An insight into the Board at Brigidine College, St. Ives

Brigidine College St Ives was incorporated in 1998 and its first Board of Directors commenced work on January 1, 1999. In 2020 the College celebrates 21 years of the College being governed by an incorporated Board. The Trustees of the College until 2014 were the NSW Province of the Brigidine Sisters. In 2014 with the establishment of Kildare Ministries as a PJP, the governance of the College passed to Kildare Ministries.

Over the years the College has had a number of Board Chairs and Directors who have been committed to ensuring the ongoing progress and development of the College in the spirit of its original Brigidine tradition and now the combined Brigidine and Presentation traditions together with the 10 schools and 3 social welfare organisations governed by Kildare Ministries.

The current Board over the past year has certainly navigated significant change. Firstly, our long serving and highly successful Principal, Jane Curran, announced her retirement at the end of the 2019 school year. The appointment of a new Principal/CEO is one of the most important tasks that a Board undertakes. After a thorough process, the Board, with the approval of Kildare Ministries, was delighted to announce the appointment of Laetitia Richmond as our new Principal. Teash came to Brigidine with significant experience in Catholic education in NSW including as Principal of Catherine McAuley High School, Westmead for five years. Teash has certainly commenced her principalship at an extremely challenging time and she has indeed risen to the challenge!

Over the past 2 years the College Board has undertaken a Review of its previous Master Plan and has developed a new Master Plan for the College. The first stage of the Master Plan was the planning and building of a new Library, classrooms and Senior Common Rooms. The intention was to start this building work at the end of 2020. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic has required us to delay the start of this building work until 2021 when we will revisit our plans and, if necessary, make adjustments. 

At the same time, the change of the government funding model with the implementation of funding based on the DMI (Direct Measure of Income) will significantly impact the College with considerable cuts to our funding. We are also very aware of the challenges faced by our parents as many of them struggle with the impact of Covid 19 with loss of employment and changing circumstances. The Board authorised that support be provided to families and, to date, we have had a number of families who have been able to access that support.

The Board has certainly given significant time to its work in identifying and managing the risks that have emerged as the College has faced and met the changing circumstances such as lockdown and then reopening in NSW. We have been very aware of the pressure it has placed on the Leadership Team and the staff of the College and have worked to support them as they have met these challenges in such a professional way. The Board, Leadership Team and staff have worked to support our students and particularly our Year 12 students to ensure that their learning can continue in productive and engaging ways and that they can continue to enjoy a range of cocurricular activities as is permitted.

Finally, as we prepare for 2021, the Board’s attention is now directed towards the development of a new Strategic Plan which will take us through to the 75th anniversary of the College in 2024. The process will commence in Term 4 2020.

The members of the College Board are:

Kitty Guerin (Chair)

Kitty is the former principal of two Catholic girls schools in Sydney. She is also currently the Chair of St Lucy’s School, Wahroonga, a school for students with disabilities, a member of the Council of the Federation of Religious Institute and Ministerial PJP Catholic Schools Authorities in NSW and ACT, a member of the NSW Marist Regional Council and Executive Office of the Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association. Kitty is also involved in the Flagship Program run by the NSW Association of Independent Schools.

Michelle Dixon

Michelle is a senior executive with experience in the public and private sectors. Her background includes over two decades practising as a lawyer and governance and risk professional and she is currently employed as the Managing Director, Client Services at BGIS with is a global engineering firm specialising in asset and facilities management including construction projects. Michelle has three daughters at Brigidine College St Ives with her eldest graduating this year. 

Tony Eyres

Tony established a corporate advisory firm, Rounding Up, in 2007 to service clients across key trade-exposed sectors of the Australian economy, primarily agribusiness and food. He has CEO and other senior executive experience with global corporates (Fonterra); investment banks (UBS); industry advocacy groups (Grain Growers); and government agencies (Austrade).Tony also brings non-executive director (NED) experience including Chair and Director roles with an internationally recognised sustainability certification business; a global ag tech company; and a national R&D, publishing and training organisation.

Ailsa Mackinnon RSM AM

Sister Ailsa Mackinnon is a Sister of Mercy with extensive knowledge of education, having been a teacher and principal in primary and secondary schools in Sydney.  Currently Ailsa is the Chancellor - Ministries in the Parramatta Diocese.  This role includes involvement with ministries such as youth, pastoral planning, social justice, and liturgy. Before that she served as Executive Director of Mercy Works for a period of 7 years. Ailsa has also been involved in governance roles in Catholic organizations across Sydney.

Steven Graham

Steven is a former Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Markets Commission having extensive experience in governance, strategy, public policy development and energy markets.  He has strong leadership, negotiation, and communication skills. Steven is a past Board member of Energy Consumers Australia and St Lucy’s School and has significant experience in understanding stakeholder issues in energy and special education services.

Brett McLennan

Brett is married with four children. His eldest, Isabelle, finished at the College last year. She had six very happy years at BCSI. Brett's three boys will be attending St Augustine’s College, Brookvale, as the youngest starts there next year. Brett is a director at a consultancy that specialises in managing the planning and environmental approval process for large infrastructure projects such as Snowy 2.0. He grew up in Grafton and attended the Catholic school there heading away for his tertiary education.

Dr Kerry- Ann O’Sullivan

Kerry-Ann is a senior lecturer in the Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, NSW. She an experienced educator and advisor and has received awards at national, state, and university level for both her teaching and research. Kerry-Ann has a long relationship with Brigidine College, St. Ives, as a former Head of English and Drama and as a past College Vice Captain.