Academic Board
The Board of Directors delegates responsibility for academic policymaking, academic administration and oversight of the educational process pertaining to the operation of higher education courses to the Academic Board. The Academic Board is made up of a majority of external members and staff, with students as invitee to ensure that they have the opportunity to participate in academic governance.
Emeritus Professor Peter Flood (Chair)
Professor Flood is a distinguished Australian academic with five decades of activities as a scientist, geologist, and higher education administrator. He has First Class Honours and a Master of Science from the University of New England, and A PhD from the University of Queensland. In addition, he holds a Diploma from Harvard University in Educational Management.
He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of New England and he has served as Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney. He has held previous appointments at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Miami. He lectured at the University of Queensland (1972-1979), the University of New England (1980-2009), and the University of Sydney (2013-2014).
Associate Professor Elaine Evans
Elaine is a Higher Education Consultant with over 30 years’ experience in the sector. She is both a FCPA and a CA. Currently Elaine is a member of academic boards of Higher Education Private Providers (HEPPs) and is an external reviewer of curricula for accounting specialisations in undergraduate degrees. In addition, she chairs Course Advisory and Review Committees. She has held academic positions at Macquarie University, UWS (now WSU), ANU and UNSW. She has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate subjects in the accounting discipline. Her roles at Macquarie University included Higher Degree Research Co-ordinator and Research Co-ordinator for which she won the Faculty of Business and Economics Dean’s Award for Research Leadership. Elaine is the recipient of a Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Education Award, from Macquarie University. She has received Outstanding Reviewer and Outstanding Paper Awards from international accounting and accounting education journals. She has been an invited guest editor for themed editions of Accounting Education and Accounting History journals and a plenary speaker at the British Accounting Association Education Special Interest Group Annual Conference, at the University of Essex. She was a member of the Editorial Review Board of several international accounting journals.
Associate Professor Kathie Ardzejewska
Kathie Ardzejewska (PhD) is an Associate Professor and the Manager of the Learning and Teaching Office (LTO) at The University of Notre Dame, Australia. In this role, she provides managerial leadership, steering the LTO team in collaborations with the academic community as well as providing support and resources for educators, teaches, supervises HDR candidates and researchers in learning and teaching in higher education. Such opportunities ultimately aim to enrich the learning and teaching experiences of students. Kathie also works closely with the Learning and Teaching Committee providing strategic leadership in the development of quality learning and teaching practices. Kathie is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) and an accredited panel chair with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. She is an academic board member of a number of independent higher education providers and was an inaugural member of the Steering Committee of the Higher Education Private Provider Quality Network.
Dr David Baxter
Dr David Baxter was a secondary school English teacher, head of department and North West regional consultant for the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education from 1975-1995. He then became a lecturer in English and literacy education for the University of New England until 2007 before moving to the Australian College of Physical Education (ACPE) in 2007 as Associate Dean and Acting Dean in 2012. His responsibilities there included chairing the Teaching and Learning Committee and serving on Academic Board. Since retiring from ACPE in 2013, he has done consultancy work with a range of private and public higher education providers in areas such as policy development and review, TEQSA registration and course accreditation and governance reviews. He has been Chair of the PIA Learning and Teaching Committee since 2018.
Mr Lee Ridge
Lee Ridge is a Chartered Accountant and the Head of Discipline (Accounting) at PIA.
Lee has worked in the accounting profession in Insolvency and Reconstruction Services in Australia and Hong Kong, for Deloitte and Ferrier Hodgson. In business, Lee has held a number of positions ranging from Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary to Financial Controller concentrating mainly in technology-based businesses. These businesses have varied from venture capital-funded start-ups to a telecommunications provider.
Lee also currently teaches Accounting and Finance and Financial Accounting Information Systems at La Trobe University (Sydney) and the International College of Management Sydney (ICMS). Lee’s educational leadership was recognised in a Teaching Award by La Trobe University as well as being on Panels for continued accreditation of its accounting subjects by CAANZ / CPA Australia, as well as being part of La Trobe University’s Business School successful accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Lee has been responsible for the introduction of students developing practical skills for the business world by introducing the use of accounting software and applications such as Excel into accounting curricula. Lee is also a PhD researcher at the University of Sydney.
Email: lee.r@pia.edu.au
Associate Professor Saeid Iranmanesh
Dr. Saeid Iranmanesh is the head of discipline (Telecommunication and Networking) at PIA. He received his PhD in electrical, computer and telecommunication engineering from the University of Wollongong, Australia, in 2015. He has teaching experience for many years and supervised many students at bachelor and postgraduate level. He is also a senior IEEE member and a professional engineer with Engineer Australia. He has publications in top IEEE and Elsevier journals such as TVT, IoT journal, and pervasive & mobile computing. His research interests include wireless networks, Vehicular Networks, Internet of Things, intelligent transportation systems, and smart cities.
Email: saeid@pia.edu.au
Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/saeid-iranmanesh-2502933a
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=pMde24kAAAAJ&view_op=list_works
Mr Mohammad Akbar
Mohammad Akbar is Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) at PIA. He has an MBA (Professional Accounting) from UTS, Australia and an MBA (Marketing) from North South University, Bangladesh.
Mohammad also works as Senior Accountant at One Tax Accounting Solutions Pty Ltd. He has considerable experience in Marketing and Sales, especially in the Entertainment, Retailing and Internet Service Provider (ISP) industries.
Mohammad is also a PhD candidate at University Malaysia Perlis.
Email: mohammad@pia.edu.au
Geoff Morris
Dean Professor Geoff Morris has an extensive background in both the business world and in academia. Prior to his appointment at PIA he has spent almost 13 years in senior academic roles including Dean of Business at the University of Notre Dame and the Dean and Director of Learning & Teaching at Asia Pacific International College. Before joining academia, he had a successful business career involving senior leadership positions in public and private organisations including Sydney Water, Commonwealth Bank, HCF, Medibank Private, TAB and Australian Water Technologies. He has managed and delivered a number of large projects in Australia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Geoff’s home discipline is economics with a bachelors degree from Sydney University. This was followed by postgraduate qualifications in management, leadership and higher education teaching.
Professor Tarrant is a part-time Professor at the Law School of the University of Western Australia.
Mr Egan is a Director of the public relations firm Flagship Communications Pty Ltd. Prior to establishing Flagship Communications in 2003, Mr Egan worked as a Ministerial Adviser in the Howard Government and a teacher in the Catholic Education system. He has more than 19 years’ experience in stakeholder engagement, government relations, community consultation, issues management and media management.
Professor Barber holds a First Class Honours degree from Flinders University, a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Adelaide and a Doctor of the University (honoris causa) from Flinders University. In 2015, he retired as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of New England, Australia in order to pursue his interests in educational start-ups. Prior to serving as Vice-Chancellor at the University of New England, Professor Barber was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at RMIT University in Melbourne, and served three terms as Head of Department at Flinders University before taking up the position of Dean at the University of Toronto in Canada. He is the author of more than 150 refereed journal articles and 6 books, and the winner of North America’s highest literary award for evidence-based practice, the Pro-Humanitate Medal, for his research into child welfare. He is a former winner of the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at Flinders University and his contribution to higher education was formally recognised in a motion by the New South Wales Parliament in 2014. More recently in June 2021 Professor James Barber AM was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia, for his significant service to tertiary education administration, and to youth.