Pene Gallagher Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Australia

The Victorian Ombudsman is a parliamentary agency that has the power to investigate public administrative decisions and actions of a public agency.DUTIESSuccessfully supported the executive office consisting of up to 5 Executives, to manage a fast-paced twin division structure with 15-20 direct reports to manage day to day activities and projects for the organisation.• Proactively manage workflows to ensure that issues are prioritised according to strategic importance and time constraints.• Prepare briefs and correspondence for review and approval by the Executive.• Secretariat to all VO Committees including, governance, finance and audit and risk committees.• Assisted the Executive Office with additional projects.ACHIEVEMENTS Financial Management Act Standing Directions 2016 Assisted with developing a framework to demonstrate VO’s compliance with new requirements including:• Producing an action plan that deliveries VO’s compliance requirements for the new Standing Directions• Developing all templates and instructions for future annual attestationsCorporate policies updateLed the initial scoping to review all corporate policies by:• Identified policy gaps and developed a prioritised schedule to update or develop new policies to meet compliance requirements.Comparative communications research• Researched and analysed the communications, media and education functions across Australian and New Zealand parliamentary Ombudsmen and industry Ombudsmen. • This was used as a benchmark for VO’s current activities and to inform future planning in Education, Communications including future development of VO’s Website. Induction program review • Researched and analysed best practice guidelines within the Victorian Public Sector, and international best practice, to inform VO’s induction program review.

Melbourne, Australia

RMIT School of Civil Environment and Chemical Engineering Commenced on one month contract, contract extended for a further 4 months.Provided professional executive support service to the Head of School including effectively managing reputation of Head of School and smooth running of the office. Minute taker for student disciplinary hearings.

Melbourne, Australia

Executive Assistant – Contract Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering has one of Victoria’s largest student cohorts.DUTIESProvided professional executive support service to the Head of School including effectively managing reputation of Head of School and smooth running of the office. Minute taker for student disciplinary hearings.

Melbourne, Australia

Secretariat/Executive Assistant to CEO and Board of Directors - Contract Initially 1 month contract extending out to 5 months.A not for profit ‘specialised ‘Out of home care’ provider for pregnant and parenting adolescent who are in state care.ACHIEVEMENTS• Redesigned and bought up to date Cara’s Board Policy Manual, working with the CEO and the Board to review existing policies and develop new policies. This contributed to Cara meeting its DHS accreditation review.Board Management• Established Board sub-committee - Audit and Risk Committee with relevant charter and documentation to meet changed DHS requirement.• Developed documentation for effective functioning of Nominations and Remuneration committee.

Melbourne, Australia

Initially a 1 month contract to support the CEO, asked to stay for an additional 6 months to assist the transition to Parliamentary independence.Executive Assistant to Dep CEO & CFO – Contract CSV is a full service provider to all of the Courts, Tribunals within the state of Victoria. CSV became independent from the Executive government (Department of Justice) in July 2014.ACHIEVEMENTS• Commended by all of c-suite executive in being instrumental in assisting CSV to successfully transition smoothly to Parliamentary Independence.• Improved administrative practices for ERSC bid collation of all bids across all jurisdictions. This minimised error, loss of information and ensured version control.• Assisted in mapping, developing and streamlining HR induction and exit protocols.

Initially 1 month contract extended to 22 monthsThe School of Graduate Research is the overarching school that coordinates the administrative function of all Higher Degrees of original research students.ACHIEVEMENTS• Streamlined and simplified the process for students to apply to undertake graduate research through:- creating one consistent comprehensive form for all schools within the three colleges to use (from three different forms) - creating a checklist for students to ensure all requirements including authorisations are met- centralising ownership in the SGR: this reduced SGR processing and approval time by 60%. • Negotiated cost savings of up to 70% involving security, venue and catering costs for various events such book launches, PhD Information sessions, graduation celebrations.• Organised and booked numerous international travel for the Dean of SGR. In one instance across six countries in six weeks with nine stops working three set dates for three key note addresses. This saved a minimum of $10k for the university and ensured a well-paced and efficient use of the Dean’s time.• Coordinated and booked travel transfers, accommodation and meals and dining experiences for 10 delegates from 10 countries across the Asia pacific to attend the Australasian & Pacific Higher Research Program biannual forum. This resulted in a seamless experience for delegates and reflected well on the dean as the host school.• Reviewed raw qualitative research data onto draw out, analyse and summarise quantitative data. This contributed to the Dean’s research paper in understanding how to best support graduate research students in writing for publication