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“We’re a vibrant and dynamic organisation with a focus on our people – we believe that the search for quality never ends and we’re always looking at innovative ways to ensure that all children have the learning, development and wellbeing outcomes they need for school and life.”
Julia Davison
"Living by the principle of “more money, more mission” is fundamental to our long-term financial sustainability. It’s intrinsic to our ability to deliver ongoing, positive social impact for Australia’s children and their life-long outcomes."
Jeff Harvie
"Our people make the difference in giving Australia’s children the best possible start in life. That’s why we are so focused on enhancing what we do and offer our people, families and children - this drives our work day in and day out. Our purpose and strong ambition means we never stop innovating and being the best at getting better."
Tracey McFarland
"Goodstart is a catalyst of positive change in the early years in Australia, bringing local and international academics in early childhood together to collaborate and translate evidence into practice to make the biggest impact to Australia’s children."
Sue Robb OBE
"We are using our unique strengths every day to improve the lives of children and families – within Goodstart and beyond. That’s why I love belonging to Goodstart."
Myra Geddes
"We continuously invest and evolve our IT systems, working back from the needs of our centres. We don’t overlook their importance to our culture, efficiency and our people, family and children’s experiences."
Michael Dines
BSc (Hons); MPA; MAICD
Julia provides leadership in all aspects of our Goodstart network. As an advocate for all Australia’s children – Julia is a driving force for our sector – influencing positive policy and sector change, and the search for the highest possible quality to improve the outcomes children need for school and life. Prior to joining Goodstart as our Chief Executive Officer in February 2011, Julia had extensive senior management experience in the human services sector in Australia and the UK. Between 1999 and 2004 she was CEO at Flinders Medical Centre, a large teaching hospital in Adelaide. From 2004 to 2010 Julia was CEO of WorkCover SA, a statutory authority which manages the South Australian Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Scheme, extending protection to 430,000 employees in SA. Julia is on the Board of Cape York Girl Academy and has held a number of non-executive roles including Chair of Catherine House, a not-for-profit working to solve women’s homelessness, Director of Territory Insurance Office, NT and Director of Business SA. As a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, Julia has a strong interest in Public Policy.
BBus; CPA; MAICD
Jeff provides the strategic focus on financial reporting, commercial effectiveness, governance and risk, and oversees Goodstart’s property and facilities management. He is currently also our Interim Chief Operating Officer, overseeing day-to-day operational functions. Jeff joined Goodstart in 2014 and brings more than 25 years’ experience in senior finance roles across not-for-profit, private and public sectors in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He brings strategic experience having worked with, and held board roles, including a variety of non-executive director and audit and risk committee positions, across ASX listed and private companies as well as large not-for-profit organisations. This experience has developed the understanding and skills needed for the critical role of discipline, governance, accountability and transparency in the success of financially sustainable organisations.
BBus (Marketing); GAICD
Ensuring incredible experiences for our children, people and families is at the heart of Tracey’s work – a critical foundation that Goodstart recognises will increasingly become the lifeblood of our organisation and success. Tracey leads Goodstart’s people and culture, corporate affairs, marketing, communications, innovation and customer experience teams Tracey brings more than 25 years' experience working across private and not-for-profit sectors, including Qantas, Telstra, Suncorp, QSuper and UnitingCare, across diverse areas of marketing, commercial strategy, sales and operations, fundraising and customer experience.
BEd; FCCT
Sue leads a range of work and initiatives to bring our ambition of becoming a world leader in early years pedagogy and practice to life. This sees Sue and her colleagues on any given day working closely with educators in our centres, the sector, academics and national and international thought leaders to translate and embed early learning evidence into practice. Sue is an international thought leader in early childhood pedagogy and OBE (Order of the British Empire). Prior to joining Goodstart, Sue was the Head of Early Learning at Action for Children in the United Kingdom (UK). As a complement to her role at Action for Children, Sue provided specialist advisory services on early years and childcare policy and quality to the UK Government and relevant Ministers. In her early career, Sue spent 14 years as a teacher, including three years in the British School, Athens, and six years as Early Years and Infant Lead in the British School in Manila, Philippines. She has also been a school principal and held the regulatory role of lead inspector for the Early Years Foundation Stage (the UK version of Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework).
BEd; BBus
Myra oversees Goodstart's social impact strategy, policy, measurement, research and evaluation and social inclusion programs and initiatives such as EChO (Enhancing Children’s Outcomes) and Family Connections. Myra and her team amplify the delivery of Goodstart’s social purpose and impact across the country. Myra brings significant experience to Goodstart, as a driving force of social policy and reform that has helped transform and improve the quality of life of Australians. She has been the senior social policy advisor to two Australian prime ministers and has worked across early childhood education and care, schools, community services and health policy at state and national levels. Myra’s career began as a teacher in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. She is deeply committed to supporting those Goodstarters working closest with children and is a passionate believer in the power of early learning to transform children’s lives. Myra co-wrote Preschool – Two Years are Better Than One with Dr Stacey Fox at the Mitchell Institute which aimed to help compel Australia to pursue a national commitment to ensuring all three-year-olds have access to high-quality early childhood education by offering a second year of preschool. Myra has also been a Goodstart mum since 2013, with her daughter currently attending Goodstart Kedron.
Assoc Dip Avionics, RAAF Systems Tech
Keeping pace with the digital age is all in a day’s work for Michael. Michael oversees our information systems and technology strategy and ensuring its effective application across more than 640 centres every day. Michael commenced with Goodstart in 2014 bringing extensive and complex experience working in the mining, gas and manufacturing industries. Michael’s career spans a diverse range of industries with differing information system needs, including the Royal Australian Air Force, BHP, Origin Energy and Onesteel. Michael is innovative, yet ensures solutions remain practical – bringing a strong technical background and strong management skills for idea execution.
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Hi there! Need help? Speak to our friendly family support team.