EREA NSW Colleges Ltd

As Chair of the Board, EREA NSW Colleges Ltd, Sam brings to the role extensive board level and C-suite experience in internationally listed, private companies as well as small and large charities.

Community minded and commercially focused strategic leader with international corporate governance and not for profit experience and a proven track record of leading through sustainable transformation strategies. Currently he is a Director/Trustee for the Little Company of Mary Australia/New Zealand, Non-Executive Director for a public health network entity - Healthy North Coast Ltd and Non-Executive Director for the Australian Red Cross.

Dr Mark J Askew completed twenty years as Head of Educational Services in the Diocese of Broken Bay at the end of 2019. During that time, Broken Bay became a high performing Australian school system. He began his career as a teacher of English and History, and has worked in curriculum development and program management roles with the Sydney Catholic school system and the NSW Catholic Education Commission.

Mark was seconded to ACARA for a year in 2010 to manage the development of Australian Curriculum in the disciplines of History, Geography and the Arts. He has been a member of a number of state and national educational committees, and has volunteered to support a variety of religious congregations in the governance of their schools. He currently enjoys some teaching at Australian Catholic University, and supports schools and dioceses as an educational consultant.

Paul Murray is an experienced professional in the governance and management of not-for-profit organisations, with significant contributions in education, superannuation, and community service. He has held executive roles with the school system at the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, with areas of responsibility in finance, human resources, facilities infrastructure, and information technology. Other leadership positions included CEO of CEnet Limited, which provides shared ICT services to over 330,000 school students and staff across Australia.

In addition to the EREA NSW Colleges board, he currently contributes to an aged care board as a non-executive director and is the finance director for a surf lifesaving club. Paul also works as an independent advisory consultant for various clients.

He is committed to the principles of human dignity and the positive impact of education and community services. Paul holds a Master of Applied Finance, Master of Business Administration (Merit), Bachelor of Mathematics, Graduate Diploma of Computer Science (Merit), and Graduate Diploma of Education; and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon has been a senior public servant in NSW for the past 10 years. Her career has been dedicated to leadership that focuses on public space, active transport and programs that connect citizens and visitors to special places, culture and heritage through a broad range of citywide public engagement programs.

Caroline serves on a range of juries, committees and boards to promote the power of place, community, heritage and public space in Australia.

Her current role is State Librarian at the State Library of NSW.

Virginia Ryan (MEd, MA, GradDipREd, BA, Dip Ed) is currently
Executive Leadership Coach with Catholic Education, Canberra, and has previously held Diocesan Leadership positions with
Catholic Education Broken Bay including Learning Improvement Program, as Assistant Director Evangelisation and Catechesis, and various Catholic School leadership roles with De La Salle Ashfield, Marist Sisters Woolwich and Rosebank College Five Dock.

Virginia’s current Governance Positions include as EREA NSW Colleges Ltd Board Director & Committee Member, Safeguarding. She is Chair of the Board, The Educational Centre for Christian Spirituality while previously held Governance Positions as Founding Member of Good Samaritan Education (MPJP); Member/Chair Mount St Benedict College Board; Member/Chair Stella Maris College Board; Founding Member and Chair of BBI-TAITE (Theology College).

Sally brings extensive global executive and prior Board experience to the EREA NSW Board.

Her previous non-executive roles include on the NSW Advisory Board and the National Board Remuneration Committee of the Australian Red Cross.

Sally is currently the Head of Organisational Effectiveness and Leadership at Macquarie Group and prior to joining Macquarie Group held the position of Head of People Consulting at the Commonwealth Bank. Previously Sally held senior executive roles in HR, Talent, Leadership and Strategic Workforce Planning in Australia and the UK.

She holds a Bachelor of Business and a Masters of Social Policy and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jonathan Rourke enjoyed a three decade career in finance at Macquarie Group. He was involved in various customer-facing roles, in foreign exchange, resource finance and commodity finance. He also served as an Integrity Officer at Macquarie, acting as a confidential contact point for staff with concerns about potential breaches of Macquarie’s Code of Conduct, or more general integrity issues.

Jonathan has served on the Council (Board) of Southern Cross University since 2017, chairs its Finance & Investment Committee and is also a member of the Audit & Risk and the People & Culture Committees.

Jonathan is passionate about the impact a values-based education can have on the individual student and society at large, particularly for equity students for whom the path to education and opportunity is often naturally challenging.

James, his father and his son were all educated in the EREA tradition. James’ career spans over 30 years, predominantly as a General Counsel and Company Secretary in the real estate, infrastructure, construction, development and not-for-profit sectors. James is a currently the Deputy Chairman of Santa Sabina College and was a member and Chairman of the St Patrick's College Advisory Council (2017 -2022).