CIT Board

Ms Kate Lundy
Chair

Kate retired as the Senator for the ACT on 24 March 2015, having been first elected to the Federal Parliament in 1996. This included roles as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy, Minister for Sport, and Minister Assisting for Industry and innovation.

Kate is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Kate is actively involved in a number of community and sporting clubs which reflect her broad range of interests. She is Board Chair of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, a director of Electro Optic Systems, the National Youth Science Forum, the Geospatial Council of Australia and a director of the NRMA.

Kate has been recognised with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the Australian National University for her contribution to policy and advocacy in the information and communication technology sector and is an Honorary Associate Professor at the ANU Research School of Physics.

Kate brings to the CIT Board her interest and experience in skills development, social, economic and cultural policy issues and governance.

Ms Natalie Howson
Deputy Chair

Natalie has 25 years' experience in senior executive roles in the state and federal public service. She started her working life as a teacher in Queensland. Natalie has established and lead a commonwealth statutory authority and been Director General of two ACT Government Directorates – Education and Community Services. Natalie now chairs the board of the ACT Teacher Quality Institute, and the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) Solutions company, and is the Deputy Chair of the CIT. In 2023 Natalie was appointed to the National School Funding Agreement Reference Group by the Minister for Education, Jason Clare. Natalie is a member of the ACT Reconciliation Council and has supported Aboriginal -led projects to develop the governance and professional capability of their people.

Natalie held senior executive roles in several Australian Government agencies including Defence, the Health Insurance Commission (Medicare Australia), and Centrelink. She was recognised throughout her career for skills in public sector leadership, policy development in social services, housing and education, stakeholder collaboration, effective change management and service delivery. Natalie has established successful partnerships in many diverse sectors and has been a member of international and national policy and regulatory committees. She represented the Australian government, advocating for global change in the fight against drugs in sport in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

In 2021 Natalie completed Research Master’s degree in International Education Leadership.

Ms Christine Robertson
Interim CEO
Canberra Institute of Technology

Christine has held a wide range of tertiary teaching and senior executive leadership roles in public and private Education and Training Institutes and dual sector Universities across Australia. Her recent roles include Executive General Manager Education and Training at Open Colleges, one of Australia's oldest and largest providers of fully online VET qualifications, and Executive Director Quality and Performance at Holmesglen, one of Australia's most innovative TAFE Institutes. Before this she was the Pro Vice-Chancellor Vocational Education and Training at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory, with responsibility for building a strong and skilled workforce to service major regional infrastructure projects and community and economic development needs across the Northern Territory and South East Asia.

Christine is a Director of the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) and the VET Development Centre, a member of the ASQA Stakeholder Liaison Group, and a former Deputy Chair of TAFE Directors Australia.

Tahlia-Rose Vanissum
Member

Tahlia-Rose Vanissum is a proud Woppaburra woman who works across her community and the public sector to improve outcomes for First Nations women, girls and people with disability. She is currently undertaking a Master of Culture, Health, and Medicine at the Australian National University (ANU).

Tahlia-Rose’s is passionate about building understandings and identification of intersectional and systemic discrimination through truth-telling. Tahlia-Rose is passionate about inclusive, respectful and reciprocal leadership that amplifies the strengths of cultural ways of being by building the capability of others to identify and address discrimination across national frameworks, jurisdictional priorities and institutional settings.

Tahlia-Rose is the Chair of the ACT Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Sisters in Spirit Aboriginal Corporation, and a Board Director at CIT’s wholly-owned subsidiary CIT Solutions.

In her spare time, Tahlia-Rose is completing the AICD’s Company Directors Course as a 2023 Disability Leadership Scholar. Tahlia-Rose also holds vocational qualifications in government, business, leadership, and human resources management and a Bachelor of Criminology from the ANU.

Mr Keith Brown
Staff Representative

Keith Brown has been working at the Canberra Institute of Technology for over thirteen years. He started teaching Work Health and Safety before moving to the High Risk section to deliver within the Global Wind Organisation safety program. He has gone on to take on the positions of Senior Teacher within the High Risk section and most recently the Head of Department for Construction and High Risk.

Keith has a long history with the CIT starting in 1988 as an apprentice mechanic and further study in various vocational disciplines including Business, Marketing, Human resources and Work Health and Safety.

Keith’s experience spans many years working in ACT and Commonwealth Government agencies primarily in the fields of safety and emergency management. He has also worked for several private organisations in Human Resources and work health and safety. Keith is also an active volunteer with the ACT Rural Fire Service and St John Ambulance ACT.

Keith has a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education and is passionate about the impact that access to education has on people lives.

Ms Roslyn Jackson
Member

Roslyn is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and has held Senior Executive positions within the Australian Government and the private sector.

Roslyn worked as an Academic in both the TAFE and University sectors before establishing her own training company where she specialised in Public Financial Management (government accounting). Roslyn has spent 30 years educating both Commonwealth and State Public Servants about their financial responsibilities and compliance with relevant financial management laws and policies. Roslyn is a very experienced facilitator, presenting internationally across Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Roslyn has over 25 years’ experience as a Non-Executive Director. She is an experienced Board and Audit Committee Chair and has held positions predominantly in the not-for-profit health and education sectors.

Ms Jane Madden
Member

Jane Madden, Principal of Brickfielder Insights, is a highly experienced senior executive and Chair/board director with an international track record of leading large teams in multiple geographies, cultures, and languages.

With over thirty years in Australia’s public sector and diplomatic service, Jane has held numerous senior leadership roles, including Deputy Secretary at Australia's trade and investment agency, Austrade, Chief Operating Officer of the Digital Transformation Office, and Australian Ambassador to UNESCO, Deputy Ambassador to France and Counsellor in Japan.

Jane is also a highly regarded non-executive director and member of boards and committees across government, business and the not-for-profit sector. Jane is the global Chair of the Fred Hollows Foundation, President of the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) and on the boards of Australian Business Volunteers and the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), as well as a number of start-up ventures and advisory committees. A graduate of the University of Tasmania and ANU, Jane has also studied at Harvard, Melbourne Business School and INSEAD. She is fluent in Japanese and French.

Ms Rosemary Bishop
Member

Rosemary Bishop (B,A.( Hons) , MBA) joined the CIT Board in July 2023. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and brings a strong educational and business perspective. She has a background as a CEO in the Not-for-Profit Sector where she led organisational merges and service transformation. Prior to taking leadership roles in the NFP sector, Rosemary led Interdependent, a consultancy focusing on organisational development and change management. Interdependent provided nationally recognised training through the Registered Training Organisation and consulted widely to lead and implement changes in the VET sector enabling public and private sector services to improve career development and learning opportunities for their staff. Rosemary has consulted in Bhutan and Manila on skills transfer and enterprise development. Currently Interdependent provides interim CEO support and facilitates CEO performance reviews with the Board in the NFP sector.

As a Board Director Rosemary has chaired Evolve Housing to enable its early growth through merges and she has been active in community housing sector development. As a Board Director within the Primary Health Network Rosemary brought a business and community perspective during the COVID lockdown and supported the focus on social prescribing. She has also been a Board member for Rural Australians for Refugees and Afford Disability. Current Board roles include chairing Connect Child and Family Services, being a Director of Allawaw, an Aboriginal Corporation, and being a member of the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District Board Research Subcommittee.

Ms Lucy Baranovsky
Chair of the CITSA Council

Lucy has a long history of student advocacy especially within the CIT space. She completed her Year 10 Certificate in 2010, going on to complete studies in Animal Technology and Pathology, whilst sitting as the Chair of the CITSA Student Council and Student Representative on the CIT Advisory Council before going on to complete a Bachelor of Nursing at ACU and sitting as the Secretary of the Signadou Student Association and completing a Graduate Certificate in Nursing Majoring in Advance Practice through James Cook University. Lucy is now studying a Certificate IV in Work Health & Safety at CIT and sits as the Chair of the CITSA student council.

Lucy has a strong passion for lifelong education, social justice and community safety and holds the belief that every student deserves to have a voice and be heard.

Mr Tony Brennan JP
Member

Tony brings over 20 years of senior leadership and governance experience across education, business, and government. As a CEO, he has driven innovation in education on a global level and served as an independent director and chairman for more than 19 listed and unlisted Australian companies and government entities.

In addition to his governance roles, Tony has a strong commitment to vocational skills training and international education. He has designed and delivered programs to uplift unemployed and uneducated women out of poverty in Africa, and worked with the Australian government to establish a skills training consortium for the Middle East and India.

Tony co-founded and served as director and chairman of Australia’s peak body for education technology and innovation, fostering connections among educators, providers, government representatives, consultants, investors, and EdTech entrepreneurs and is currently an Independent Director of Education Services Australia, a ministerial owned company which is instrumental in delivering national education priorities and initiatives across Australia.

Tony's diverse background includes being a former corporate lawyer and Adjunct Law Professor, teaching corporate governance, and facilitating board training for the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has established strategic global partnerships to deliver online learning and skills training for health professionals in 45 countries and represented Australia at International Conferences on Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

Dr Mark Bazzacco
Member

Dr Mark Bazzacco brings to the CIT Board a deep understanding of governance, strategy, research and innovation, including over 20 years' experience in the public service.

Mark joined the Department of Defence in 2022 where he is currently the First Assistant Secretary for Ministerial and Executive Coordination and Communication Division. Prior to this role he held the position of Chief of Research Technology and Operations in the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). Mark led a division which included Research Operations (safety, security & research infrastructure), Digital Science, Scientific & High Performance Computing, Research Engineering and Workforce Capability & Talent.

Prior to joining Defence Mark was the Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff at CSIRO where he reported to the Chief Executive Officer. As a part of the CSIRO Leadership Team Mark led the strategy, planning, performance and evaluation, investment and portfolio management functions.

Mark has served on a number of reviews and committees including the Capability Review of the Department of Home Affairs and on the Australian Research Council (ARC) Expert Advisory Committee for the review of Excellence in Research for Australia and the Engagement and Impact Assessment. His director experience includes serving on the Board of Science and Technology Australia and Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. He recently completed a PhD in national innovation systems and holds a Bachelor of Commerce, MBA and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).