APTC Board

Kaye Schofield is Chair of the Australia Pacific Training Coalition Board. She has worked in the Pacific since 1998 in many roles and in different fields including tertiary education, media, law and justice and public sector reform. Leadership roles in Australia have included Inaugural Chair and Interim CEO of the Australian Water Partnership; Executive Chair & CEO, Australian Skills Quality Authority; and CEO, Department of Employment & TAFE, South Australia. She has also served as Adjunct Professor of Education at the University of Technology Sydney. In 2014 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to vocational education and the community.

Bill Costello commenced as Assistant Secretary, Labour Mobility and Economic Growth Branch in The Office of the Pacific, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), in February 2020. His previous role was as Minister Counsellor, International Development, at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC from January 2016. Within DFAT, Bill was previously in charge of the Health and Water Branch and concurrently led DFAT’s Ebola Taskforce in 2014/15. Prior to this he worked as Assistant Secretary in DFAT’s Humanitarian Division. Bill has been a development professional for more than 30 years, and a member of AusAID’s and DFAT’s Senior Executive from 2008. Bill holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Science (Applied Geography) from the (then) Canberra College of Advanced Education.

Tuiloma Neroni Slade has had an extensive international career and public and development experience in the Pacific region. In 2014, Mr Slade completed a six-year term as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Mr Slade was formerly a Judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Samoa’s Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Assistant Legal Director with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and Attorney General of Samoa. He now undertakes international consultancies and is also the Chairman of the Samoa Ports Authority.

Dr Teuea Toatu is an economist by training and profession. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the Australian National University (ANU) Canberra, Australia. Professionally, Dr Toatu is a Senior Associate member of the Australasian Institute of Banking and Finance. He has held senior positions in government, regional and international organisations, having worked in the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji. Academically, Dr Toatu was a fellow at the Crawford School, ANU and lecturer at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Dr Toatu was elected to the Kiribati Parliament in 2016 and appointed Minister of Finance & Economic Development. Recently, he was appointed Vice President of the Republic of Kiribati but still holding the Finance Minister’s portfolio.

Lesieli Taviri is the CEO, Origin LPG Papua New Guinea. Lesieli has a Bachelor of Science from the PNG University of Technology and an MBA from the Torrens University, Adelaide, Australia. She is a Harvard Alumni having graduated from the Harvard School of Business Advanced Management Program (AMP191). Lesieli is the Deputy Chair of PNG’s largest Superannuation Fund, Nambawan Super Limited serving on the Audit and Risk Committee and Chairs the Transformation committee. She is the Founding Chair of the Business Coalition for Women and is a Director of Institute of National Affairs, a local socio-economic think tank. Lesieli is also a member of the PNG Institute of Directors and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Megan Lilly is the Head of Workforce Development for The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group). Prior to this she was the Chief Executive Officer of Business Services Training Australia, the national industry advisory board for the business services and related industry sectors. Before joining the national board, she held several senior management positions in various Victorian TAFE institutes. Ms Lilly is a member of the Australian Industry Skills Committee (alternating Director), Deputy Chair – Worldskills Australia, member National Apprenticeship Employment Network, member of the Australian College of Educators and the Naval Shipbuilding College – Delivery Advisory Committee. Megan has also been appointed to the expert Panel to Review the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

Fantasha Lockington is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association (FHTA) based in Suva. Ms Lockington is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors with a Masters of Business Administration from the University of the South Pacific and several IATA airline related management qualifications. In her capacity as the CEO for FHTA, she is the industry’s proponent for Government engagement with tourism businesses with strong advocacy for growth opportunities, productivity and equitable regulatory reforms. In her varied roles with the Fiji Higher Education Commission, Fiji National University Advisory Committee, Employment Relations Advisory Board, Fiji Revenue & Customs Services Review Committee, and the Fiji Commerce & Employment Federation’s Tourism & Transport Council, she supports private sector consultation and collaboration to strengthen and promote resilient business environments that will ensure Fiji’s biggest industry continues to grow sustainably.

Richard Brown is Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Queensland. He specialises in the economics of international migration, with a focus on the South Pacific, and in applied cost-benefit analysis. He has extensive international experience as an applied project and policy analyst, including industrial, infrastructural and educational projects and has conducted numerous professional development workshops in cost benefit analysis for government and non-government agencies in Australia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia and the South Pacific.