Board

Term ends:16 November 2025

Master of Social Science, Bachelor of Education 'Staff and School Development', Diploma of Teaching

Alana has recently retired from the Education Department after a varied and enjoyable career of 39 years. Alana’s leadership roles and experience include  Principal of several schools, Assistant Regional Director Southern Adelaide, Regional Director Murray & Mallee and Director Incident Management.

Alana’s focus has always been quality teaching and learning, quality leadership, strategic planning and continuous improvement. 

As a Principal she led and/or was a member of various committees and working parties  including strategic planning, curriculum, finance, facilities, OSHC and Governing Council.

In her roles as Regional Director and Assistant Regional Director Alana was line manager of Preschool and School leaders as well as Regional Leadership Teams. She led and worked collaboratively with a variety of teams driving system improvement. Alana was convenor of the Early Years Portfolio and Early Years Reform Agenda, the Regional Literacy Improvement Priority, the Regional Office Leadership Team Planning Group.

Alana was responsible for establishing, developing and leading the Education Department’s Incident Management Directorate, the directorate responds to critical incidents, investigates employee misconduct and recommends subsequent disciplinary actions. The directorate was established in line with recommendations made by the Hon. Bruce Debelle as an outcome of the Royal Commission, Independent Education Inquiry Report.

As a corporate office leader Alana has been an active member and/or chair of working parties, committees and boards including the Critical Incident Coordination Committee, the Risk Assessment Disclosure Working Group, the Senior Executive Critical Incident Management Project Board and the Debelle Response Project Board.

In her leadership roles she has provided policy advice and information to a range of stakeholders including the Minister, Chief Executive, Senior Executive Leaders, Education Directors, School and Preschool Leaders, Principal and Preschool Associations, AEU, TRB.

Term ends:16 November 2025

Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Masters in Law, Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety Management, Phd candidate in Work Health & Safety discipline.

Martyn is the Work Health & Safety Regulator for South Australia.

As well as his role as SA’s WHS Regulator, Martyn is the Chief Executive of SafeWork SA, is a Board Member for Safe Work Australia, representing South Australia. He is also the Chair of the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities for Australia and New Zealand which is the collective community of all Heads of WHS Regulators, a core member of the federal government Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect at Work Council and Secretary-General of the International Association of Labour Inspection, the global professional body and labour and safety regulators with over 100 member countries. He is formally Deputy Chair of the Centre for Workplace Excellence at the University of South Australia.

He has over 30 years’ experience working in investigation, regulatory compliance and health and safety at senior levels in the UK and Australia. Initially a detective in the UK police working on national homicide and training and development, he later qualified in law working in the field of regulatory compliance and risk in health and safety, working across Asia Pacific.

Term ends:06 February 2027

Anne completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide in 1989, majoring in Classical Studies and History.

Immediately following, she completed the Graduate Diploma in Education and went on to teach in government and Independent schools in Strathalbyn, Yankalilla, Victor Harbor and suburban Adelaide. Anne is currently the Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Schools of SA, the peak body for advocacy, representation and innovation supporting 103 schools. Prior to this role Anne was Principal of Guildford Grammar School in Perth WA, an independent Anglican co-educational school, for 1200 students from Early Learning to Year 12.

Anne was Principal at Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide, from 2014 – 2019 and Deputy Principal of Scotch Oakburn College, Launceston, from 2009-2013. As well as being a former member of the SACE Board, Anne has also held governance roles at the Associations of Independent Schools of both Western Australia and South Australia where she held the position of Deputy Chair from 2017-2019.

A former member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), Anne served as Secretary/Treasurer for the SA/NT Branch. Anne has been recognised for her contributions to the ongoing mentoring of women in school leadership and has also provided mentoring to University of Adelaide Education alumni.

She believes passionately that it is through education that one can effect the greatest good for the greatest number and is committed to supporting schools and the next generation of leaders to build their capacity to fulfil this goal.

Term ends:30 June 2024

John Favretto has worked at the most senior levels of organisations for over 20 years and has held several executive positions across the education, aged care and gambling sectors. Over this time, portfolio responsibilities have included: finance, governance, information and communications technology, marketing and communications, project management office, strategy and strategic project implementation.

John is currently the Assistant Director – Governance, Quality and Assurance at Catholic Education South Australia and was previously responsible for ICT at Catholic Education.

Prior to that, John held the positions of Chief Information Officer at both ACH Group and
SA Lotteries and was also Company Secretary at SA Lotteries.

In addition to being a member of the executive team at Catholic Education South Australia, John currently holds the following board/committee positions:

• Chair Catholic Special Schools Incorporated
• Board Member Sisters of St Jospeh Mary MacKillop College, Kensington, Limited
• Chair of the Finance and Infrastructure Committee Sisters of St Joseph Mary MacKillop College, Kensington, Limited
• Member of the Executive – Catholic Networks Australia
• Deputy Chair of the Stewardship Working Group – Catholic Networks Australia
• Executive Officer – Governance Standing Committee of the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools.

Term ends:08 August 2027

After originally training as a primary teacher and working for 20 years in early education, Helen Gibbons moved to an advocacy role at her union in 2004.

Helen is now a national Executive Director at United Workers Union and has held senior national positions for over a decade. She is also Deputy Chair of HESTA, chairs their Governance Committee and sits on the Investment Committee. HESTA manages over 85 billion in retirement savings for over one million members.

Helen sits on a number of other boards:

• the IFM shareholder advisory committee
• HumanAbility
• SA Skills Commission where she also chairs the Industry Skills Council for the Health, Education and Community Services.

Term ends:01 March 2026

MEd (Admin), GDipEd, BEd, DipTeach, DipTrain&AssessSys

Noel Mifsud has served in education for over 35 years, including 16 years as principal in R-12 schools in South Australia and the Northern Territory. He has also served as a reservist captain in the Army Education Corps and was the wintering station leader for Casey Station in Antarctica.

He has lectured on Australian Education and conducted workshops for teachers, parents, principals and boards nationally and internationally.

His areas of expertise include: Aboriginal education, Asia literacy, crisis management, educational building design and strategic planning.

Noel has served on numerous state and national boards. He is currently national board member of the Order of Malta.

He was a former member of the Multicultural Education Commission, chair of the Edmund Rice Principal’s Association and SA Catholic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Committee. In 2019 he chaired the SA/NT Learning Environments Australasia building awards.

He is currently a senior education and business consultant/coach working with businesses and schools across Adelaide.

Term ends:28 February 2027

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws (with Honours), Master of Business Administration, CAHRI

Elysia Ryan is the Manager: System Safeguarding and Development at Catholic Education South Australia, where she is responsible for child safeguarding frameworks and practices, and managing complex and critical incidents across 101 Catholic schools. 

Elysia is an experienced executive and leader, having been the Executive Director of Human Resources at the University of Adelaide for 7 years.

As a mother of four, Elysia is committed to maintaining and growing professional practice in schools in the area of safeguarding children and young people.

Elysia also serves as a Director of Cabra Dominican College Limited and Chair of the College’s Governance Committee. 

Term ends:01 March 2026

PhD (American Studies)

Peta has worked in the public service for 10 years. Her experience includes work in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Attorney-General’s Department, and she has worked in the Education portfolio since 2016. 

Peta leads the Department for Education’s division which supports strategic policy development, international engagement, communications and intergovernmental relations. 

She has previously worked for statutory officers in social policy and has taught in American politics at Flinders University. She has served on not-for-profit boards, including as the president of Shine SA and president of the Welfare Rights Centre (SA).

Term ends:01 March 2026

BLaw, BIntSt, GDipCorp

Christos Tsonis is the founder and director of CXT Legal. This is a dynamic legal consultancy team servicing the local and national market in fixed-price transactions, advice and commercial law solutions. 

Christos has established a strong track record in mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings and corporate governance. He also specialises in financial services law. Financial services licensing, banking and finance, registered and unregistered managed investment schemes, disclosure statements and securities industry issues all form part of his expertise.

He was listed in the 2019 and 2020 editions of Doyle’s Guide, an online listing of leading and recommended South Australian Commercial Lawyers. In 2019, Christos also led the CXT Legal team to be recognised as one of South Australia’s fastest growing businesses by revenue when it was placed in the top 25 of the BDO/Brand SA Fast Movers Program. 

Christos also has served on a number of boards (including as chair of a state school governing council), pursuing ambitious reform agendas (including private companies and not-for-profits/associations).

Current board appointments include Cottage Homes Incorporated and South Australian-based private diversified investment company TYP Strategies Pty Limited.

Term ends:01 March 2026

Diploma in Community Services - Children’s Services,  Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management 

Bec has been in the Early childhood and out of school hours care (OSHC) sector for the past 20 years. 

She is currently a Director at an OSHC service as well as being on the OSHC SA board. Along with the board she works closely with We Belong Education to drive her passion for advocacy in the sector. 

She is on many of the school committees including OSHC, finance, grounds and attends Governing Council meetings often so she has a wide view of not only her OSHC service but how the education sector operates and collaborates together.

She has also done volunteer work at both summer camps and orphanages around the world. She is passionate about providing the children in her care with a safe, fun and homelike environment whilst being educated and cared for before, after school and during vacation periods. 

Term ends:06 February 2027

Master of Education (Early Childhood Teaching); Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary); Bachelor of Economic Management (Accounting)

Jie is a Childcare Centre Director and Registered Teacher, specialising in Early Childhood Education and language teaching. She has a particular interest and commitment to supporting children with learning difficulties and special needs.

Starting her teaching journey from 2011, Jie has worked in both Catholic schools and independent schools as a language teacher. Jie strongly advocates for the importance of Early Childhood Education. She completed her Master Degree in Early Childhood Teaching in 2017 in order to work as an Early Childhood Teacher and became a Director at a childcare centre in Marino in 2018.

Since joining the Early Childhood Education and Care sector, Jie has been actively involved in promoting Early Childhood Education amongst families, educators and the broader community. She has developed a sound reputation of providing high quality education and care.

For more than 17 years Jie has served on a number of boards and committees. Currently Jie is an Executive member of Australian Childcare Alliance South Australia (ACA SA) and President of Chinese Art Society of South Australia Inc. (CASSA). In August 2015 Jie was selected as Vice President of Chinese Language Teacher’s Association of SA Inc. (CLTASA) after being a committee member for 3 years. She served as Chair of Youth Sub-committee on the board of the Chinese Welfare Services of SA Inc. (CWS) from 2008 to 2018.