing 2012  

 

With a focus on health and rural sectors key clients are Queensland Health, DSE and Dairy Australia, Kathy values giving rural participants access to programs often taken for granted in city contexts.


James Freemantle

REDgum Communications founder James Freemantle has worked internationally in communications and training for over two decades, helping people to experience dramatic improvement in their abilities to express, influence and inspire. Professional sportspeople, entertainers and executives rely on him to enhance their abilities in presentation techniques, personal branding and media training.

Based in Moscow during 2007/08 James was an international anchor for 24-hour TV News channel Russia Today, broadcasting to Europe, the USA and the UK. James is well known for his experiential travel stories on Australian television. He’s written, produced and presented over 300 stories – on Coxy’s Big Break, Postcard, Talk to the Animals, Bread and others. James is degree qualified in English, History and Education and a certified DISC Behavioural analysis practitioner.

An in-demand public speaker, James is President of the Albert Park Primary School council and an advocate for mental health on behalf of national charity SANE Australia.

Dr Ian Metcalfe

Ian is recognised as a leading thinker in the areas of Integral & Creative Leadership, Cultural Renewal and Organisational Change. Ian has been described variously as a vibrant keynote speaker, a thoughtful facilitator, a talented academic, an accomplished program leader (in the finance and insurance industries), and a senior manager with extensive experience with the implementation of institutional change through employee participation, engagement and dialogue and organisational learning & development.

 

Sylvia Vagg

Sylvia has 26 years experience in vocational education and training for farmers. She was a rural education officer for 18 years before holding a number of senior educational positions including the inaugural Gippsland Manager for the National Centre for Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA).

Sylvia is currently the Learning and Quality Manager at the NCDEA. Her role includes the development of educational standards and a program for the development and training of NCDEA trainers, assessors and dairy industry personnel.

She has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Diploma of Education, Graduate Diploma of Secondary Studies (Education) and Masters level training in business, leadership and education.

Sylvia grew up on a dairy farm and is a partner in a dairy and beef farming business in South Gippsland. She is particularly interested in the development of farmers and young people in rural communities, as she believes that productive and happy dairy people are necessary for a sustainable industry.

 

Joanne Bills

Joanne has been involved in the Australia dairy industry for the past 13 years, having worked in a range of roles for the industry’s national service body, Dairy Australia and its predecessor, the Australian Dairy Corporation.

She is currently the Manager, Strategy & Knowledge for Dairy Australia.

In this role she leads a team of analysts who undertake a wide range of industry good activities in the area of information and strategy. These include

  • data collection, processing and dissemination,
  • market intelligence and research,
  • industry analysis and forecasting and
  • strategic planning

Joanne is also responsible for managing the strategic planning and consultation process for Dairy Australia, and providing support for industry planning.

Prior to joining the dairy industry, Joanne worked for the National Australia Bank as their Rural Analyst, and at the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics in Canberra.
Joanne has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and a Post Graduate Diploma of Economics, both from the University of Melbourne