2026 WISE Residential

Dr Simon Breakspear, WISE: Systems Leader faciliator. Dr Breakspear is a researcher, advisor, and speaker on educational leadership, policy, and change. He develops frameworks, tools and programs that make evidence-based ideas actionable and easy to understand. Simon holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar.

Jordana Hunter is the Program Director, Education at McKinnon. Previously she spent five years as Education Program Director at the Grattan Institute, before which she served in the Department of Prime Minister Cabinet, Department of Premier and Cabinet and the ACCC, where she focused on competition policy, market design and regulatory strategy.

At Grattan, Jordana’s research provided the analytical foundation for McKinnon’s work on Multi-School Organisations (MSOs) — a model which brings families of schools under shared executive leadership, enabling them to pool resources, align curriculum and teaching practice and lift outcomes for every student.

Associate Professor Kylie Lipscombe is an educational leadership researcher and practitioner in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong, with over 24 years’ experience across schools, systems, and higher education. Her research focuses on middle leadership development, teacher collaboration, and leadership identity, with over 35 publications and 700 citations.  

As Lead Academic Partner with the NSW Department of Education, Kylie co-designed two flagship statewide programs — the Middle Leadership Development Program and the Aspiring Principals Leadership Program — impacting thousands of educators across the state. She has secured over $6 million in funding for leadership development initiatives and has served as NSW President of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders.  

Kylie has also advised on middle leadership development for Catholic Schools NSW and served as an expert advisor for the development of the AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Middle Leaders.  

She is passionate about bridging research and practice to empower school leaders at every level, and is a sought-after keynote speaker on middle leadership across Australia.

Associate Professor Kylie Lipscombe is an educational leadership researcher and practitioner in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong, with over 24 years’ experience across schools, systems, and higher education. Her research focuses on middle leadership development, teacher collaboration, and leadership identity, with over 35 publications and 700 citations.  

As Lead Academic Partner with the NSW Department of Education, Kylie co-designed two flagship statewide programs — the Middle Leadership Development Program and the Aspiring Principals Leadership Program — impacting thousands of educators across the state. She has secured over $6 million in funding for leadership development initiatives and has served as NSW President of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders.  

Kylie has also advised on middle leadership development for Catholic Schools NSW and served as an expert advisor for the development of the AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Middle Leaders.  

She is passionate about bridging research and practice to empower school leaders at every level, and is a sought-after keynote speaker on middle leadership across Australia. 

Dr Cate Challen is an educator committed to increasing access and equity in education through systematic approaches to continuous improvement. Cate leverages ten years of experience in the biotechnology sector and seven years as a classroom teacher to coach teachers and leaders on how to analyse and use data regularly to inform instructional practices and school-wide decision-making. Cate’s expertise stems from extensive work with Networked Improvement Communities focused on improving outcomes and equity for schools through iterative, data-informed cycles of inquiry. Cate has a Doctor of Biotechnology degree from the University of Queensland and is currently an educational researcher at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. 

Bruce has dedicated his career to public education improvement in Victoria through leadership, innovation, policy development and system reform. Bruce brought deep knowledge and expertise to the responsibility of leading improvement in 1540 government schools.

Bruce is highly respected and regarded for having demonstrated what it takes to transform schools at the coalface. He significantly lifted the performance of low and high-performing schools as a principal before contributing to wider system reform.

'I believe that system leadership is crucial to improvement and that the Academy is the engine that can deliver this improvement to Victorian schools. I offer lived experience of school leadership in Victoria and will bring that ‘grassroots’ perspective to our work.'