Jane, holds the position of Director, Science Impact and Policy at CSIRO. She is recognised as an exceptionally authentic executive leader, who achieves results by combining strategic vision with commercial acumen and an innate ability to bring out the best in people. She has spent 25 years working at the intersection of industry, government and higher education, an ecosystem with enormous opportunities to achieve social and economic impact.

Jane worked for approximately a decade in the university sector, focused on external engagement to build research, industry, community and philanthropic partnerships. This included foundational work to drive institutional culture change, systems and practices in relation to strategic relationship management. Her previous experience included reimaging work integrated learning (WIL) by building relationships with 400 WIL-partner organisations to facilitate relevant and authentic learning experiences that promote work-readiness.

In the past three years, Jane has held various Victorian Government roles focused on the higher education and research sectors, industry engagement and anticipating Victoria’s future workforce needs in sectors such as the clean economy and infrastructure. There Jane was responsible for driving the Victorian Government’s partnerships with the university sector, including legislative and governance responsibilities under university Acts. This included design and implementation of the $350m Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund, requiring negotiation with 10 universities to deliver 55 discrete scientific research and capital projects that aligned with universities’ research strategies and Victorian Government priorities.

A graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Jane has held numerous Non-Executive Director and advisory roles, including with Aviation/Aerospace Australia (2014-2020), South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (2017-2020) and College of Law – Victorian Chapter Board (2020-present).

Jane brings a wealth of experience that will complement the current Science Impact & Policy leadership team and position SI&P for continued success into the future.