Theresa Simpkin

Terri is currently an Associate Professor and MBA Director at the University of Tasmania, having had a broad career that includes both vocational and higher education as well as general management, HR management and strategy in the commercial sector. She has also worked internationally with industry associations, large organisations and SMEs as a consultant, educator and public speaker.

Working closely with industry partners, such as those in the Data Centre sector and STEM sectors, Terri is currently pursuing a suite of research initiatives investigating workforce issues, gender disparities and emerging leadership paradigms. Work currently underway will add a different perspective to the gender debate regarding women in STEM.

As an educator Terri has worked extensively in, and has developed programmes for, schools, vocational education, the university sector and executive education. She has taught modules across a range of HR/OB, leadership and general business at certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate level for two decades.

Key achievements as an educator include developing the first (and multiple award winning) hotel school in Tasmania, writing and delivering the world’s first and only Masters in Data Centre Leadership and Management and managing the entirety of the international provision for the Lord Ashcroft International Business School as Head of Department, Leadership and Management – a global undertaking that managed international associate colleges as well as a full domestic suite of delivery in leadership, management and social enterprise on campus and off campus executive education.

As an academic she is currently invested in examining emerging managerial and leadership paradigms for the fourth industrial age, contemporary inclusion practices and the impostor phenomenon (IP). This work has a focus on inclusion, productivity, psychological health and the minimisation of implicit bias in organisational and social structures.

As the Director of her own consulting company, she has advised the Tasmanian government on skills, labour and training strategies and informed the Australian Government on skills shortages and labour market issues. She is currently a member of the global advisory committee to the Data Centre Sector on skills, education and inclusion.

In 2005 Terri was awarded a Churchill Fellowship which examined human resources leadership responses in tourism and hospitality and included professional development with Disney. She is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and is an Australian Human Resources Institute Certified Practitioner member.

A keen supporter of technical education she was a Trustee of the Baker Dearing Trust and a STEM Ambassador.

On a personal note, Terri identifies as a 'mad' Duran Duran fan and she is a devotee of the late Sir Terry Pratchett. Her lectures on topics such as leadership, management theory, diversity and inclusion in the Discworld novels have been sell out successes at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

Professional Associations

-Fellow of the HEA
-Certified Professional, Australian Human Resources Institute (CPHR)
-Chartered Member, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Chartered MCIPD)
-Churchill Fellow