She is the author of four books: Detainee 002: The Case of David Hicks (2007), On Doubt (2009), Well Hello (2021) and the national bestseller Any Ordinary Day (2018).

She co-hosts a wildly popular podcast called Chat 10, Looks 3 with her friend Annabel Crabb. It attracts hundreds of thousands of downloads each month, performs sell-out live shows around Australia and covers subjects ranging from arts and culture to friendship and grief.

Leigh Sales has been recognised with many honours and awards, including three Walkley awards for journalism and an Order of Australia for her public service. She has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from Edith Cowan University.

She has two sons and studies the cello in her spare time.

Chris was elected as the Member for Kogarah in 2015 and became leader of the NSW Labor Party in June 2021, successfully leading the party to Government at the 2023 NSW Election.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a Master of Public Policy from Princeton University, where he was awarded a full scholarship.

He is married to Anna, a businesswoman and lawyer and together they have three sons, Joe, Nick, and George. 

Sydney Catholic Schools’ values of empathy, excellence, collaboration, curiosity and truth are at the heart of all initiatives developed under Tony’s leadership.

His commitment to equity and excellence in education are visible in the ground-breaking Amadeus Music Education Program and a reimagining of Sydney Catholic Schools’ sports programs that emphasise diversity and inclusion. His commitment to the foundations of literacy and numeracy are evident in our system approach to excellence in teaching and learning.

Tony holds several post-graduate qualifications including an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of NSW and University of Sydney. He is a graduate of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship in Ethical Leadership.

Jacqueline holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (first class honours) from the University of Sydney, a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education and Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) from the Australian Catholic University and is a Graduate of the AICD Company Directors Course. Her PhD, from the University of Notre Dame, investigated the accountability of systemic Catholic principals with a particular focus on the interaction of secular and canon law and the role of policy as a mechanism of governance.

Jacqueline lives in Sydney with her husband and 10 year old daughter.

Before joining Sydney Catholic Schools’ leadership team, Kevin supported 16 of the network’s secondary schools in Sydney’s south west in all areas of curriculum, teaching, learning and leadership

Kevin was Director of Learning and Teaching at St Patrick’s College Sutherland. He also spent 10 years at Bethany College Hurstville, where he served as Leader of Pedagogy, HSIE and Gifted Education Coordinator.

Kevin holds several qualifications, including a Master of Teaching from the University of Sydney and a Master of Educational Leadership (with Excellence) from the University of New South Wales.

Damien’s journey is deeply rooted in his own experiences as both student and leader at Sydney Catholic Schools. A Marist Catholic College Penshurst and Marist College Kogarah alumni, he has worked across six diverse communities and understands firsthand the invaluable role sports play in holistic education. While Assistant Principal at Aquinas Catholic College in Menai, Damien championed an environment where students could excel both academically and athletically.

Damien’s influence extends beyond administrative roles – he has coached in seven sporting associations, directly impacting young athletes’ growth and development. He is also a committee member of his local Rugby Union and Cricket clubs, furthering his commitment to grassroots sports development.

Her research and industry partnerships focus on the university-to-school transition period, with emphasis on the experiences of career change teachers, mentoring, and the factors shaping retention and attrition of early career teachers.

Janet also helps teachers to employ creative pedagogy to develop the literacy of students who speak English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) and support their engagement with their school and broader communities. Her work in this area involves translanguaging – supporting the ability to move fluidly between languages – and use of identity texts.

Dr Janet Dutton is Senior Lecturer in Secondary English, Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University.  

Turinui represented the Australian Schoolboys in 1999 and was captain in 2000. He began his professional rugby career in 2003 with the New South Wales Waratahs after a remarkable performance for his club side Randwick DRUFC, where he scored six tries in a match against Warringah Rugby Club. 

He was quickly selected for the Wallabies and played in the 2003 and 2007 Rugby Union World Cup. He was vice-captain of the Wallabies and played all 13 tests for the team in 2005.

Turinui left the Queensland Reds in 2011 and played for Stade Français Paris in France before retiring from rugby in 2014. He then turned his attention to coaching and commentating, working for Lille Métropole Rugby Club, the Melbourne Rebels, Eurosports and FOX Sport.

In 2019, Turinui became the General Manager of the Classic Wallabies, a team made up of former Australian rugby players who participate in charity matches, events and run free kids clinics throughout Australia and the Pacific.

Today, he is a well-respected rugby commentator for Stan Sport and Nine, providing insightful analysis and commentary.

He spent two years teaching at St Joseph Catholic School in Jackson, Mississippi. Returning to Western Australia, Mark taught at Christian Brothers schools including CBC Fremantle where he served as Head of Department, Director of Staff and Deputy-Headmaster during five years at the College. 

In 2008, Mark was appointed Executive Director of the Sydney Campus of the University of Notre Dame Australia and, later that year, Dean of Education. He was an Associate Professor of Education.  He returned to Perth in 2011 and was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of the Fremantle Campus of the University, a position he held until his appointment to St Aloysius’ College.

Mark holds an Honours degree in History from the University of Western Australia, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Portland, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Boston College and a Masters in Religious Education from the University of Notre Dame Australia.

She has worked in the Catholic, Independent, and Government sectors and assists in the delivery of Creative Arts (K-6) courses for the Master of Education at UNSW.  Danielle managed the Amadeus Music Education Program from November 2020 – June 2023, leading a dedicated team to systematically implement the program across the Sydney Archdiocese. 

In her current role as Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Manager of Performing and Visual Arts, Danielle is responsible for managing and leading all projects within the Sydney Catholic Schools Strategic Plan for the Arts. These include Amadeus, network arts festivals, a Tri-Annual Performing Arts Extravaganza, and the SCS ViVA program. She also supports the development of strategic partnership initiatives with renowned external organisations in the performing and visual arts and leads change by proactively building, establishing, and maintaining strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholders.

She has been a dominant force in competitive track events throughout her career, which began at age 16 at the 1990 International Paralympic Committee World Athletics Championships. 

She holds nine gold and four silver medals from paralympic games, and two gold and one bronze medal from three appearances in 800m demonstration races at the Olympic Games.

Louise has also medaled at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, UK in the 800 metres, at four IPC World Athletics Championships, and has won some of the world’s most prestigious road races. 

These include four Boston marathons, three Honolulu marathons, two Berlin marathons, the Los Angeles, Oita and Sempach marathons, and 10 titles in the Oz Day 10k, Australia’s premier international wheelchair road race.

During the span of her career, Louise set world records from 100m to 5000m, her last  just one month before retiring at the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004.

Louise lit the torch at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 and carried the flag leading out the Australian team at the Athens paralympics. 

She is a respected Assistant Coach in the NSW Institute of Sport’s wheelchair track and road program, coaching her athletes to gold medal performances on the world stage.

Under his leadership Opera Queensland has experienced exceptional growth, expanding metropolitan and regional programming to develop new audiences and attract new corporate partners. The launch of the Festival of Outback Opera in Winton and Longreach in 2021 attracted audiences from around Australia and overseas and is a great example of the agile and imaginative approach he applies to the business of opera.

From 2009 – 2014 Patrick was Artistic Director of Legs on the Wall, creating works that toured Australia, UK, Korea and Brazil. These included: My Bicycle Loves You for the Sydney and Perth Festivals, The Voyage for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and Perch for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

 In 2015 Patrick was awarded an Australia Council Theatre Fellowship to support research into large-scale outdoor performance and the relationship between extreme physicality and storytelling.  As a theatre maker he is driven by a process in which a performer explores the extreme of their capacity to find a way of expressing – an idea, a feeling, a sound – that takes the audience to a place of inquiry and understanding. He is a graduate of the Director’s Course at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) and the University of Sydney.

A member of the National Catholic Education Commission since 2013, Ross has held senior positions in Catholic education across Australia. These include Executive Director of the National Catholic Education Commission and Director of Policy, Research and Communications in the Catholic Education Office Melbourne.

Ross grew up in country Victoria. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of NSW and read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. He was appointed as an independent director of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders in 2016.

Ross is inspired by the great contribution that Catholic schools and educators have made to Australia and shares a passion for seeing every child benefit from quality teaching and learning.