The current Chairman and Deputy Chairman are Janet Holmes à Court, AC, and Andrea Denholm. The Board meets quarterly.
Board of Directors
The governing body of the ACTF is its Board of Directors, the members of which all serve in an honorary capacity.
Chair
Janet Holmes à Court, AC
Elected 01.12.1983
(Re-elected 30.11.2021)
Owner of the Janet Holmes à Court Collection, Janet is also Chair of the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) and Board Member of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). Janet is also a member of the Centenary Trust for Women Board of Advisors at the University of Western Australia, the State Buildings Advisory Board Western Australia, and Commissioner for Australia for the Venice Architecture Biennale. She has been presented with numerous awards, including a Companion of the Order of Australia and named 2018 Western Australian of the Year Arts & Culture. Janet is an elected member of the Board.
Deputy Chair
Andrea Denholm
Appointed 30.10.2013
(Reappointed 31.10.2019 for three years)
Andrea is an experienced creative and executive producer of premium drama, comedy and documentary content. She is currently Executive Producer and Head of Development for renowned company Tony Ayres Productions (TAP). Andrea is a skilled collaborator who works with established creatives and exciting new talent. Her credits include TAP’s award-winning series Fires; International Emmy® nominated Wrong Kind of Black; innovative screen opera The Divorce; multiple seasons of popular comedy series How to Stay Married and It’s A Date; ground-breaking Indigenous comedy 8MMM Aboriginal Radio; landmark documentary series Sporting Nation with John Clarke; Tripping Over; SeaChange (1998-2000); After the Deluge; CrashBurn; Worst Best Friends; and Outland. Andrea started her career as a lawyer and has been a principal and a senior executive in independent local and international production companies. She is also on the Board of VicScreen.
Ian Booth
Appointed 09.04.2019
(Reappointed 10.04.2022 for three years)
Ian has over 20-years-experience in the Australian film and television industry and is currently a director of Indian Pacific Pictures and Home Fire Creative Industries. Ian has recently been appointed the CEO of Black Swan State Theatre Co, Western Australia’s major performing theatre arts company. He was CEO of Screenwest, the Western Australian film financing body for over a decade, financing hundreds of screen projects, including Mystery Road, Breath, Red Dog, Satellite Boy, Paper Planes, Bran Nue Dae, Cloudstreet, SAS: The Search for Warriors, Outback Truckers, Lockie Leonard and many more. Originally a lawyer, Ian also worked at the ABC, and has served on the Boards of national screen agency Ausfilm, Awesome Arts and the FTI. Ian is a Commonwealth Government representative.
Jason Borton
Appointed 09.01.2017
(Reappointed 09.01.2020 for three years)
Jason Borton is the Executive Branch Manager, Universal School Support with the Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate. Jason is a dynamic leader who is committed to implementing innovative practices that cater for the needs of 21st Century learners. He uses social media to promote public education at a school, state and national level, reaching a wide national audience on a regular basis. Jason has been an educator in the ACT public school system since 1996. He was a school leader in three different schools, before being appointed as the Principal of Richardson Primary School in 2012. Jason was the winner of the 2014 AEU ACT Public Education Award. Jason completed a postgraduate Executive Masters of Public Administration (ANZSOG) Degree in 2022. Jason represents the Australian Capital Territory Government on the Board.
Jenny Burgess
Appointed 27.11.2013
(Reappointed 09.09.2019 for three years)
Jenny Burgess has worked for 30 years in public education. Jenny’s work in the Tasmanian Department of Education has included senior secondary curriculum and accreditation, education data and performance, curriculum development, and portfolios in inclusion and diversity. Jenny’s current role is Deputy Secretary Strategy and Performance, where she has responsibility for providing strategic policy advice to the Secretary of the Department and the Minister for Education on a broad range of matters. Jenny graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education. Jenny has also completed post-graduate studies in educational leadership and administration, and a Master of Education with a focus on literacy and numeracy teaching and assessment. Jenny represents the Tasmanian Government on the Board.
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
Appointed 09.04.2019
(Reappointed 10.04.2022 for three years)
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is one of Australia's highest profile adolescent and child psychologists. He wrote his PhD at the University of NSW on Adolescents with Cancer and named and founded CanTeen more than 30 years ago with a group of young cancer patients. He has worked as an academic, researcher, and political lobbyist. He is also the author of 14 books and has been a social commentator on the Morning Show with Neil Mitchell on Radio 3AW for the last 15 years. Michael is a Commonwealth Government representative.
Neil Darby
Appointed 28.01.2022 for three years
Neil Darby is the Assistant Executive Director of Statewide Services with The West Australian Department of Education. He is a respected leader in metropolitan and regional education, primary and secondary curriculum and in the development of innovative practice in Aboriginal Education and Training. Neil has extensive experience in educational leadership including roles as School Principal, Regional Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director. He also holds the position of Chair for the Western Australian Government Schools Music Society and The Angkor Project - Children Helping Children. Neil represents the West Australian Government on the Board.
Sally Hodgson
Appointed 17.03.2021 for three years
Sally Hodgson is the Senior Director, Differentiated Services within the Northern Territory Department of Education. Sally has ably led the creation and implementation of eLearn, the departments prime communication tool, which also houses ACTF resources. She has spent 17 years in leadership roles in secondary schools across the NT including leadership roles in distance education and in combining two schools into a dual campus site. Sally led the implementation and roll out of the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training from 2008-2016. She has a Bachelor of Education specialising in secondary mathematics and science and a passion in differentiating learning and pedagogy to suit all students no matter their background. Sally was a co-presenter of the Imparja developed Sci-Fax production in 1994. Sally is the Northern Territory Government representative.
Ian McGill
Appointed 25.03.2021 for three years
Ian has nearly 40 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer practising in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors. He retired from Allens on 30 June 2020 after 30 years as a partner. His career highlights included being managing partner of Allens, acting for the commercial television plaintiffs in the 1992 High Court case that established the implied constitutional guarantee of freedom of political communication, acting for News Corporation on the establishment of FOXTEL and acting for the indigenous groups that established NITV. Ian is currently a non-executive director of the not-for-profit companies Documentary Australia Pty Limited, the Sydney Institute of Marine Science Limited, the SIMS Foundation and Uphold & Recognise Limited. Ian is a Commonwealth Government representative.
Robyn Rosengrave
Appointed 14.01.2019 for three years
(Reappointed 15.01.2022 for three years)
Robyn is the Executive Director, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning within the Department of Education. For over 30 years, as a classroom teacher, curriculum developer and innovator, and as the Executive Director of curriculum, teaching and learning responsible for the implementation of curriculum across the 1258 state schools.
Her change leadership portfolio includes state-wide implementation of the Australian Curriculum, the New QCE System, Early Years, STEM, Global Schools through Languages; and Literacy and Numeracy. In addition, she regularly advises and contributes to numerous wide-reaching national and international educational initiatives. Robyn is passionately committed to ensuring every student experiences teaching and learning that helps them realise their potential and achieve success. Robyn represents the Queensland Government on the Board.
Sally Scales
Elected 03.03.2021
Re-elected 30.11.2021
Sally Scales is a Pitjantjatjara woman from Pipalyatjara in the far west of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote South Australia. Sally was the youngest person ever elected as Chairperson of the APY Executive Board Council in 2019. Sally has worked with the APY Art Centre Collective since 2013 in cultural liaison, elder support and spokesperson roles, as well as being Regional Programs Coordinator. Sally was instrumental in opening two APY Art Centre Collective galleries in Sydney and Adelaide. Sally was a delegate to the First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru, involved in drafting the Uluru Statement of the Heart, and continues to be a member of the Uluru Dialogues Leadership Group. Alongside all these activities Sally is also a full-time mum to her nephew Walter. Sally is an independently elected member of the Board.
Deonne Smith
Appointed 17.02.2022 for three years
Deonne Smith is the Executive Director of the Curriculum and Learning Division within the South Australian Department for Education. Deonne is also a member of the department’s Senior Executive Group (SEG) which supports the Chief Executive to set the strategic agenda and direction of the department and ensures that the department meets its strategic and operational objectives. Deonne has extensive experience in educational leadership in South Australia and New South Wales including, School Principal, Leadership Consultant, Regional Director, General Manager and Director of Curriculum Development. Deonne has led major policy initiatives in NSW in Aboriginal Education and Training, Disability Programs, Literacy and Numeracy programs, Multicultural Education, and Early Childhood Education and in 2009 was conferred Adjunct Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work at Sydney University. Deonne is the South Australian Government representative to the Board.
Dr Paul Wood PSM
Appointed 03.02.2021 for three years
Paul Wood is the Executive Director, Educational Standards in the NSW Department of Education. Paul is responsible for Leading and developing high quality evidence based strategies, programs and assessments for use across the system. Developing and monitoring policies and advice that require leaders and teachers to use evidence-based practice and achieve high professional standards in the delivery of curriculum, assessment and reporting. Paul has been a teacher, a principal of three schools and a system leader of educational programs at a state-wide level. Paul is a recipient of the Public Service Medal in the Australia Day Honours list in 2021 for his leadership of the state-wide curriculum support for schools through the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul has a PhD in educational leadership from the University of Sydney. Paul is the NSW representative on the Board.
