Board ballot

As a member of the Board since May 2023, I have supported the development and implementation of the AES Strategic Plan – with a focus on delivering value for members, strengthening AES’s leadership role and outward focus.
We have done a lot in the last few years, but many of our strategic projects are at important stages. I am keen to return to the Board to continue to progress the professionalisation project, making the connections with projects on a position on quality evaluation that makes a difference, updates to ethical guidelines and evaluator competencies.

As a Board member, I bring:

• a strong understanding of the sector and the value that the AES can provide for emerging and experienced evaluators, as well as opportunities to strengthen this value, and a commitment to delivering on these
• a strong understanding of the connections between current AES strategic projects and their dependencies
  skills in strategy from my work with various organisations
• a strong understanding of governance and financial literacy through my role as a company Director and CEO at ARTD Consultants
• facilitation and teamwork skills through my professional work and involvement in various AES committees.

I have been an active member of the AES since I first took a role in evaluation at ARTD consultants in 2008. I am currently co-chair of the professionalisation project team; was previously a member of the Relationships Committee; was a member of the NSW Regional Network from 2017–2023; co-convened the conference in Sydney in 2019; co-facilitated the inaugural FestEval in 2020; was a member of the inaugural blog editorial committee; and have regularly presented at conferences.

In my work at ARTD and as an AES member, I have demonstrated my commitment to the AES vision of quality evaluation that makes a difference and to the AES values. I have actively worked to support diversity and inclusion and recognition of the critical role of lived experience in evaluation, recruiting lived experience team members for projects and co-developing an approach that meaningfully embeds lived experience throughout an evaluation. I have also worked to support evaluation use in my practice and through my Master’s dissertation on evaluation use, shared through the Evaluation Journal of Australia.

Declaration of interests
I am a Company Director of ARTD Consultants
I am part owner of Grange Gully Bistro at Petersham Bowling Club.

I am nominating for the AES Board because I believe quality evaluation has never been more important. In increasingly complex environments, we need evaluation not only to generate evidence, but to help organisations learn, adapt and make better decisions for the communities they serve.

My career has focused on helping organisations use evidence to improve performance and outcomes. As Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation within a Victorian Government department, I lead work across evaluation, performance measurement, outcomes reporting and organisational learning. This has given me experience working with executives, program teams, policymakers and evaluators to build evaluation capability and support evidence-informed decision-making.

A perspective I would bring to the Board is that my role sits within an internal evaluation function. I operate across three domains: evaluation practitioner, evaluation user and evaluation ambassador. I understand the realities of delivering evaluations, but I also work closely with those who commission, fund and use evaluation. A significant part of my role is helping decision-makers understand the value of evaluation and embed evaluative thinking into planning, investment and continuous improvement.

I see this as a point of difference that aligns strongly with the AES vision and purpose. AES plays an important role in supporting evaluators, but it also has an opportunity to strengthen engagement with evaluation users and champions across government, not-for-profit and community sectors. I am passionate about helping bridge that gap and ensuring evaluation remains relevant, influential and practical.

If elected, I would bring strategic thinking, sound governance, a collaborative approach and a commitment to serving the interests of AES members. I would be honoured to contribute to advancing evaluation practice, promoting the use of evidence, and supporting a strong and sustainable future for the Society.

Declaration of interests
Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation, Victorian Government
Member, Australian Evaluation Society
I have no other interests in organisations (voluntary or paid) to declare

I am keen to nominate for the AES Board due to my passion for strengthening the use, quality and influence of evaluation in Australia and supporting a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable evaluation profession.

Over the past 20 years, I have worked across government, consulting and research roles, with a recent focus on embedding evaluation and evidence use within public sector decision-making. I currently serve as Managing Director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation within the Department of the Treasury and have previously held senior evaluation, policy and strategy leadership roles in the Victorian Government, including as Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Research Evidence in the Victorian Department of Health. Throughout my career I have worked to build evaluation capability, create evaluation systems and frameworks, and promote the use of evidence to improve policy and program outcomes.

I would bring a combination of governance, strategic leadership and professional engagement to the Board. I have contributed to the broader evaluation community through co-founding the Australian Public Sector Evaluation Network as a special interest group of the AES, supporting evaluation capability initiatives, contributing to professional development activities, and serving previously as a Board member of the AES.

If elected, I would continue to support the AES vision of promoting quality evaluation that makes a difference by helping strengthen evaluation capability, promoting the professionalisation of evaluation, and fostering connections across government, academia, consulting and community sectors. I am particularly interested in ensuring that evaluation remains relevant and responsive to the increasingly complex and fast-paced environments in which policy and program decisions are made.

I would welcome the opportunity to contribute to the continued success and strategic development of the AES and to serve the interests of its diverse membership.

Declaration of interests
Managing Director, Australian Centre for Evaluation, Department of the Treasury (paid).
Chair, OECD Evaluation Experts Group (voluntary/professional appointment).
Co-founder, Australian Public Sector Evaluation Network (voluntary).
PhD candidate, The University of Queensland (unpaid academic role).

MBA (UniSA), BAgSc (AdelUni), GradCert Finance (Harvard), Cert DCED, GradCert Evaluation (UniMelb, current)

Reasons for nominating
I have been responsible for the strategic governance of social development organisations for a long time.

If elected, I aim to use the knowledge and expertise that I have gained to contribute to rewarding member experiences; and enhancing the body-of-knowledge of evaluation; whilst bringing strong strategic planning and business acumen to the AES.

I will contribute to achieving the AES’s mission and values, as Kim Grey expressed: ‘The voice, energy and expertise of directors guides the association to build and maintain an inclusive and diverse evaluation community, able to meet the needs of a diverse Australia into the future.’

Skills
I believe that my skills, experience and collegiality will benefit the needs of the AES Board, evaluation practitioners, and most importantly, will assist to advance the wellbeing and cohesion of society.

• A career of governance and leadership, including being the Chairperson of a major commercial company of Adelaide University; and board member of the following: 3 private companies, 3 NFPs (under ACNC legislation), one Foundation, 3 Industry Bodies (one as Chair (IDCC)), a national research organisation (CRA), a University Advisory Board (Carnegie Mellon).
• Since 2014, I have been immersed in cross-cultural research and evaluation as director and partner of Ninti PL, which I co-founded with 3 Aboriginal leaders (Chairperson is Prof Tom Calma AO). The Ninti group is Australia’s biggest and most active First Nations consulting entity, currently with over 100 staff and contractors. Ninti is a regular contributor and sponsor of the annual AES Conference. I’ve attended 4 conferences, and 3 Ninti Aboriginal staff have received AES’s CSGs.
• Before Ninti, I became the GM of Coffey International Development (now Tetra Tech) in Adelaide and London (2 years); and a member of Coffey’s global management team where I led board-level governance and strategic direction for this ASX-listed company that operated in 85 countries with approximately $1B in contracts.
• I’ve been organisationally responsible for the completion of evaluations in >40 counties, and recently co-authored 2 published evaluations.

Declaration of interests
Directorships: Ninti One Limited, Director, Ninti Training Limited, Director, Ninti One Foundation, Director, Ninti Pty Ltd.

My name is Matt Healey, and I am nominating for a position to the Board for the Australian Evaluation Society. I have been on the board for the last two years, and I am eager to continue for another term to see through the work as part of the organisation’s Strategy.

I am a big believer in the Society’s role as an elevator of members opportunities to grow, develop, and ultimately contribute to a world that is more just. At the centre of this is the members themselves, and ensuring that the work that the Society does is centred on their needs and priorities. In addition to the regular board duties, I have been chairing the Vitality Committee, which is the primary stream of work in relation to member value and services. We have most recently finalised the Member Value Proposition to guide future work, and I can see the path ahead more clearly for the next two years of the Strategy.

What I will bring into my next term:

• Motivation and enthusiasm to see the work done as part of the Strategy, and in particular ensuring a Society that delivers value to its members.
• A commitment to finding and advocating for ways in which emerging members can learn, develop, and contribute back into what we do.
• Humility and good humour – we are all here to learn, but also we need to ensure we are enjoying ourselves while we do it. In particular, I am conscious of how much volunteers for the AES provide to make it run as well as it does, so we need to ensure an operating environment that we all enjoy.

I relish a challenge, and I will work with the rest of the Board, and the sector, to ensure that we take the chance to continue strengthening the Society. To be resilient, representative of its members, and supporting of all to ensure we can ultimately make a difference.

Declaration of interests
In terms of interests in other organisations, I do declare that I am a Co-Founder of First Person Consulting (FPC), which is an evaluation consulting firm.

As an AES Board Member I will promote robust, culturally responsive, and impactful evaluation across Australia. Living and working on Dharug Country in Colomatta / Blue Mountains, I serve as director of evaluation in the Cente for Education Statistics and Evaluation within the NSW Department of Education. I lead the largest public service evaluation unit in Australia, overseeing evaluation policy, capacity building, and a broad portfolio of mixed-methods evaluations, and I have previously worked as an academic and a freelancer as well as running a small business. I am also a member of the NSW Government Monitoring and Evaluation Leadership Group.

I am dedicated to strengthening evaluative practice while fostering a culture of transparency, continuous learning, and shared capability. For example, I have strengthened departmental capacity by sponsoring a 400+ member community of practice and establishing an annual evaluation conference with 200+ delegates from across government agencies, which has featured speakers including Duncan Rintoul on sensemaking, Amy Gullickson on warrants and evaluative reasoning, and Eleanor Williams on international evaluation systems.

I am committed to centring First Nations voices in evaluation. I am responsible for the implementation of the department’s culturally responsive evaluation policy, delivering culturally responsive evaluations, and building ongoing partnerships with First Nations evaluators. These efforts have raised the profile and credibility of culturally responsive evaluation in the department. If elected, I will champion culturally responsive, First Nations-led evaluation across all sectors, and the incorporation of culturally responsive methods into evaluations more broadly.

My experience on both sides of the commissioning process has given me insight into the opportunities and challenges facing evaluators, and my current role places me well to advocate for quality evaluation in government, in particular the incorporation of evaluative thinking at every stage of the policy cycle. I will help to build pathways for emerging evaluators, in particular First Nations evaluators and others from under-represented groups.

I am committed to serving our members with sound governance, collaborative leadership, and a focus on long-term sustainability. Together, we can ensure quality evaluation continues to make a meaningful difference across society. I respectfully ask for your vote.

Declaration of interests
I am an employee of the NSW Department of Education, and a director of Sequitur Consulting.