Kevin McConkey (Panel Chairperson), Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Global Relations), University of Newcastle
Kevin McConkey is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia. He is a member of the New South Wales Higher Education Advisory Committee. His BA(Hons) and PhD are from the University of Queensland, and he has held previous academic positions in the USA (University of Pennsylvania) and Canada (Concordia University), as well as in Australia (Macquarie University, University of New South Wales). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has held various positions in professional and scientific societies, including Vice-President, Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, President, Australian Psychological Society, and Chair, National Committee for Psychology, Australian Academy of Science.

Jeanette Baird Audit Director, AUQA
Dr Jeanette Baird is director of SAI (self-accrediting institution) operations and an audit director at AUQA. She has a background in higher education and public sector management. Since joining AUQA in 2005, she has managed various AUQA audits of higher education institutions and government accreditation agencies in Australia. Jeanette came to AUQA from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, and prior to that, the Australian National Audit Office. Her previous roles include management and academic positions at the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Business School, the University of Tasmania and the Victorian Department of Human Services. Jeanette has an MBA and her PhD examined understandings of governance concepts among members of the governing bodies of Australian universities. She has published on university governance, performance management, research management, the student experience, and higher education quality assurance. Jeanette has presented papers and workshops on higher education quality assurance to a wide range of national and international audiences. In 2007–08 she was the leader of a major AUQA project to assist in establishing a higher education quality assurance body for the Kingdom of Bahrain and, among other activities, in 2008 she facilitated an Australian Government project to develop good practice principles for English language proficiency for international students in Australian universities.

Ian Kimber Executive Director, Office of Higher Education, Queensland Department of Education and Training
Ian assumed the role of Executive Director, Queensland Office of Higher Education in April 2006. The Office provides the key interface between the Queensland government and the state’s higher education sector, which includes both universities and other higher education providers. It advises on state needs and priorities in higher education, including the provision and distribution of funds and of student places to Queensland higher education institutions. The Office researches important issues of higher education policy and practice and facilitates projects directed at particular state priorities. Regulation of the higher education sector in the state also rests with the Office, and Ian was Manager, Accreditation before moving to the Executive Director’s position. He has led the Office through two AUQA audits. Ian has extensive knowledge of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes, having been involved both with their initial development and subsequent revision. He was a member of the group that devised the Quality Audit Factors and the audit manual for Higher Education Providers under Commonwealth legislation. Ian has presented papers on quality issues, particularly in the non-university sector, at the Australian Universities Quality Forum and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education. Prior to joining the Office of Higher Education, Ian worked in a range of administrative roles at Griffith University, in academic planning and student administration, and as Project Officer with Griffith Artworks.