Governance

The Friends’ School Board of Governors

Back row left to right – Tom Dundas, Lindsay May, Sam Ibbott, Craig Stephens (Presiding Member), Sarah Sealy

Front row left to right – Mary Beadle (Deputy Presiding Member), Bruce Henry, Shaun Sargent (Secretary to the Board and Director of Business Affairs), Natalia Urosevic, Jen Newton (Deputy Presiding Member), Esther Hill (Principal)

Absent – Michael Ashby (Tasmanian Regional Meeting Nominee), Tracy Bourne (Board Nominee), Julia Jago (Board Nominee)

The Board of Governors March 2024

The Friends’ School in Hobart was founded in 1887, jointly by Friends in Hobart and in London. It has always been coeducational and accepts both residential and day students.

Overall responsibility for the School’s Board governance and structure has rested with the Australian Yearly Meeting since 1924, which receives nominations to appoint a Board of Governors from The Friends’ School Association (the Association). The Association enables the Board of Governors to oversee the governance of the School, and in turn, the Board appoints a Principal to be responsible for the implementation of the Strategic Priorities of the Board and the day-to-day operations of the School.

The Association membership consists of Quakers who are current or former members of the Board of Governors and current or former members of the Quaker Values Committee, which is a Committee of the Board. The Board of Governors appoints the Quaker Values Committee, which consists of a Quaker nominee from each Australian Regional Meeting, together with the three nominees from Tasmania Regional Meeting who are members of the Board of Governors, the AYM Presiding Clerk and the Principal. The Quaker Values Committee is supported by the Quaker Coordinator in the School.

More than half of the members of the Board of Governors are Quaker and includes the Presiding Clerk of AYM, and other Quakers and members of the community whose nominations through the Association are recommended to AYM for appointment. The School, with the foundational support of AYM, seeks to appoint a Quaker as its Principal and the Presiding Member or Deputy of the Board of Governors.

The School was incorporated in 2000 under the Tasmanian Associations Incorporation Act 1964.

The Board of Governors

Qualifications

  • MD
  • MRCP
  • FRCR
  • FRACP
  • FAChPM
  • FFPMANZCA

Skills & Experience

  • Medical Specialist
  • Member of the Fees Assistance Committee

Qualifications

  • B.Sc
  • M.Sc.
  • Dip.Ed

Skills & Experience

  • Retired Teacher
  • Member of Quaker Values Committee

Qualifications

  • PhD
  • MMus
  • BMus
  • Dip Dram Arts

Skills & Experience

  • Singing Teacher/Writer/Director
  • Member of the Quaker Values Committee

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Music Performance with First Class Honours
  • Diploma of Community Service

Skills & Experience

  • Management Committee member for Quaker Service Australia from 2012-2016
  • Australian Yearly Meeting Representative at the World Friends Gathering in Kenya 2021
  • Professional violin musician and teacher
  • Community Service and Residential Support Work

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons), Dip Ed, Cert 4 Teaching & Assessment

Skills & Experience

  • Retired Teacher
  • Presiding Clerk, Quakers Australia
  • Member of Quaker Values Committee

Qualifications

  • B.Sc. (Hons), GTLP, GAICD

Skills & Experience

  • Business Owner
  • Marine Biologist

Qualifications

  • BEc
  • BEnv Design
  • BArch

Skills & Experience

  • Architect/Company Director
  • Member of the Present & Future Facilities Committee

Qualifications

  • BCom Accounting, CA ANZ – Associate

Skills & Experience

  • Chartered Accountant
  • Business Consultant
  • Tax & Business Services

Qualifications

  • RN
  • Spark of Life Master Practioner in Dementia Care

Skills & Experience

  • Retired Nurse
  • Small Business Owner
  • Member of Quaker Values Committee

Qualifications

  • BA
  • LLB
  • Post Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice

Skills & Experience

  • Over 15 years experience in civil litigation, workplace relations and insurance law
  • Partner at a local Hobart law firm
  • Member of the Law Society, AHRI, AICD

Qualifications

  • BCom
  • GAICD
  • Chartered Accountant

Skills & Experience

  • Managing Partner, BDO Tasmania
  • Chair, the Public Trustee
  • Chair, Theatre Royal Management Board

Qualifications

  • BA, LLB (Hons), University of Tasmania
  • Grad Dip, RMIT

Skills & Experience

  • Admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, 1994
  • Solicitor, Blake Dawson Waldron
  • Managing consultant, Mahlab Recruitment
  • Establishing Owner and Board Member, Hill Street Grocer
  • Board Member, Public Officer and Chair of Projects Subcommittee, Sprout Tasmania

Appointed Officers

Qualifications

  • Master of Education – (MEd) School Leadership – The University of Western Australia
  • Bachelor of Arts – University of Western Australia: English and Philosophy
  • Grad Dip Ed – Edith Cowan University

Skills & Experience

  • Head of Campus – The Studio School Fremantle
  • Director – Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute: All Saints’ College
  • The Educator Australia – one of Australia’s Most Influential Educators 2022
  • Chair of the Board of Directors – Schools of Thinking
  • Director of Teaching and Learning, All Saints’ College
  • Head of English – Department of Education, Western Australia

Qualifications

  • Chartered Accountant (Fellow)
  • Justice of the Peace
  • BCom, University of Tasmania
  • GCert EBL, Deakin University
  • Dip, Australian Institute of Company Directors (Fellow)
  • Cert, Governance Institute of Australia (Affiliate)
  • Institute of Managers and Leaders (Fellow)

Skills & Experience

  • Director, Association of School Business Administrators Ltd
  • Trustee, Anglican Diocese of Tasmania
  • Member, Finance Committee, Uniting AgeWell (Victoria & Tasmania)
  • Member, Chartered Accountants Charities & Not-For-Profit Advisory Panel
  • Board Member & Treasurer, Anglicare Tasmania Inc
  • Facilitator, Chartered Accountants Program
  • Senior Manager, KPMG