Courtney is a dedicated parent of two young boys—both beginning their educational journey at Preshil’s kindergarten. Having relocated from London to Melbourne in 2022, Courtney and her family feel privileged to have discovered Preshil and its unique approach to learning.

Professionally, Courtney has over a decade of experience in financial services. She holds a Master’s degree in Mathematical & Computational Finance from the University of Oxford and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. In her most recent role, she served as a Senior Trader on the Active Rates team at one of the world’s leading asset management firms. Her expertise encompasses a deep understanding of financial markets, investment management, and risk assessment. Additionally, Courtney is proficient in computer programming and has considerable experience leveraging technology to automate trading processes.

Courtney’s governance experience is substantial. As a Risk Officer, she ensured that the Active Rates desk operated in compliance with firm policies and regulations. She also participated in the Investment Management Group’s Council for Best Execution, contributing to the establishment of industry-leading practices. Committed to the development of others, Courtney has been actively involved in training new traders and mentoring junior colleagues.

With her diverse background and commitment to innovative education, Courtney is enthusiastic about contributing to the Preshil School Council, supporting the school’s mission to help foster a community that supports students to forge their own pathways informed by their passions and talents.

Daniel grew up in a family where education was the central, he started working in IT and education in 1987, undertook a thesis on this new thing called the internet in 1991, built the first Education Internet Service Provider in Australia in 1993, built the first school specific Internet gateway in 1995, and in 1998 he built the first Internet portal that linked logins to Internet activity in a centralised infrastructure. In 2000 Dan went on to conceive, design, and develop an e-learning platform which won the National Innovation Award from AIIA, and sold this business in 2006.
From 2008 Daniel went on to conceive and lead the National Schools Interoperability Program (NSIP). NSIP key achievements include; creating a national standard for exchange information between systems, and the development of the National Identity Management Framework (NIMF).
In 2014 Daniel made the move to New York and assisted their State Education Department in the implementation of an replacement system when in-bloom was canceled - called RICone it was an edtech marketplace to enable secure digital eco-systems and support innovation with school choice. Daniel initiated and delivered The Gates Foundation funded k12 Federation, an educational cooperative that coordinated collaborative solutions across organisations. Daniel then founded MoxieReader a tool to encourage independent reading programs to help kids increase their daily reading practice. MoxieReader was selected out of 500 applicants to participate in the StartED accelerator at NYU in New York, and he developed a high level network throughout the startup ecosystem across the USA.
On his return to Australia Daniel was appointed the Victorian EdTech Ambassador, authored a strategic review of EdTech for Victorian Government, undertook research review of tracking student progress with data for ACER, established an edtech market review of formative assessment trends, was appointed the inaugural chair of the CEO circle, ClearPath Syndicate, assisted John Hattie to establish a framework for categorizing how edtech supports high impact teaching practices and undertook a CTO role to enable the turnaround of a young edtech startup.

Between 1988 and 2021 I was an educational researcher at the Australian Council for Educational Research specialising in testing and assessment. As a researcher my main interests are: concepts of and the assessment of generic and work-related skills; the assessment of socio-cultural and interpersonal reasoning; and the assessment of writing as reasoning. I have a PhD concerned with collective teacher judgement of generic skills.

I have always been interested in progressive education. I taught for two years in the late 1970s at ERA, the school formed by Preshil parents because there was then no secondary Preshil. I taught for three years at Blackhall before being offered a job at ACER in 1988. I have been in contact with various Preshil staff, and have been aware of developments at the School over past thirty years.

When I resigned from Preshil at the end of 1987 Margaret Lyttle called me at home and said her curse would pursue me down the generations. On the day of my last Preshil staff meeting I was for the first and only time quite incapacitated by a migraine headache. Margaret sent me a parting gift of one of her favourite books and wrote on the inside cover that I would return. I have been very happy to do so, even if in a small way, as a member of the School Council.

Since retiring from ACER in 2021 I have joined my partner’s educational publishing company and am producing curriculum and assessment materials for the VCE Englishes.