On 1 July, there were some significant and exciting changes in the ABCN with two of our most enthusiastic Board members; John Weber, Chief Executive Partner of Minter Ellison Lawyers and Pip Marlow, Managing Director of Microsoft, being appointed to Chair and Deputy Chair of the ABCN Board.

Also, Jacqui Jones, originally seconded from Optus and most recently ABCN General Manager, has been appointed Chief Executive of the ABCN.  In addition to her extensive experience at ABCN, around design, management and evaluation of programs, she has lead our strategic work and implementation.

The departing Chair, Paul O’Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer, Group Consumer and Country Chief Officer, Australia, SingTel is moving to a more global role and to participate on the ABCN Scholarship Foundation. Paul welcomed John and Pip to the Board referring to their long term personal partnerships with principals and their active encouragement of their people in ABCN programs.

Acknowledging the significant contribution made by Paul O’Sullivan as Chair of the ABCN from 2010 until June this year, the ABCN Council is delighted to announce the creation of a three year scholarship in his honour.

The Paul O’Sullivan Scholarship will be managed through the ABCN Scholarship Foundation which is being headed up by Carey Badcoe, former Chief Executive of ABCN. Carey is delighted about her new appointment as Chief Executive of the Scholarship Foundation. She is not only passionate about the Foundation’s mission to provide talented students with financial and mentoring support, but excited about the opportunity to continue working with founding members of the ABCN Board including Michael Hawker AM who will chair the Scholarship Foundation.

All Year 10 students in Australia will be eligible to apply for the scholarships through the current round, which opened on 4 August 2013.

We are also delighted to welcome one of our longest term supporters and colleagues, Anton Hermann from Minter Ellison who has kindly taken over as our Company Secretary and we look forward to working together even more closely in the future.