Professor Renée Leon is Charles Sturt University’s fifth Vice-Chancellor and President and commenced in the role on 1 September, 2021.

Prior to commencement as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Leon had extensive senior leadership experience in Commonwealth and State public administration, covering policy, program management and service delivery.

Professor Leon holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University and a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge, which she attended as a Menzies Foundation Law Scholar.

In 2013, she was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding service to public administration and law in leadership roles in the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia and a member of Chief Executive Women Australia.

Professor Leon is honoured to lead Australia’s leading regional university at a time when the regions are playing an increasingly visible and important national role.

Professor Nick Klomp is the Vice-Chancellor and President of CQUniversity Australia. As the Vice-Chancellor, he leads the University by driving its strategy and academic vision, enhancing its culture and external profile, strengthening its finances and supporting its communities, across a national network of campuses.

Prior to his appointment as Vice-Chancellor in 2019, Professor Klomp was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Canberra, where he was responsible for academic strategy and teaching and learning quality across five faculties, as well as student recruitment and administration, student experience, marketing, international activities, graduate outcomes, and student equity and support. Prior to that role, Professor Klomp was the Dean of the Faculty of Science at Charles Sturt University, leading a large and diverse faculty in seven schools across six regional campuses, with disciplines ranging from Veterinary Science to Dentistry, Nursing to Environmental Science, Forensic Biotechnology to Wine Science, Agriculture to Allied Health and more.

Professor Klomp has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from Curtin University, First Class Honours from Murdoch University, and a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Glasgow. He is also a graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Management Program (AMP 189) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Federation University’s Vice-Chancellor and President believes a dual-sector regional university sits at the heart of its communities, playing a core role in their prosperity and growth.

Throughout his career, Duncan has supported universities to grow through design thinking, digital innovation, deep community engagement and long-term global partnerships.

He comes to Federation from a distinguished academic career at Swinburne University as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), where he led the academic, international, online and Indigenous portfolios.

Duncan is known for his national leadership in lifelong learning so that everyone can develop the skills to thrive in a digital society, beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout life, inspired by curiosity, giving life to dreams.

During his time at Victoria University he had oversight of vocational education, external engagement and international. He believes that the happiest and most successful organisations and communities are diverse and inclusive.

Having grown up on coffee plantations and game reserves in Africa, Duncan champions adoption of technologies to support sustainability. He completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the University of Cape Town.

He went on to complete a Master of Laws from the University of London, Master of Laws (Corporate and Commercial) and PhD from Bond University.

Professor Carlin is currently the Chair of Regional Universities Network where he promotes and delivers vital changes within the higher education section and regional Australia.

Professor Tyrone Carlin was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President of Southern Cross University on 26 September 2020. Prior to this, Professor Carlin held the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Southern Cross University.

Before joining Southern Cross University, Professor Carlin occupied the positions of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Registrar), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education Operations), Professor of Financial Reporting and Regulation at the University of Sydney, and Co-Dean of the University of Sydney Business School. He also held a variety of senior academic positions, including Dean of Law at Macquarie University and Director of Academic Programs at Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Professor Carlin holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters of Commerce with Honours, both majoring in Accounting, and also holds a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and a Master of Laws. He also holds a PhD from Macquarie Graduate School of Management. His academic interests and publications include contract and commercial law, financial reporting and public financial management. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and the recipient of the Law Graduates Association Medal in Law from the University of Sydney.

Professor Moran joins the University at a pivotal time for UNE, for regional universities and for the sector more broadly. He is an experienced and respected university leader with an academic background in agriculture, natural resources and sustainable development.

He brings a commitment to working with our staff to support UNE’s aspirations in research, education, community engagement and workplace culture.

He is an alumnus of The University of Sydney, spent his early career in CSIRO then went on to the University of Queensland, and was most recently Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research at Curtin University.

Professor Karen Nelson commenced at UniSQ in February 2019 in the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic).  In January 2022, Professor Nelson was appointed to the position of Provost, and at the end of October 2024, she was appointed as Acting Vice-Chancellor.

Prior to joining UniSQ, Professor Nelson was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) and in this role she was responsible for transforming USC’s approach to student learning engagement, success and retention. Previously, she was Director of Student Success and Retention, and Director of First Year Experience and held a series of traditional faculty-based academic roles at the Queensland University of Technology.

A recognised authority in student engagement and retention and first-year experience, Professor Nelson’s research into the complex nature of the student experience has been instrumental in uncovering the factors influencing attrition and has advanced policy and practice nationally and internationally.

Her contributions to higher education have been recognised by three national awards and in 2016 she was made Principal Fellow of the UK based Higher Education Academy.

Professor Helen Bartlett is an experienced leader and passionate advocate for regional education.

As Vice-Chancellor and President of USC, Professor Bartlett is leading the university during a time of unprecedented growth and expansion across the South-East Queensland corridor – a period that is expected to bring a wealth of opportunities for the university to increase its impact and engagement across the region.

Prior to starting as USC’s third Vice-Chancellor and President in August 2020, Professor Bartlett led a period of transformation at Federation University Australia, enhancing its profile as a multi-campus institution, its innovative approach to regional higher education and focus on responding to the needs of its communities.

During Professor Bartlett’s time as Vice-Chancellor and President of Federation University from 2017 to 2020, she was also Chair of the Regional Universities Network – a role in which she was able to use her experience to successfully advocate for regional universities when it came to issues of funding, research and policy development. Professor Bartlett was also Chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee in the year prior to her move to Queensland and worked closely with the Victorian Government as universities shaped their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is passionate about the role regional universities play in helping shape communities and enhancing economic, social and environmental outcomes through education, research and community engagement.

On the international stage, Professor Bartlett has held leadership roles in universities across Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Malaysia – where she was President and Chief Executive of Monash University Malaysia from 2013 to 2017.

Professor Bartlett’s diverse experience and expertise are sought after when it comes to higher education policy and development, having contributed to several key advisory bodies such as the Higher Education Standards Panel, the HES Board, the Australian Government Council for International Education, and the National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund Working Group.

Alec is the Chief Executive Officer at the Regional Universities Network where he advocates for and champions the impact and importance of regional higher education.

Alec has more than 10 years of experience as a leader and collaborator in a variety of sectors including the public service, higher education advocacy and economic and public policy consulting within Australian and the United Kingdom. Prior to being the Executive Director of RUN, Alec was the Head of Policy and Member Engagement at a London based higher education network and was previously the Acting Executive Director and Head of Policy at the Australian Technology Network of Universities.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from University of Queensland, a Master of Management from the Australian National Universities and a Bachelor of Business and Finance from Queensland University of Technology.