Noel Sutton
Managing Director
Noel has over 35 years experience as a leader, manager and adviser in the public and private sectors. Currently the Convenor of the Canberra Evaluation Forum, Noel maintains a good knowledge of public sector trends and challenges in the fields of evaluation, strategic planning, performance audit and corporate governance.   He has demonstrated skills in analysis and complex problem identification, project management, strategic planning, evaluations and reviews, organisational development, and interactive workshop facilitation.   He also has a strong interest in training and development, delivering the Leadership and Change, and Managing Service Delivery modules on the Public Sector Management Course for over four years.  Noel's academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts, Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management, and a Masters Degree in Organisational Development.

Meredith Edwards
Senior Consultant
Dr Edwards is an Economist with a PhD from the Australian National University.  Through her career, Dr Edwards has been a lecturer, researcher and policy analyst.  Professor Edwards worked as both a senior public servant and senior academic.  Dr Edwards spent fourteen years working on major social and employment policy initiatives.  In her last four years in the public service, 1993 - 1997,she was the Director of the National Housing Strategy and in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as Head of a Taskforce on long term unemployment issues and later as Deputy Secretary of that Department.  Until recently Dr Edwards was the founding Director of the National Institute of Management undertaking major governance and public policy consultancies, mostly for the Australian Government.

Sue Funnell
Senior Evaluation Consultant
Sue Funnell is a close associate of Courage Partners and a recognised expert in the field of evaluation.  The former President of the Australian Evaluation Society, Sue has more than 20 years experience in conducting, managing, facilitating and reviewing a wide range of projects involving evaluation, performance measurement and reporting, and organisational learning and development  She has been one of the key contributors to the development, dissemination and use of program logic approaches in Australia over the last decade and has extensive experience in the application of such processes across a wide  array of areas of public sector endeavour.  Sue  holds a Master of Arts Degree with First Class Honours (thesis specialising in evaluation) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree with First Class Honours in Psychology.

Karen McLennan
Senior Consultant
Karen has over 20 years experience in research, analysis and policy development and has held a number of senior analytical and management positions in a variety of public sector agencies.  She has demonstrated experience and skills in a variety of fields, including the design and conduct of evaluations, reviews, and internal and external performance audits; project management, strategic and operational intelligence, futures research, and the development and delivery of related training in these areas.  She also has practical experience and knowledge of a range of analytical and performance monitoring tools, including environmental scanning, surveys, risk assessments, focus groups, and indicator and warning sets.  Karen's academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics , Post Graduate Diploma in Communications (Majors in Research Methods, Marketing and Advertising) and a Master of Arts (Strategic & Defence Studies).

Chris Kenyon
Senior Consultant
Chris has more than 25 years experience in consulting work.  He has provided high level and practical advice to government departments and commercial organisations in six countries on ways of enhancing their operations and activities.  He has been director of two consulting organisations and of the only Australian postgraduate education program for consultants.  Much of his work comes from repeat clients who appreciate the breadth of knowledge and experience he brings to bear on projects, the highly consultative way he engages with people, and eminent practicality of the outcomes that are achieved.

Margaret MacDonald
Senior Consultant
Margaret has a depth of experience and skill in public policy, program management and consultancy in both the public and private sectors, with 17 years experience as a senior manager in the Australian Public Service.  Her experience spans a variety of fields with particular expertise in health, community services and education.  Particular strengths include evaluation, strategic planning, policy analysis and change management.  Her skills include group facilitation, and education and training with a particular interest expertise in customising solutions to client program and policy needs.  Margaret's academic qualifications include a Masters of Public Health (policy, evaluation and health economics) and, Graduate Diplomas in Education and Librarianship and a Bachelor of Arts.

Linda Doolan

Senior Consultant

As a consultant, Linda has significant experience in the design and conduct of customised surveys developed to gather client feedback, staff perceptions or to support evaluation, review and planning activities.  Her strong project management, strategic development, research and report writing skills have been utilised to assist our clients in the development of key documents, implementation of performance improvement plans and conduct of reviews. Linda holds a Bachelor of Education and  is a qualified internal auditor.

Karen Roberson
Business Manager / Project Support
Karen is an integral part of the Courage Partners team. She manages the administrative and technical aspects of the company and provides project support to our consultants and business partners. Karen has considerable experience in the development of appropriate data display techniques to support survey reports, manipulation of survey databases, preparation of materials for workshops, production of high quality reports and coordination of business functions and events.

Sally Richardson
Consultant  / Coordinator Consulting Services
Sally coordinates the consulting effort of the Courage Partners team, manages the allocation of projects and identifies opportunities to successfully combine the skills of our business associates with meeting the needs of our clients. She also works as a consultant in the areas of evaluation, review, facilitation, process improvement, strategic planning, and project management. Prior to joining Courage in 2006, Sally worked with Qantas and Defence. She has high level skills in business process improvement, research and analysis, report writing, problem identification and solving, project management, as well as excellent interpersonal skills.  Sally has a Bachelor of Arts (History and Politics), Diploma of Leadership and Management and an Advanced Diploma of Maritime Studies.

Ross Sutton

Senior Consultant

Ross has over 40 years experience in both the public and private health care sectors, in Australia and overseas. His expertise is widely recognised within Australia and internationally in areas such as program monitoring and evaluation, program design, public policy and public sector reform, and disease control (e.g. avian influenza, emerging infectious diseases). Former Managing Director of AusHealth International, Ross has been involved in a number of AusAID, Asian Development Bank and other projects as Project Director and as an expert adviser. In 2005-06 he was associated with 4 programs targeted at avian influenza and other emerging infectious diseases. Ross has also been an academic and earlier in his career he held the position of head of microbiology at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Sydney University.  His professional qualifications include a B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Sydney, as well as a PhD (Medicine) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Margaret Goode
Senior Consultant
Margaret Goode is a senior consultant with over 10 years experience in providing management consulting services to both private and public sector organisations.  A former Director with Coopers & Lybrand, Margaret has conducted numerous consulting assignments with particular emphasis on organisational planning, strategy and design, management and process improvement, change management, cost reduction, policy analysis, program evaluation and performance audit. Margaret's academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts, Graduate Diploma in Librarianship and Diploma in Human Resource Management. 

Professor Patricia Gillard
Senior Consultant
Patricia  has over 20 years experience in audience and communications research and strategy.  She is currently the Professor of e-business at Newcastle University and has held senior research, management and advisory positions in universities, museums and the broadcasting industry, most notably Head of Communication Studies at RMIT University, Member of the Museums Victoria Board and Head of Research and Development for ABC Television.   Patricia has significant expertise in applying innovative research within the emerging Web environment. Over the past five years she has  contributed quality evaluation and user research in the early development of award winning sites such as www.pictureaustralia.org and the redesign of websites and intranets for organisations serving a wide range of publics.   Patricia recently contributed to the Better Practice Guide on evaluation of government services delivered through the Internet, to the Australian National Audit Office and was the audit manager for a Courage performance audit ((conducted on behalf of the Auditor General) of the delivery of government programs on-line.   Patricia has a PhD in Communications (UNSW), and honours Arts degree and a Diploma in Education (Sydney University).

Belinda  Bannister
Senior Consultant
Belinda is an Australian Chartered Accountant based in Canberra, with over 20 years experience in both the public and private sectors.  Belinda has demonstrated success in a variety of fields, with particular emphasis on: audit; business improvement and process re-engineering; financial modelling and analysis; project management; leadership and management; analytical problem solving; and communication and engagement.  In addition to being a Chartered Accountant, Belinda's qualifications include an Economics Degree and post-graduate Diploma in Finance and Securities.  Belinda's background, qualifications and experience gives her an excellent understanding of client needs, an ability to think outside the square and solve complex problems, from both a technical and people perspective.

Wayne Thompson
Senior Consultant / Coordinator Consulting Services
Wayne has over 25 years of broad change enablement experience across most business sectors throughout Australia, New Zealand, India and Indonesia.  As a proven project leader and business advisor Wayne brings great credibility to his assignments.  He graduated from Auckland University with a BSc in Chemistry.  From 1979 to 1992 he worked for one of New Zealand's leading brewers .  In 1993, he joined KPMG as a Senior Consultant ; over a 5 year period he worked with KPMG's leading clients assisting them develop and implement their quality and operational improvement programs.  In 1997 he founded the SOL Company and conducted many projects designed to assist companies develop and implement change programmes including reviews of complex programmes and projects, process management, process improvement, business development, performance management, facilitation, mentoring and training.  Wayne has also been a lead assessor and has conducted hundreds of system audits for certification agencies.   Through his experience Wayne brings to each assignment an in depth understanding of business issues and experience of managing and facilitating teams in ever changing environments.

Colin Reynolds
Senior Consultant
Colin has over 20 years experience in the  international development field with specialties in Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Design and Delivery, Environmental Resource Management, Restoration of Rural Livelihoods, Humanitarian Action, Peace-Building and Civil-Military Relations.  He has worked on both long and short-term assignments throughout the Asia Pacific and Central Asian regions for various agencies, including the ADB, USAID, UNDP, UNHCR, AusAID, DFAT (International Peace Monitoring Team), CARE-USA, WWF, IUCN and numerous smaller NGOs.  His academic qualifications include a Masters Degree in Development Economics and Planning and a Bachelors Degree in Zoology (Fisheries/Conservation Biology).  He  has also completed extensive vocational training  focusing on the security issues of operating in conflict and post-conflict zones.

Lincoln Young
Senior Consultant

Lincoln has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Adelaide and an MSc (distinction) in Rural Resource Management and Environmental Policy from the University of London. He has gained much from long and short-term work in 39 countries, most of them developing.  His larger interests lie with project management issues, especially monitoring and evaluation, social and economic development, making sustainability operational, natural resource management, poverty alleviation and environmental conservation. He has worked with the public and private sector, large multilateral organisations and small NGOs. His most recent job established the monitoring and evaluation system for a coastal zone management program for island states in the southern Indian Ocean and for some East African countries.

Robert Lake
Senior Consultant
Robert brings over 20 years experience in research, program evaluation and performance management across a broad range of public sector areas including the military. He is an experienced leader and manager of multi-disciplinary research teams and has significant experience in consulting within a range of large organisations on performance management, organisational interventions and change facilitation. He is a recognised expert in program evaluation, and has won two awards from the Australasian Evaluation Society – itself a rare achievement – including the prestigious Evaluation Study Award. He also has considerable expertise in a wide range of statistical analyses including structural equation modelling He has undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications in psychology from the Australian National University and a PhD in psychology from the University of Queensland.

Robert McEntyre
Senior Consultant
Robert McEntyre works with private, public and not-for-profit sector clients to create their future, to pursue strategic, tactical and operational improvement initiatives, and that utilise the practice’s business services of: strategic thinking, organisational review, research and performance monitoring. His clients are representative of a wide range of industry sectors including agriculture, building & construction materials, education, food services, government, library & information services, information & communication technology, logistics & manufacturing, retailing, professional & industry associations, property services, and utilities.  Robert has worked with medium and large Australian, New Zealand, UK and US companies, and state and federal government agencies and regulators in both Australia and New Zealand. Robert is a graduate of the University of Sydney and is also a member the NSW State Chamber of Commerce, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Training & Development. 

Derek Russell
Senior Consultant
Derek Russell has over 30 years public sector experience spanning Commonwealth and ACT central agencies, and Commonwealth line agencies in transport and immigration.  He has undertaken evaluations or reviews in the Attorney-General's, Defence and Immigration spheres and has a special interest in the specification of performance indicators and effective reporting of performance at the outcome and output level.  Derek's academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Engineering Science in transport planning.

Dr Stewart Hase
Senior Consultant
Stewart is a psychologist, psychotherapist, researcher and academic. In all these roles he is interested primarily in: helping people change and to learn; evaluating and researching the effectiveness of change, innovation and project implementation using a variety of methods; using action research as a vehicle for real time change; and helping workplaces to become more healthy and productive. Stewart has published widely in these areas of interest and has consulted for a large number of national and international organisations

Graeme Thomas
Senior Consultant
Graeme Thomas has over 12 years experience as both an internal change agent and external consultant in a range of strategic, operational, project and policy settings.  He has previously been principal consultant in two national consulting groups. He has considerable experience in successfully applying strategic planning, performance measurement, risk management, business improvement and project evaluation methodologies in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He is a skilled facilitator who works effectively with all levels of management to achieve results.

Peter Rufford
Consultant
Peter has thirty years experience in highway, transport and infrastructure planning in both the public and consulting sectors.  He has worked in strategic planning and evaluation of road networks, the evaluation of major projects and programs, feasibility studies and in strategic facility management.  He has a strong interest in local government and in the regulation of the transport sector.  In addition, he has been involved in six infrastructure planning projects in China since 1992.  Peter’s academic qualifications include both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Civil Engineering.

Professor Ross Babbage
International Strategy Specialist
Ross has wide-ranging expertise in international security affairs and  has held several senior positions in the Australian Public Service, private sector and academia. Ross is recognised in both Australia and internationally as an expert in international relations and strategic analysis.  Ross  provides quality analytical advice and executive education and training services to both private and public sectors.  He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, a Senior Associate of the Centre for International Strategic Analysis (CISA) and a Council Member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Ross holds a  Bachelor and Masters degrees in economics from the University of Sydney and a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University. 

Michael Reid
Company IT Support
Michael has over 12 years experience in the provision of Information Technology Infrastructure services and has worked in permanent positions within the Public Sector and privately as a contractor. He has a variety of Information Technology skills including PC and network design, management and support. Michael specialises in addressing the infrastructure requirements of smaller businesses with complex requirements.

David Connery

Consultant

David Connery has twenty years experience as a leader, policy adviser and trainer in the Australian Army, together with recent experience in academia and the private sector. His particular fields of expertise include strategic planning, qualitative analytical techniques and facilitation. During his military career, David served with Military Strategy Branch, the Office of National Assessments and Army Headquarters. His qualifications include Masters degrees in International Studies (with Honours - Sydney), Defence Studies (Australian Army Command and Staff College), and Strategy (ANU); and a BA in history from the University of Queensland. He is now a doctoral candidate and tutor at the Australian National University, and has research interests in whole-of-government approaches to national security, regional security and future conflict.

Lochie MacLean
Consultant
Lochie has over  35 years experience as a manager and policy adviser to national organisations,  including time as a management consultant with a ‘Big Six’ company. His work has been based around business process re-engineering and organisational development projects, encompassing a range of over thirty industries in the public and private sectors across Australia. Lochie has also undertaken risk assessment, performance audit and evaluation consultancies.