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The Board of Directors is the corporate governance body of the Australian Performing Arts Conservatory (APAC) in accordance with the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 and the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2014. The APAC Constitution is the principal governing document.
- Carolyn Barker (AM)
- Dr Vishwajeet Rana
- Professor Ray Lloyd
- Liz Vinning
- John Ridge AM
- Professor Emeritus Brad Haseman
- Faisal Mukhtar
- Chris Harris
After a 25 year career as a Chief Executive Officer leading a range of middle market Australian and New Zealand businesses, Carolyn is now focussed on a career as a professional Non Executive Company Director.
She has worked in the fields of business, health, private education, transport and advertising.
During her business and management career, Carolyn led and turned around a number of dual sector private education organisations funded and owned by private individuals and/or private equity.
Her board roles have been or currently are in the law, private education, group training, the arts, local government and the bus and e-mobility transport sectors. More specifically as Deputy Chair – Brisbane Powerhouse Pty Ltd (2002 – 2008), Chair – Queensland Orchestra Pty Ltd (2000 – 2008) and as the Director – Flying Arts Inc. (1999 – 2001).
Carolyn has had extensive experience as a board chair in commercial, not for profit and government environments. In addition, she has sat on both listed and private boards. Carolyn brings a deep understanding of corporate governance, strategy, risk and compliance and people management to the table.
She is also a nationally accredited mediator.
Dr Vishwajeet Rana completed an MBA from Ohio University and gained an MS and PhD from Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr Rana executed a number of complex cross-border equity-/debt-structured investments and financing transactions in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong while working at HSBC’s New York office. He enjoys evaluating different global education models and applying them to unlock the potential of students through higher education. In 2025, Dr Rana was appointed as an Honorary Member of the Advisory Board of UNITAR’s Division for People and Social Inclusion, as a result of his work in higher education to widen participation and enable social mobility.
Prof. Ray Lloyd Deputy CEO, GEDU Group Professor Ray Lloyd is Deputy CEO at GEDU. Until recently, he was also the CEO of Global Banking School (GBS), one of the institutions that forms part of the GEDU group. He was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Leeds Trinity University and a Head of Department and then a Dean at Abertay University. Professor Lloyd’s first degree was in mathematics, a subject he taught for several years both in London and then Botswana, where he also served as Director of Coaching for their track and field association. He returned to the UK in 1996 to undertake a Master’s degree in Sports Science, later gaining a PhD in the same discipline and combined his academic activities with a number of roles in elite sport in the UK.
Liz Vinning worked in education for over 35 years and held governance roles in education settings for over 20 years. She has a long and deep involvement with the Society of the Sacred Heart. She has held multiple governance roles with this connection including Board Chair at Sacré Cœur School, Melbourne, a Director of Sacred Heart Education Ministry, and recently a Director and Chair-elect at Sophia Education Ministries.
Other governance roles held were in the private education sector in Victoria, and on Advisory Boards at Deakin University.
Liz, in working for the corporate arm of Deakin University, supported major organisations develop and implement award winning employee development frameworks in the banking, defence, insurance, mining, personal injury and retail sectors.
John Ridge has been heavily involved in the IT industry for approximately 50 years, both in Australia and overseas.
In his career he has held a number of senior IT positions in organisations (and industries) such as Morgan Grenfell (banking and finance), Ok Tedi Mining and Bougainville Copper (mining), Lawdan (professional services), and Australian Iron and Steel (manufacturing). He also established his own IT training and services company in 1986 which he was CEO of for 13 years.
From 1997 – 2005, he was been involved with the Australian Computer Society in a number of capacities.
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is the professional organisation for the Information Technology industry in Australia. It has over 23,000 members and was formed in 1965. It has a staff of around 50 people and revenue in 2013-2014 of around $14 million. He was the President during 2000 – 2001, and during that time made a number of achievements.
In 2000 it became the first computer society in the world to be admitted to their countries peak professional body when it was only the 3rd organisation, since its formation in 1971, to be admitted into the Australian Council of Professions.
During his presidency, the Society achieved very impressive results – 2000 was the most successful year for 28 years with a membership increase of 12%, the highest membership numbers for 28 years and a very positive financial result. In 2001 the ACS achieved a better financial result than 2000, and membership growth of a further 7%.
He represented the ACS internationally on the South East Asian Computer Confederation (SEARCC), and on both the NSW IT&T ITAB (Information and Telecommunications Industry and Training Advisory Board) and the national IT&T ITAB, established NICTA (National ICT Alliance).
The ACS Foundation was established and launched in August 2001, to raise money for scholarships and research in IT in Australia – John drove that initiative. It was also established to value add to the relationship between students, as scholarship holders, universities and the sponsors or donors of those scholarships. Since its establishment, the Foundation has raised over $50 million, and awarded more than 5,000 scholarships. The quality of the ACS Foundation students is very high and more than 80% achieved a Distinction average or better, and 35% achieved a High Distinction as their lowest grade.
In January 2005 he was appointed as the Executive Director of the ACS Foundation, and since that time the ACS Foundation has continued an impressive growth from its solid base. His interest in the education and training sectors of the ICT industry has been evident over a sustained period, and finds the opportunity to work with young people and attract them into the ICT industry particularly rewarding.
In January 2007, he was awarded the Order of Australia for his contribution to the ICT industry and education.
In the 2013 – 2014 financial year the ACS Foundation awarded 350 scholarships and raised in excess of $6.8 million.
ACS Foundation WIL scholarships are an effective way for students to gain relevant industry experience and experience in the work place, which is often what employers are looking for in addition to their qualifications.
Brad Haseman has worked as a teacher and researcher for over fifty years pursuing his fascination with the aesthetics, forms and finances of contemporary performance and learning for young people. He completed a distinguished career spanning thirty years with the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) where he was Professor in Drama Education. Before retiring in 2016 Brad held a range of senior leadership posts, at that time as Assistant Dean (Academic); a post responsible for maintaining and managing the learning system for over 4,500 students and 200 staff in the creative arts and cultural industries. He is been a pioneer of arts education, and is known internationally as a teacher and workshop leader (Process Drama), arts researcher (Performative Research) and community engagement practitioner (Applied Theatre and Teaching-Artistry). He holds the title of Professor Emeritus with QUT.
Since January 2018 Brad has been have been Executive Vice President ofKadenze, Inc.overseeing arts-led pedagogies for their global online catalogue of courses. Kadenze, dealing solely with the Creative Arts, Design and creative technologies, is committed to building high quality online learning, at global scale, and as affordably as possible.
Brad is currently a member of the Leadership Committee of the International Teaching Artist Collaborative and a Council Member of St. Paul’s School, Bald Hills, Brisbane.
Faisal brings significant leadership and strategic experience in business transformation and consolidation, merger and integration, designing and implementing growth strategies, and business expansion.
He has previously worked for some iconic businesses within the adult education (HE & VET), hospitality, not for profit, private equity investee entities and professional services sectors including Marriott International Inc, University of London, Deloitte, RSM and Australian Institute of Management (a Scientia Education Group business owned by CHAMP Ventures).
Faisal is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Governance Institute of Australia, and Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He is a managing director of C-Kandar Pty Ltd., founding trustee of Sedum School of Special Children and a former director of Asian Association of Management Organisation secretariat.
Chris Harris has had a passion for the Arts since childhood, acting in theatre and musical theatre through his formative years before acting and producing plays with the College Players from Antigone to the Absurdists as an undergraduate at the University of Queensland while studying for his Bachelor of Arts in the 1990’s.
Since then, Chris has leadership careers in his two other great areas of passion, hotels and education, beginning with management roles in Mirvac Hotels (Quay Grand Suites) in Sydney, Australia (1999-2007), completing his Executive Management training with the Marriott Group along the journey (2000).
After sessional academic roles while concurrently in hotels (2004-2007), Chris transitioned full-time to education management with the appointment to Head of Hospitality Programs at the International College of Management Sydney (2008-2010).
Chris then spent 10 years in South-East Asia, working across three leading education brands – Berjaya University College of Hospitality (Malaysia), Kaplan Higher Education and At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy (Singapore)- in Executive roles reporting to the CEO (2010-2020). Chris’ posting prior to APAC was as Director Education at William Angliss Institute of TAFE (2020-2023)
Chris’s university qualifications also include a Master of Arts – English Literature (Sydney) and Graduate Certificates in Higher Education and Educational Research (Macquarie and Monash respectively), but he also proudly possesses Vocational qualifications and is a passionate advocate for learning at all levels and for life. A proud Queenslander, Chris is honored to be home after a 25-year odyssey and working with the wonderful creative hearts and minds at APAC.
