Andrew Norton is the higher education program director at the Grattan Institute, and the co-author with David Kemp of the Review of the Demand Driven System: Final Report. Andrew has worked as a policy adviser to the vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne and as a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies. In the late 1990s he was higher education adviser to David Kemp, the then education minister. Andrew is also an honorary fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne.

Mary Faraone, Chief Executive of Holmesglen Institute, has extensive experience in the VET sector, working with industry, RTOs and at TAFE. Mary has been at Holmesglen since mid-2003 and in her previous role was instrumental in the growth of Holmesglen, securing the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games training project, the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and educational reform project in Bahrain and Qatar.

Jeannie Rea is the National President of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). She came to this role from the position of Deputy Dean in Arts, Education and Human Development at Victoria University. Jeannie has been a professional educator and advocate in the post-secondary (TAFE and Higher Education) sector for over three decades focusing upon access to and success in quality courses. Her own disciplinary background and teaching and research interests are in gender studies, environmental science and social change.

Dr George Brown has held senior academic positions with the Australian Institute of Business, Think: Education Group, Navitas, Le Cordon Bleu Australia, International College of Hotel Management and TAFESA. He is an immediate past Board Director of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). George’s research interests surround higher education accreditation, governance, learning and teaching excellence and the burgeoning problem of non-official higher education provision.