Governance and Leadership

Emeritus Professor Peter Flood is a seasoned Higher Education academic and compliance manager (HOD, HOS, Dean, ProVC, and DVC, and Provost) with over 6 decades of experience at numerous universities both in Australia and overseas in Hong Kong and the USA.

His qualifications include Bachelor of Science with First Class honours, Master of Science, PhD, Fullbright Post Doctoral Fellow, and graduate from Harvard University Institute of Educational Management (IEM).

He has 16 years post retirement experience in the private HE sector having served as Course Advisor, Chair Academic Board, Chair Governing Council, and Chair BODS. Also he has prepared successful initial registration applications, reregistration applications, and self accreditation authority of several HEIs with TEQSA. He is often engaged by private HEIs to Audit their Regulatory Compliance against the HESF Threshold Standards. He is a prolific research publisher and consultant to State and Commonwealth governments as well as to the Minerals and Energy Industries.

Dr Abdul Noor is an experienced education executive, entrepreneur and community leader with a Master’s degree in Health Services Management. His leadership experience spans higher education, vocational education, disability services, business and the not-for-profit sector.

He serves as Director of Lead Institute of Higher Education, Vice-Chairman and Director of Fundraising at Humanity First Australia, and National Secretary for Sanat-o-Tijarat (Trade & Industry), Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Australia.

Dr Noor is committed to combining education, strategic leadership and community service to create meaningful and sustainable social impact

Luciano D'Ambrosi leads Lead Institute of Higher Education (LIHE) with a focus on strategic growth, academic quality, strong governance and an outstanding student experience.

He brings deep experience in higher education leadership. Before joining LIHE, Luciano spent more than eight years at Education Centre of Australia (ECA), where he held senior roles overseeing higher education, vocational education and the Professional Year program. He has also held leadership positions at George Brown College, and his experience within education spans course development, lecturing, strategic planning, marketing and stakeholder engagement.

Luciano began his career in strategy and marketing, with senior roles at Rydges Hotels and Resorts and Seymour Strategists, where his work earned UDIA awards.

He holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from UNSW.

Associate Professor Ishmael Adams is Dean at the Lead Institute of Higher Education (LIHE). He has more than 20 years of academic and industry experience. His expertise spans higher education, construction and project management, urban planning, infrastructure and sustainable development. He previously served as senior academic and Head of Construction and Infrastructure Management at Swinburne University of Technology, where presently serves as an Adjunct Fellow. He has also held academic roles at and has been affiliated with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) since 2017. His UTS academic profile provides further information on his academic work.

As Dean, Ishmael provides academic leadership across LIHE. He oversees academic quality, teaching and learning, course development, academic governance and academic compliance. He also supports academic staff and continuous improvement of the student learning experience.

His research and teaching interests include climate change adaptation, environmental sustainability, resilient infrastructure, construction and project management, and sustainable built environments. He advocates for and ensures strongly student-centred approach to teaching and learning and ensures no student is left behind. He also strongly promotes bridging the gap between theory and practice through applied and industry-relevant learning. His research outputs are available through ResearchGate and ORCID.

Professor Adams holds a PhD in Built Environment from University of Technology Sydney. He also holds MSc and BSc qualifications in Urban and Regional Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He has also undertaken further professional development in project management and building certification.

His professional affiliations include the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), Ghana Institute of Planning (GIP), Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is also a trained Building Certifier.

Dr Steven Holliday is a member of both the Governance Institute of Australia and CPA Australia (FCPA). He has had training in both Accounting and Governance and had held leadership positions at three Australian Universities. Steven has more than seven years of Governing Council experience with two non-government higher education providers and has been the chair of a Risk Management committee. Steven has over 25 years of experience in the education sector, mostly in higher education, as well as other experience in the insurance and mining sectors. He holds a Doctor of Education.

Mahsood is Chair of the Academic Board, with more than 25 years of experience in academic leadership roles across Australian universities. He is a TEQSA-registered expert with expertise in academic governance and disciplinary expertise in business and management.