Council membership - Members appointed by the Governor in Council
Ms Helen Buckingham
Position: Retired
Term of appointment: until 30 June 2012
Helen has been a teacher, a Careers Counsellor, Local Councillor and Member of Parliament.
Helen Buckingham retired as a Member of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria in 2006. She served as the member for Koonung Province. Whilst a Member of Parliament she served on the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Education and Training. Helen also chaired the Parliamentary Review of the Body Corporate Legislation and Regulations culminating in the Owners Corporation Act 2006. Helen was an elected Councillor in the City of Whitehorse (Riversdale Ward) March 1997-2002. Serving as Mayor 1998-1999. Helen also served as a Board Member of Box Hill Hospital 1991-1995 and was a member of the Monash University Department of Physiology Animal Ethics Committee 1995-2001. Helen trained as a history and politics secondary school teacher and later as a careers counsellor. She was the Careers Counsellor at PLC for 10 years. In 1998 she was awarded the Australian Institute of Company Directors Diploma.
Helen has extensive State and Local Government experience where she developed her consultative and collaborative skills. Her teaching, careers counselling and membership of the Parliamentary Committee for Education and Training have given Helen a lasting interest and commitment to education. Helen is a member of the Victorian Institute of Teaching and she is married with two children.
Qualifications: BA, DipEd LaTrobe, DipAICD NSW, GradDip Careers Deakin
Ms Jennifer Lightowlers
Position: Solicitor, Partner of Francis Abourizk Lightowlers
Term of appointment: until 31 December 2012
Ms Jenni Lightowlers is admitted to practice in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania as well as in Victoria. Jenni graduated from the University of Melbourne with an Honours Degree in Law and has since been awarded a Masters of Law from the University of Melbourne. She is also a qualified mediator. Prior to being in the law, Jenni taught English at secondary school level in WA, SA and Victoria. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Diploma in Education from the University of Western Australia.
As a lawyer, Jenni worked initially in a major commercial law firm in Melbourne before moving on to work in-house as a corporate lawyer at both Sirotech and CSIRO. In 1993, she became a foundation partner of Francis Abourizk Lightowlers. She provides advice in the areas of corporate governance, fiduciary obligations, space law, alternative dispute resolution, intellectual property generally, mining law, establishment of international consortia, corporate restructuring, co-operative research centres and other grant funded operations including the establishment and operational issues associated with them labelling laws and comparative advertising, patent and trade mark portfolio management and agreements and assignments of intellectual and industrial property. Jenni is also a director and company secretary of International Network for Acid Prevention (INAP) Limited, a public company established by a consortia of international mining companies; and is company secretary to the Vision CRC Limited.
Jenni has drafted intellectual property statutes under the direction of the relevant intellectual property committees for the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts. This entailed liaising with various working groups established by the Vice-Chancellor, including attendance at Legislation Committee meetings and Council. Jenni is currently the chairperson of the Legislation Committee.
Jenni is currently a Deputy Chancellor.
Qualifications
BA, Dip Ed, LLB (Hons), LLM
Mr Peter Niblett
Position: Chartered Accountant
Term of appointment: until 30 June 2012
Mr Peter Niblett is an executive director in Risk Advisory Services with Ernst & Young in Melbourne. He is the Client Service Partner responsible for the Emergency Services Cluster within the Victorian Government sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young in Melbourne, Peter worked with Ernst & Young in London where he co-ordinated the technology activities for Ernst & Young in the UK Government Sector with responsibilities for delivering large scale projects on procurement and Shared Services across all Government Agencies in the UK. Peter was previously the Director – Technology, Risk & Business Advisory Services at WHK Day Neilson where he was employed for 20 years.
Peter was born in Colac and educated in Geelong, attending Geelong High School, the Gordon Institute of Technology and Deakin University, having obtained a Bachelor of Commerce in 1985.
Qualifications:
BCom (Deakin), CA, FCPA, CISA, CISM
Mr James Nicol
Position: Retired solicitor
Term of appointment: until 31 December 2012
Mr James Nicol was a partner in Maddens Lawyers, a Warrnambool firm of solicitors, from 1975 until 2009. He practised in the area of commercial law, succession planning and estate administration. He was appointed a Notary Public in 1985. He was President of the Western District Law Association from 2005 until 2008.
James was a Councillor of the City of Warrnambool from 1988 to 1992 and again from 1996 to 2004 and served two terms as Mayor from 2001 to 2003. While on Warrnambool City Council he was also a member of the Municipal Association of Victoria Indigenous Issues Network and a member of the Barwon South West Region Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee. He was also the Council's representative on the Corangamite Regional Library Board for the entire period of his Council membership. He is a past Chairman and Honorary Life Member of the Warrnambool Racing Club Inc. He is also former President and Committee member of the Deakin University Football Netball Club Inc., and is the current Treasurer of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival Committee.
In 2003, James was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Federal Government for "service to the Warrnambool community through local government".
James has also been heavily involved in many aspects of the Warrnambool community, including activities aimed at addressing youth homelessness, long term unemployment, alcohol and drug dependence, and at providing services for the aged and disability services.
James is strongly committed to education for rural and regional communities. He also has substantial governance experience, including as former Chairman of the Warrnambool Performing Arts Centre Advisory Board, former Chairman of the Warrnambool Youth Advisory Board, former Chairman of Warrnambool Work Skills Inc., (providing training and assistance for the long term unemployed). He is a current Board member and former Chairman of Lyndoch Warrnambool Inc., (the major provider of aged care services in Warrnambool) and current member of Western Region Alcohol and Drug Dependence Inc., a position he has held since 1983. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Brophy Family & Youth Services Inc., of which he was Secretary for 25 years. He is also a Board member of Southern Way Direct Care Service Inc., (a provider of disability services in Warrnambool).
James is currently a Deputy Chancellor.
Qualifications:
LLB (Melb)
