I’ve been an AuSAE member since…

2009, when I moved into the CEO role at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers.

The most valuable thing about my AuSAE membership is…

Access to others’ responses to issues we (association executives) face, even though the contexts of the organisations are worlds apart. There may be a perception that maths teachers think they know everything – I know that is not the case!

Before I was an association executive I was…

Working in the mathematics curriculum support area of the local education department – I started my working life as a teacher.

If I wasn’t an association executive I would be…

In some other role in mathematics education – in a school or university, or consulting in some capacity. It is my field and I love it as it is endlessly interesting and challenging, and there are real opportunities to make a difference.

The thing that gets me out of bed every morning is…

A combination of the alarm clock, the fact that the livelihoods of seven people (our paid staff) rest to a significant to degree on what we do during the day and the chance to work for, and on behalf of, a bunch of people who care about teachers, kids and their learning of mathematics.

My career highlight would have to be…

That from my background as a teacher I have developed the skills and networks to lead a complex, vibrant, responsive organisation that is respected in the sector.

I love working with the not-for-profit sector because…

Of the lack of internal bureaucracy. If an idea is convincing, furthers the objectives and we can fund the proposal, then we just get on with it. Try that in government, a school, a university or big business!

The trouble with some associations is…

Is impossible to know – unless you’re inside an association you can’t know whether a particular characteristic is a problem, an opportunity or ‘just the way it is’!

As an association executive it is important to…

Be well informed about the current work and strategic directions of the association.

The relationship between a director and a board is…

Sometimes tense, sometimes puzzling, sometimes disconnected, sometimes infuriating, and it is always essential for me as CEO to try to make the relationship more positive, transparent, connected and harmonious.

I am inspired by…

The many extraordinarily talented and committed teachers of mathematics that I meet, or whose work I hear about, on an almost daily basis.

When I am not working you can find me…

Not working? And that might be when? Seriously, I can turn off almost instantly when the grandkids arrive; or my wife and I head off for a weekend at our holiday house on the River Murray near Adelaide; or when we take a break and travel overseas. But the phone and iPad are pretty much always on as I prefer to keep connected with what is happening.