The current Chair and Deputy Chair are Helen Silver and Andrea Denholm. The Board meets quarterly.
Board of Directors
The governing body of the ACTF is its Board of Directors, the members of which all serve in an honorary capacity.
Chair
Helen Silver
Elected 01.08.2022
(Re-elected 28.11.2023)
Helen Silver is a highly experienced non-executive Director who has worked at the highest levels of the public and private sectors. From 2013, for eight years, she worked for Allianz Australia where her last role was Deputy Managing Director. Prior to joining Allianz Helen had spent nearly 30 years in executive roles in the Victorian and Commonwealth public service, culminating as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Helen is currently a non-executive director of PEXA Group Limited, Crown Melbourne and Deputy Chair of the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority. Helen is an elected member of the Board.
Deputy Chair
Andrea Denholm
Appointed 30.10.2013
(Reappointed 02.11.2022 for three years)
Andrea is a highly experienced creative producer of a distinctive and award-winning slate of premium scripted content. She is currently Executive Producer and Head of Development for Tony Ayres Productions. Her credits include upcoming Netflix drama The Survivors, multi-award winning drama series Fires, ABC/BBC children's comedy, Spooky Files, International Emmy® nominated Wrong Kind of Black, innovative screen opera The Divorce, multiple seasons of comedy series How to Stay Married and It’s A Date, comedy series 8MMM Aboriginal Radio, and landmark documentary series Sporting Nation with John Clarke. Andrea's other credits include Tripping Over, SeaChange (1998-2000), After the Deluge, CrashBurn, Worst Best Friends and Outland. Andrea is on the Board of VicScreen and is the Victorian Government appointment to the Board.
Ian Booth
Appointed 09.04.2019
(Reappointed 10.04.2022 for three years)
Ian is the CEO of Black Swan State Theatre Co, Western Australia’s major theatre company. He has over 20 years of experience in the Australian screen industry and is currently a director of Indian Pacific Pictures and Home Fire Creative Industries. Ian was CEO of Screenwest for over a decade, financing hundreds of screen projects, including Mystery Road, Breath, Red Dog, Satellite Boy, Paper Planes, Bran Nue Dae, Cloudstreet, SAS: The Search for Warriors, Outback Truckers, Lockie Leonard and many more. Originally a lawyer, Ian also worked at the ABC, and has served on the Boards of national screen agency Ausfilm, Awesome Arts and the FTI. Ian is a Commonwealth Government appointment to the Board.
Gay Cumming
Appointed 27.11.2022 for three years
Gay is the Director of Teaching and Learning with the Department for Education, Children and Young People. With experience in teaching and leadership roles across schools in Tasmania and Victoria, including fifteen years as a Principal, Gay has a deep understanding of schools and education. Central to Gay’s work is enhancing quality teaching through a focus on what is taught, how it is taught, and how student progress is monitored and assessed. In her position, Gay actively engages with state and national groups to stay informed and provide insights that support Tasmanian children and young people to be successful in learning, life and work. Gay is the Tasmanian Government appointment to the Board.
Michelle Lim Davidson
Appointed 11.06.2023 for three years
Michelle is a Korean Australian actor and writer. Since graduating from WAAPA she has worked extensively in Theatre, TV & Film. She has performed with numerous companies including Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company. Michelle is also known for her TV work, including being a presenter on Play School. Her performance in The Newsreader earned a Silver Logie nomination & two AACTA nominations. She has received nominations at the Sydney Theatre Awards and was the recipient of the Mike Walsh Fellowship. Michelle was awarded Equity Awards for her ensemble work in Utopia and The Newsreader. As a writer, she has worked for ABC Kids and ABC ME. Her play Where We Love is Home was shortlisted for the prestigious Patrick White Award at Sydney Theatre Company. Michelle is a Commonwealth Government appointment to the Board.
Mark Huxley
Appointed 10.01.2023 for three years
Mark is a passionate educator with over twenty years’ experience in leading the delivery of service transformation and improvements to education, firstly as a teacher and school leader, then within the Education Directorate, across ACT Government, and in the Commonwealth public service. Mark has applied these skills at the executive level across a wide range of public administration functions, including change management, digital transformation, Ministerial and Commonwealth-State relations, and most recently, in driving a system-wide School Improvement service uplift across ACT Public Schools. Mark is the ACT Government appointment to the Board.
Judith King
Appointed 02.08.2023 for three years
Judith is the Director – Teaching Quality and Innovation – Statewide Services, in the Western Australian Department of Education, leading the development, implementation and evaluation of a range of state-wide supports and services to students and schools. Her school leadership experience ranges from working with children and families from affluent backgrounds to those living in extreme poverty, providing her with the skills, knowledge and capacity to lead in any educational setting. Judith was awarded a Department of Education, Principals Fellowship in 2017 and a Churchill Fellowship in 2018. Her Churchill Fellowship research focused on how schools can change communities to create students that are ready to thrive and learn.
Judith is the Western Australian Government’s appointment to the Board.
Simon Pryce
Appointed 09.05.2024 for three years
Simon has worked extensively in the performing arts industry from musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and South Pacific to TV productions such as Water Rats, All Saints, Home and Away, The Masked Singer and The Kingdom of Paramithi. Simon is best known for his role as The Red Wiggle, and he regularly performs live concerts throughout Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, and the UK. He has written and appeared in numerous TV productions with The Wiggles and, as a recording artist, has won four Aria awards and the Ted Albert Award for outstanding services to Australian Music. Simon is a Director and Chair at The Wiggles Holdings Pty Ltd. Simon is a Commonwealth Government appointment to the Board.
Kate Robarts
Appointed 30.11.2022 for three years
Kate is a Senior Director within the Teaching and Learning Services division in the Northern Territory Department of Education. Kate brings almost 30 years of experience with a unique combination of leadership experience of both school and corporate sectors. She is a passionate educator who provides clarity, direction, and purpose for system wide improvement of curriculum and service delivery across the Northern Territory. Kate is the Northern Territory Government’s appointment to the Board.
Robyn Rosengrave
Appointed 14.01.2019 for three years
(Reappointed 15.01.2022 for three years)
Robyn is the Executive Director, Student Engagement and Alternate Learning within the Queensland Department of Education, where she has worked for over 30 years as a classroom teacher, curriculum developer and innovator, and as the Executive Director of curriculum, teaching and learning responsible for the implementation of curriculum across over 1260 state schools. Her change leadership portfolio includes state-wide implementation of a range of initiatives that support all learners to achieve and remain engaged in learning. In addition, she regularly advises and contributes to numerous wide-reaching national and international educational initiatives. Robyn is passionately committed to ensuring every student experiences teaching and learning that helps them realise their potential and achieve success. Robyn is the Queensland Government’s appointment to the Board.
Sally Scales
Elected 03.03.2021
(Re-elected 28.11.2023)
Sally Scales is a Pitjantjatjara woman from Pipalyatjara in the far west of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote South Australia. Sally was the youngest person ever elected as Chairperson of the APY Executive Board Council in 2019. Sally has worked with the APY Art Centre Collective since 2013 in cultural liaison, elder support and spokesperson roles, as well as being Regional Programs Coordinator. Sally was instrumental in opening two APY Art Centre Collective galleries in Sydney and Adelaide. Sally was a delegate to the First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru, involved in drafting the Uluru Statement of the Heart, and continues to be a member of the Uluru Dialogues Leadership Group. Alongside all these activities Sally is also a full-time mum to her nephew Walter. Sally is an elected member of the Board.
Paul Wood
Appointed 03.02.2021 for three years
(Reappointed 04.02.2024 for three years)
Paul Wood is the Executive Director, Educational Standards in the NSW Department of Education. Paul is responsible for leading and developing high quality evidence-based strategies, programs and assessments for use across the system. Developing and monitoring policies and advice that require leaders and teachers to use evidence-based practice and achieve high professional standards in the delivery of curriculum, assessment and reporting. Paul has been a teacher, a principal of three schools and a system leader of educational programs at a state-wide level. Paul is a recipient of the Public Service Medal in the Australia Day Honours list in 2021 for his leadership of the state-wide curriculum support for schools through the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul has a PhD in educational leadership from the University of Sydney. Paul is the NSW Government’s appointment to the Board.