As my feet begin to touch the ground after a month in the President’s chair, I have been pondering the past year, and admiring the resilience throughout adversity, that all members across our institutions have displayed. From terrorist attacks in NZ, natural disasters across Australia, an evolving and tumultuous global political scene and of course the pandemic which has stunned the world, our collective constant has been the commitment of our people within our teams striving to achieve safe, compliant and welcoming environments. Our people have continued to show up in force, en masse and deliver largely what the rest of the world hasn’t been able to – successfully preserving environments where learning has largely continued, and providing supporting settings for researchers who are endeavouring to change the world.
These ‘people’ are our TEFMA members. They are our inspirational ‘institutional members’, being the leaders of our teams in each institutional environment. They are the ‘associate and affiliate members’ who make up the majority of the brains within our teams, who are on the ground innovating, directing and changing the way our institutions operate through in-house managed functions and contract management means. And they are also our ‘business partners’, the workforce who delivers projects, aids in planning and continues to operate within our environments despite the challenges to our work and personal lives that we all face. All of these TEFMA members are large reasons as to why our institutions are successful, they are all groups whom we engage and network with, whom we learn from, who we encourage, provoke and respond to as we operate and manage the complex environments we so eagerly awake to face every day. TEFMA members are inspiring.
And so, I find myself in awe of many people I find myself able to associate and engage with. Especially those leaders who also put their hands up despite heavy workloads, in such trying times, who are willing, competent, and able, who wish to help drive further improvement and success for our sector. Our TEFMA Board has recently farewelled Iona Beauly (USC), Chris Hewison (RMIT) and our immediate past president Wayne Millar (CSU) in the last month. For their efforts and contributions over their years on the board, I say thank you, on behalf of all TEFMA members. You have all sought to improve the educational offerings, the sector leading benchmark survey, our membership benefits and the engagement of TEFMA within our sector.
Our current board is made up of Trevor Humphreys (UWA); Hilary Kavanagh (JCU); Emmett Mackle (UoA); Jon Peacock (UoM); Kathleen Packer (UoW); Matt Smith (UTAS); Dominic Marafioti (UniSA), Nicole Eaton (RMIT); and Jo Riley (Deakin Uni). The Board will again be supported by Bree Blackwell (Secretariat) and our Executive Officer, Rob Beck who was appointed at the start of 2020. I thank these individuals and their institutions for their upcoming commitment and support to continuing the strategic objectives of TEFMA.