Executive

Vice-Chancellor and President
Professor Barney Glover AO

Professor Barney Glover AO assumed his position at Western Sydney University in January 2014. Professor Glover is currently the Australian Government representative on the University of the South Pacific Grants Committee, Convenor of the NSW Vice-Chancellor’s Committee, and Chair of the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching Working Group – which advises the Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment. He holds current appointments as a board member of AARNet – Australia’s Academic and Research Network, the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, the NSW Arts and Culture Advisory Committee, Westpac Scholars Ltd which is trustee for the Westpac Scholars Trust, the Study NSW International Education Advisory Board, the Powerhouse Capital Campaign Committee, Bradfield Board of Governors, and NUW Alliance – a collaboration between four research-intensive Australian universities. In addition, he is a member of the Australian Government’s University Foreign Interference Taskforce Steering Group, and Lead Vice-Chancellor (Corporate) for Universities Australia. Professor Glover is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD). Professor Glover’s esteemed career includes significant expertise and experience at the most senior levels of university management and substantial business leadership credentials. He has also served on the boards of a range of corporate organisations and several state and national centres covering areas such as health and medical research, energy, mineral exploration, and telecommunications.

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
Professor Clare Pollock

Professor Clare Pollock is the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Western Sydney University. The role offers leadership and responsibility across twelve academic schools, The College, The Whitlam Institute, University Secretary and General Counsel. The Office also supports Indigenous Leadership at the University.

Prior to joining Western Sydney University in June 2021, Clare was Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students) at Flinders University, also holding a number of senior leadership roles at Curtin University, including as Associate Provost, Chair of Academic Board and Head of the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology. Clare also has external leadership roles in her profession, in higher education and as a non-executive Director for a number of government, professional and community boards.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Professor Pollock graduated from Oxford University and the University of London with a PhD in Psychology. Her research career has focused on how psychology can be applied to improve safety, especially when it comes to people’s use of technology.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education)
Professor Maryanne Dever

Professor Maryanne Dever is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (Education) at Western Sydney University. She is a member of the Senior Executive Group and responsible for providing leadership of the University’s education portfolio. She is passionate about educational renewal and ensuring learning delivers for a new generation of students. She is recognised for her work in transformation and change with a particular focus on digital uplift to support learning and the student experience. Professor Dever leads strategic educational innovation at Western Sydney to deliver the University’s commitment to ensuring its students fulfill their potential to become influential global citizen-scholars in a technology-enabled world. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Queensland and a Master of Arts (Hons) and PhD from the University of Sydney. Prior to joining Western Sydney University in 2023, she worked at a number of universities, including The Australian National University where she introduced a new learning and teaching strategy and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where she made major contributions to the digital transformation of learning. Her research career has focused on feminist literary studies and critical archival studies. Her publications include Paper, Materiality and the Archived Page (2019) and New Feminist Research Ethics (2023).

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Leadership) 
Professor Michelle Trudgett

Professor Michelle Trudgett is an Indigenous scholar from the Wiradjuri Nation in New South Wales.  Michelle currently holds the position Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Leadership) at Western Sydney University. Prior to this appointment she served as the Pro Vice-Chancellor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, Strategy and Consultation at Western Sydney University, Inaugural Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges at the University of Technology Sydney, and was previously the Head of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University. In 2018, Michelle received the highly prestigious National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year Award, additionally she was also awarded the Neville Bonner Award for Teaching Excellence.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise and International)
Professor Deborah Sweeney

Professor Deborah Sweeney is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise and International) at Western Sydney University. She provides leadership and guidance to achieve the University’s strategic priorities for research and innovation and focusses on quality assurance and enhancement. In addition, she is responsible for supporting the research portfolios within the Schools and Institutes.

Her major research area has been corneal physiology, her work has been instrumental in developing an understanding of the physiology of the human cornea and the effects of contact lens wear and refractive surgery on corneal function characteristics and the development of alternative forms of vision correction. Deborah has published over 100 refereed articles and several book chapters, and is co-inventor on two patents.

Senior Vice-President
Peter Pickering

Peter Pickering was appointed Chief Financial Officer in August 2011, Vice-President (Finance and Resources) in January 2015, and Senior Vice-President in January 2023. Prior to this he was the Director of Finance, having joined Western Sydney University in November 2009.

Peter has enjoyed an extensive and varied career in a variety of senior management positions with major Australian and international corporations. Prior to joining Western Sydney University, he spent 15 years in the telecommunications industry, primarily with Telstra but also with international joint ventures in Korea and Indonesia working with NTT, Sumitomo, Indosat and Pohang Iron and Steel.

Vice-President (People and Advancement)
Angelo Kourtis

Angelo Kourtis has been a member of the Western Sydney University community since 1986, as a student, graduate and as a member of staff. He held a number of senior marketing roles before being appointed to the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) in October 2011 and Vice-President, People and Advancement in March 2015.

Angelo conceived and established the student lifecycle strategy at the University, revealing invaluable insights into the 'journey' students embark on when aspiring to higher education and beyond. He pioneered the concept of the 'Citizen Scholar' and led the establishment of 'The Academy' at the University, and he was the architect of the University's recent rebranding strategy which has attracted national and international critical acclaim. Angelo is a member of the Executive team and is the Deputy Chair of The College Board.

Vice-President (Infrastructure and Commercial)
Bill Parasiris

Bill Parasiris is currently appointed as the Vice-President, Infrastructure and Commercial. Bill leads the team who is responsible for the strategic planning and operational management of its built environment and infrastructure, campuses, operations, properties (both owned and leased) and related services and management of the University’s broader built footprint. They also manage the strategic environmental planning, management implementation and development of the sustainability agenda, in line with the University’s strategic goals. He is currently overseeing the University’s Western Growth program of work, a large-scale transformative initiative in higher education that will deliver the highest quality educational opportunities and world-class research expertise to Australia’s fastest growing region, whilst enhancing the University’s corpus and creating a legacy for Western Sydney’s staff and students for years to come.

Vice-President (Finance) and Chief Financial Officer
Darren Greentree

Darren Greentree is the Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Western Sydney University. Prior to joining the University in February 2010, Darren held executive and senior management positions within multi-national, Australian publicly listed and private sector organisations. Darren provides financial leadership, expertise and advice in his capacity as CFO, is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee for Unimutual Limited and is a Non- Executive Director and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk committee for Western Sydney University Early Learning Limited. Darren’s qualifications include a joint Executive MBA from the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales (AGSM), a Bachelor degree in Business (Accounting), he is Justice of the Peace, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of CPA Australia.

Cluster PVC (Health and Medicine)

Cluster PVC (Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences)

Cluster PVC (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
Professor Simeon Simoff

Dean, Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences (CDMS)

Simeon Simoff is the Dean of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences (CDMS) and Professor of Information Technology at Western Sydney University, where he has accumulated over a decade of experience in leadership roles. He also holds the role of Lead Dean,  Information and Communications Technology for the University. Prior to joining the University in July 2008, he was Professor of Information Technology, and Founder and Co-Director of the international e-Markets Research Lab in the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Technology Sydney. Currently Simeon is President of the Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communications Technology (ACDICT). He serves on the ACS Technical Advisory Board (AI and Ethics Committee) and on the International Federation for Information Processing Technical Committee on Artificial Intelligence (IFIP TC12). He is Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Institute of Engineers Australia.