Women in Leadership Program with ACEL

Barbara is the CEO of ACEL with extensive experience in education and a distinguished career spanning executive leadership roles across Australia’s education and not-for-profit sectors. Her expertise lies in the research, design, and delivery of professional learning initiatives, with a strong focus on leadership development closely aligned to ACEL's vision of fostering a vibrant and collaborative learning environment.
In her role, Barbara places the highest value on ACEL’s unique ability to connect and engage with all members of the education community. She is dedicated to championing opportunities for educators to collaborate, exchange innovative ideas, and collectively elevate the quality of education.
An author, Barbara’s co-authored book Step In, Step Up: Empowering women for the school leadership journey, received a silver medal in the international 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. Her national research report: Insights: Environmental Scan Principal Preparation Programs contributed to five major national recommendations for preparing future school leaders.
Barbara has been recognised for her contributions to leadership and professional learning. She was the inaugural recipient of the Women of Achievement Award (WA DoE), is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne Faculty of Education and is an ACEL National Fellow. Her expertise is regularly sought out to contribute in an advisory capacity as a member of numerous university, departmental, school, and professional boards contributing her insights to shape policies and practices.
Her Australian and international projects span emerging, executive, and system leadership programs. Barbara holds a special interest in the intersection of leadership sustainability, wellbeing, and performance, ensuring that leaders at all levels can thrive and drive transformative learning outcomes.

Lisa was originally a high school English teacher in 1992 and then a Head of Department and Deputy Principal. She was also involved with the Microsoft World Mentor Schools program for several years.
Lisa then worked in South East Queensland Regional Office to roll out the Australian Curriculum across 191 schools and manage the transition of Junior Secondary – Year 7s into high school, leading a team of 11 advisors.
In 2012 Lisa found her way to Sentis (which means Safe Mind), a global consultancy, and became a neuroscience specialist, Principal Consultant and ultimately General Manager of Client Solutions, partnering with companies like Glencore, BHP, and Rio Tinto, to transform culture and leadership using the application of psychological concepts. During this time, she designed the IMPACT learning framework which has supported the learning of over 50,000 QLD students and trained over 2000 teachers.
Since 2017 Lisa has been the Director of Sentis Education working with over 300 schools to improve culture, leadership teamwork and pedagogy. Lisa is also proudly partnered with ACEL and delivers programs via ACELearn Professional Learning.