Monash College board

Professor Stephanie Fahey (Chair)

As Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) of Monash University, Professor Stephanie Fahey is responsible for setting the University's strategic direction for international engagement in research and education. She has held positions at several Australian universities, most recently as Director of the Research Institute for Asia Pacific and Acting Assistant Pro Vice-Chancellor (International - Asia Pacific) at the University of Sydney.

Professor Fahey holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours from the University of Sydney and a PhD from the Australian National University. Her research interests have covered socio-economic development in the Pacific, primarily Papua New Guinea; the transition of Vietnamese society and economy; and the use of the internet in the expression and development of international relations among youth in North East Asia.

Active in community engagement, Professor Fahey has been appointed to many influential government boards, non-governmental organisation boards and business councils including the Foreign Affairs Council, the National Board of the Australia China Business Council, the Australia Korea Foundation and a subcommittee of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Committee which looks at Australia's engagement with China and India.

Graham Cunningham

With 30 years experience in domestic and international investment banking, Graham specialises in mergers and acquisitions, project and property financings and major infrastructure projects. Past clients include major Australian corporations, property and construction groups and state governments.

Graham is also the Chairman of Ronstan International, an Australian-based manufacturer and exporter, a start-up IT company and a major private fund manager and investment group. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and has an MBA from London Business School.

Based in Melbourne, outside of work Graham is a keen cyclist, races a Couta Boat and is the President of Yachting Victoria.

Les Cupper

Les has extensive business experience in large multi-divisional organisations in financial services, mining, manufacturing and education. His Australian and international work has focused on employee engagement, cultural transformation, mergers and acquisitions, privatisation and superannuation governance.

During his career, Les has held executive leadership positions and board appointments in private and public sector organisations, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CRA/Rio Tinto Limited and CSR Limited. He has also held senior academic and leadership roles in the tertiary education sector, including as Director of the Labour Studies Program at the University of Melbourne and as Chairman of the Hawthorn Institute of Education.

Les served over 10 years as a director of ASB Bank in New Zealand and as Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Staff Superannuation Fund. He is also a former director of ING Investment Management and the Defence Business Advisory Board. In 2002, Les was an independent member of the Australian Defence Force Remuneration Review.

He has a Masters in Economics and Graduate Diploma in Education from Monash University and has completed Harvard University's Advanced Management Program. He is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI).

Currently Les lives in Sydney and operates Invisible Hand Consulting, an independent corporate advisory business.

Associate Professor Dr Colin McLeod

Colin McLeod is an Associate Professor at Monash University and the Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies.

Colin joined the University from the Australian Football League where he was Head, Research and Innovation, having previously been General Manager – Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs. Colin was also Executive Director, Marketing and Brand Management at Goldman Sachs JBWere, following several years as Group Marketing Manager for Telstra's Mobiles division.

His academic career has included appointments at the University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California – Berkeley and honorary appointments as a Senior Associate of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

Colin holds a BA, an MBA and a PhD, with the Commercialisation of Innovation as the topic of his doctoral thesis. He has published in academic journals throughout his commercial career, including a recent publication in the prestigious Journal of Retailing.

Colin is a Director of a number of private companies involved in areas as diverse as internet technology development and environmental sustainability and he also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Olivia Newton John Cancer Centre at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.

Jo Mithen

Chief Executive Officer

Jo has been helping organisations to strengthen business operations and build their internal capability for more than 15 years.

Prior to her appointment to CEO of Monash College in 2008, Jo was General Manager, Melbourne and National Director of Dibbs Abbott Stillman Lawyers.  In this role she was instrumental in facilitating significant improvements through restructuring the organisation, including the introduction of a new partnership model and replacement of the senior management team of the firm.

As the CEO of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), Jo assisted Deakin University to purchase the business from insolvency and grow the business successfully for six years before re-structuring and selling in 2006.  Her role at AHRI included representing Australia on the Asia Pacific Federation of HR Management.  She was also elected by her Asian colleagues to represent Asia on the World Federation of People Management Associations, an organisation that represented over 500,000 HR professionals internationally.

Jo has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Law from Monash University and completed the Executive MBA at Melbourne Business School in 2005. She has previously been a Director of the Business Services Training Australia Board and Member Advantage, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA).