Board of Directors

Tony Peake, Chair
Tony is a senior partner at PwC Australia, where has served as COO, National Government Leader and Melbourne Managing Partner.  He and his wife have a daughter currently at MLC, and a daughter who graduated in 2014; both girls started in Kindle and then continued through the various MLC schools. His interests include the arts (visual and performance), education and diversity in the workplace. He brings expertise in business, finance and governance to the MLC Board.  Tony has been a director of The University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Festival, Melbourne University Publishing, the Business/Higher Education Roundtable, and The Australian Embassy for Timor-Leste Fund.

New Director in 2020 - profile to come shortly.

Kate is a partner at major Australian law firm, Allens. Kate's practice focuses on the energy and infrastructure sectors, with a particular recent emphasis on renewable energy projects. A strong Mandarin speaker, Kate has spent more than half of her career in China and leads the Allens China practice. Kate attended MLC for nine years and was joint senior prefect in her final year. She is also a board member of Asia Society Australia and is the mother of two teenage children, one of whom is at MLC.

Elida has been a teacher and for 17 years a secondary school principal in the government school system, and is currently employed by the Department of Education as a mentor for aspiring principals. She is a former National President and Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders; she is also a Director on the Board of ACCESS Ministries, the Hester Hornbrook Academy and the Boroondara Cares Foundation.

Elida attended MLC for her secondary education and is a past President of the MLC Old Collegians’ Club Council. Elida has extensive experience in school reviews, principal selection and school governance.

Gabrielle’s experience as an entrepreneur, advisor and banking specialist to the not for profit and institutional sectors provides her with relevant industry insight and technical abilities. She is currently the Director of her own businesses and has previously acted in an advisory capacity to the Board of YMCA Victoria Inc and as a Senior Associate within Institutional Banking at NAB. Gabrielle is the current President of the MLC Old Collegians’ Club.

Simon has had an extensive executive career in finance and strategy roles, principally in technology and financial services.  He served as Chief Financial Officer and a director of MYOB Limited for a number of years, following which he became CEO of iCareHealth based in the UK. 
 
Simon is now an investor in and a director of a number of public and private technology companies including ARQ Group, Tandem Corporation, Sisu Wellness, Sendle and Milanote.  He is also a director of 5point Foundation, a private charitable organisation and Big4 Holdings, a marketing cooperative.
 
Simon and his wife Anna have five children, including three daughters, all of whom are currently at MLC.

Carmel has recently been appointed Group General Counsel and Group Executive Governance at the Commonwealth Bank.  For the past 20 years she has held various senior executive positions at Telstra, most recently as Group General Counsel and Group Executive Legal & Corporate Affairs where she was responsible to the CEO and Board for Legal, Government Relations, Media, Communications, Regulation, Compliance, Sustainability, Rural & Regional Affairs.  She has also been the Telstra Company Secretary.  Carmel has taught law at Monash University and is the author of 2 legal textbooks.  Carmel and her husband, Peter, have 3 children, with both daughters currently attending MLC.
 

Brian is an experienced Director and Executive.  Having held senior management and executive level roles over an extended period in both private and public companies in the property and construction space, he is a specialist strategy and risk advisor engaged by Boards and Management teams to design and deliver organisational and project level transformation strategies. Brian’s skill set provides further strategic insight and guidance to the College in an exciting period of development.

Brian and his wife have been MLC parents since 2001. Their eldest daughter completed Year 12 in 2014 and they currently have two other daughters at MLC, both having commenced at MLC Kindle.

Annie is an accomplished finance, strategy and business-planning executive with over 20 years’ experience in the field. Prior to establishing her own firm, Annie put her CPA and MBA qualifications to good use across diverse service industry sectors including senior finance and strategy positions in higher education, gaming and aviation. In 2011, Annie steered her career towards the education sector to support her genuine belief that through innovation in education, students can enter a world full of life-changing opportunities. Both of Annie’s children attended MLC Kindle and her daughter is a current MLC student.

Diana Vernon commenced as MLC’s eighth Principal in April 2014. Prior to her arrival at MLC, Diana was Headmistress for seven years at the prestigious City of London School for Girls (CLSG).

On leaving University Diana joined an academic publishing house, before spending seven years in corporate public relations working both in-house and for agencies. Passionate about education and the opportunities and support provided for the next generation, Diana became a Governor of a local, state sector secondary school in London. It was this involvement that led her to retrain and pursue a teaching career. She trained as a Biology teacher and has taught Biology from ages 11 – 18 and Business Studies from 16 – 18.

Diana has a Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology from St Mary’s College, University of Durham and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from King’s College, University of London. While in her previous headship roles, Diana was Vice-Chairperson of the Independent Schools Education Board from 2006 – 2014, Chair of the London Schools' Fee Assistance Consortium, designed to encourage broadening access to top independent schools across London, and Chair of the East London Schools Consortium, a group of independent and state-sector girls' school heads who work together to identify additional opportunities for students across their schools.

The Principal is appointed by the Board, is the Chief Executive Officer of the College and is responsible for its management and development.

Leah is a senior executive with over 28 years experience spanning all areas of corporate affairs, reputation management, innovation and business operation and growth. Leah brings extensive media crisis strategy and management expertise as well as proactive PR, communications, digital, marketing and stakeholder leadership to the role. Leah seeks innovative and creative solutions to business challenges. Leah is an experienced company media spokesperson and has two daughters, who both attend MLC.