There are a great bunch of women working at CEnet.
- Anita Burgess - Integration Developer
- Blanca Cooke - Project Manager
- Courtney Gray - Procurement & Vendor Relations
- Diana Antoniadis - Management Accountant
- Gloria Ahern - Application Support Analyst / Trainer
- Janine Duggan - Business Analyst
- Jennifer Cabor - Financial and Administrative Services
- Karen Ellison - Application, Integration and Data Services Manager
- Kylie Hooper - Administration and Management Assistant
- Linda McGlone - Business Support Analyst
- Nina Yang - Accountant
- Rebecca Lees - BI and Data Warehouse Developer
- Rebekah Griffin - Projects and Change Leader
- Sue Diggins - Business Systems Consultant
- Vicki Anderson - CEO
To celebrate International Women’s day The Bulletin showcases some of their stories...
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Courtney Gray - Procurement & Vendor Relations
If someone had told me 20 years ago that I’d be coming up to my 17th year in Catholic Education I would have laughed.
Upon finishing my HSC I pursued a variety of different study options at university, primarily in the sciences. I planned on becoming everything from a dietitian to a police officer.
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In 2004 I commenced a part time role in the Admin and Finance team at Catholic Education Wollongong (CEW). This role enabled me to discover that I in fact preferred commerce over science which led me to study accountancy.
In 2012 a secondment position became available at CEnet. Having been exposed to the great work CEnet did through my work at CEW I jumped at the opportunity of joining the dynamic team at CEnet. After the secondment position ended, I was fortunate enough to be offered a full time position with CEnet where I have remained ever since.
As a woman in the workforce, I feel fortunate to work at CEnet. In 2016 I had my first child. I was thoroughly supported with paternity leave and flexible return to work arrangements.
I am proud to say that with CEnet’s support I have successfully been able to manage the demands of being a mother while working full time. In a matter of weeks, I am going on paternity leave for the second time. I’m once again grateful for the support of the leadership team and my wonderful colleagues at CEnet.
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Janine Duggan - Business Analyst
I started my career path with the desire to be a veterinarian. As I began gaining hands on experience within the local animal shelter, and encountered feral cats (terrifying creatures), ticks, fleas, mange and a showdown between me and ringworm (it took about 6 months to completely rid myself of this horrible fungus), I decided veterinary work was not for me.
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I instead decided to pursue a path with a different sort of terrifying creature...teenagers. I took my love of science and working with children and entered the education sector as a secondary school teacher. This was a very rewarding experience in a female dominated career with low wages and high turnover (This is the US education sector; it is very different to the Australian education sector).
Many years later, my family made a major life decision to move to a whole new country, and I arrived in Australia naively thinking that with all my teaching experience, I would quickly get a permanent job teaching (it was the substitute teacher life for me).
When CEnet contacted me, they were looking for someone with teaching experience to help support the rollout of a new SIS within the CEnet Diocese schools. Having no tech experience, I was very hesitant, but after meeting with CEnet leadership, I decided to pursue this job and thus begin my career path in the IT world.
I had survived feral cats and 15 year old humans as a substitute teacher, so although I was nervous about a career in IT, I was determined that I could do this too.
I have received so much support and encouragement from all the staff at CEnet. Working at CEnet has been rewarding, and I thoroughly enjoy the work I do each day.
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Karen Ellison - Application, Integration and Data Services Manager
My journey to CEnet.
At school I made the decision I would like to work in IT or Accounting. I read the list of subjects for each uni course and quickly came to my decision, IT. I am sure I had no idea what that meant at the time.
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I applied to uni in Year 12 and was accepted and moved to Sydney. I completed a Bachelor of Business major in IT. Then my IT career began. I did actually think that I would be a coder for life, but that didn't last long.
I have always been glad I selected IT and have been fortunate to work across many industries: Baking, Telco, Electricity, Banking, Manufacturing, outsourcing organisation ;in various sized organisations, some large, multinationals and others small and in many different roles.
I have worked with great people across my career which has provided me with a great variety of experiences and some very good friends. (Maybe they are friends because they know too much about me.)
In every role across all organisations I have worked in, I have always been able to rely on colleagues, management and senior management for support and advice. The people I have worked with have made significant impacts on the way I work and my personal values. They have influenced who I am as a person and how I react in different situations. We spend a lot of time with our work colleagues, more than our families.
So, when it came to applying for a role in CEnet, what was I looking for? Somewhere my experience could add value, an opportunity to develop and to work with good people to make a difference and have some fun. I found that at CEnet.
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Linda McGlone - Business Support Analyst
My ambition throughout high school had always been to study Forensic Science but when I realised it would require relocating to Wagga Wagga I couldn't bring myself to leave my family, so I opted to pursue my second passion, Mathematics. I was fortunate to secure a cadetship with a large, local manufacturing organisation so I went off to embark on a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accountancy.
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After 6 months at uni, I quickly came to realise that Accountancy is not Mathematics and I couldn't face the thought of the next 40+ years of work thinking "Debits to the window, credits to door"...apologies to the CPA's reading this! I spent the next few years in the organisation working in clerical positions while studying Architectural Drafting before moving into an Engineering Information Systems team where I started dabbling with databases, reporting and ERP tools.
My interest piqued, I returned to uni studying Information Systems. Over the next 20+ years, I was fortunate to perform a variety of activities ranging across development and support, business change management, data analysis & reporting, database administration, information system analysis & design, report development and user education. The last 3 years were spent in a management role where I was responsible for the governance, strategic direction, vendor management and service delivery for the organisation's document management system, intranet & collaboration tool and video hosting service.
Prior to CEnet, I spent 4 years working for a large aged care provider leading the HR operations team. This involved the governance of all transactional functions related to the employee lifecycle, implementing a new payroll and HR solution, integrating several acquired businesses and implementing a service delivery framework to support HR operational activities. I had a strong connection with organisation however the commitment was gruelling and on self-reflection, I realised that my health and well being was deteriorating and my family was in a very distant 2nd place.
I had heard great things on the grapevine about CEnet and it’s values and was excited to apply when an opportunity came up as a Systems Analyst. My aim was to find a hands-on role, in an organisation with integrity and that genuinely values a work life balance.
I have just clicked over my first year at CEnet and am delighted at what a positive experience it has been. The Applications team were welcoming and inclusive, the expectations are realistic, the work is interesting and there is a genuine warmth and compassion throughout the organisation. It has been amazing to see how broadly the CEnet services are across the various Dioceses and how much the effort of all the teams is appreciated.
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Rebekah Griffin - Projects and Change Leader
As former aeronautical engineering student, a woman in IT, and a former RAAF Officer, I'm accustomed to the pursuit of success in male-dominated environments.
Ironically, the most potentially career-limiting "boys club" mentality I have encountered in my career to date was specifically in an education setting where I was fulfilling a non-educator, professional services style of role.
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This showed me that poor attitudes can exist in the workforce, and that they’re generally neither intentional nor sinister but more typically the result of long-held cultural influences. Having said that, I still believe in the true meritocratic workplace. I seek out work situations where my skills and experience can add value in their own right, and where respect is freely extended when earned, irrespective of gender or any other demographic or social categories.
I have found such a workplace at CEnet. Sure - sometimes there are aspects of my work I don’t enjoy 100% of the time; that happens anywhere. Working with CEnet, I have experienced strong mentorship from senior women - and men - who are good leaders, both within CEnet and from among the Members. I soak up lessons from these leaders like a sponge and seek to emulate what I have learned.
At CEnet I have also had the confidence of good leaders extended to me in my capability to step into stretch assignments. Sometimes, they have had confidence in me when I’ve doubted myself, and this has helped me to grow both as a professional and as a human. From there all that has ever been asked of me was that I step up to the plate, add as much value as possible and justify the confidence that others have shown in me - something I endeavour to do each day at the service of our Members and their learning communities.
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Sue Diggins - Business Systems Consultant
When I left school, I thought I would do something with a maths focus as I was good at maths and I thought that was the logical thing to do!
I started off my career as a Commercial Trainee with BHP in Port Kembla, going to TAFE and then onto university. I was lucky enough to have my fees paid and I even got time off to attend classes.
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Eight years later when I was completing my Commerce degree, there was a lot of job uncertainty at BHP so I moved on to a financial accounting role in a local credit union and soon after started my family. Over the next 15 years I ran my own accounting business from home and worked as a TAFE teacher in the Illawarra area.
In 2004 my husband had the opportunity to do a job swap with a solicitor at the CPS in the UK, so we jumped at the chance to live overseas and we packed up our 3 children and moved to Liverpool initially for one year, but ended up being there on and off for nearly four years. My career took a very different path during that time and I was given the opportunity to lead a large team in a global insurance company as a financial operations leader. During that time, I also led a great deal of change management in the business, which included offshoring a number of roles to our partner business in India.
Living and working in the north of England was one of the best things I have done in my life, and it opened up a lot of opportunities not just for me but for the whole family as well. We have all made lifelong friends from the UK who are like family.
When we returned to Australia, I worked in a number of roles, including in the not-for-profit industry as a business partner.
I applied for my job working with CEnet nearly 5 years ago. When I read the job description I felt like it had been written for me, so I was really happy to be successful in being placed in the role.
I love helping and supporting our stakeholders, and I always get a lot of satisfaction adding value to their dioceses and making their job hopefully a lot easier.
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Vicki Anderson - CEO
While I was at school, I worked on building sites, as a netball referee, a gymnastics coach, at DJs and at Woolworths. After I had completed my HSC I was offered a traineeship in the Art department at Channel 10, but my father felt that I was too young to move to the ‘big smoke’ so I studied PE at UOW (the Wollongong Teachers college).
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When I started my career in IT (then called Electronic Data Processing) I didn’t even know what a computer was. That was not unusual as many of the women who started IT in the 70’s did not seek a career in IT, we were selected for the role when we applied for other roles in large corporate organisations. We were seen to have the right aptitudes for computing. Not many of us turned down the opportunity because IT was a very highly paid job for both men and women at that time.
Not many universities had computing faculties and those that did were way behind the corporate capabilities, so training was conducted by big computer companies such as IBM and Amdahl and the trainers were mostly women. Training was based on first principles, logic and first-generation machine dependent languages. I worked at a desk using a pencil and coding sheets (PCs had not been invented). I was on-call 24x7 and wore a pager (mobile phones had not been invented). IT was not considered “men’s’ work” and more than 50% of the coders were women in a time when fewer women were in the workforce.
I was soon promoted to be trainer, training new recruits in computer languages, testing processes and problem solving. This was followed by a stream of promotions including supervisor. My role as a supervisor was not a happy time as the team that I was supervising were all older than me and most of them were men who really were not comfortable with the situation. Fortunately, it was not long before I was promoted to project manager, as a manager was needed to co-ordinate the Data Centre consolidation of a data centre in Westernport Victoria to a data centre in Port Kembla.
In days before the Internet this involved planes and trucks to move tapes and disks from once site to another with a very small outage allocation. This project not only piqued my interest in Logistics it also taught me the importance of managing change and the dignity of work as a number of staff were made redundant.
I was then involved in a number of transformation projects transitioning staff and services to shared service organisations and outsourcing ‘non’ core services.
After the birth of my two son’s, I worked part-time as a systems programmer then returned to full time work to take on the role of IT Manager and had the opportunity to act as CIO when the CIO took extended leave. Shortly after this I worked in Senior IT Manager and CIO roles in Brisbane and Melbourne. Working on site during the week and travelling back home to my young family on weekends. Some of the roles included working on global IT sourcing, business strategy managing the global IT risk team and designing the BANZ (BlueScope Australia and New Zealand) IT Service. I gained a lot of experience during this time and I am grateful to my family for their support.
In my career I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work in a number of IT functions, hold board directorships and lecture at Sydney Business School. In 2012 I was feeling the need to ‘give back’ when a friend recommended a role at CEnet, a NFP that delivers shared services to Catholic education.
I will always be grateful to her for that recommendation. At CEnet I get to ‘give back’ by applying my skills to a mission that really matters and as a bonus I get to work with a great team of people!
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The 2021 Catholic Learning Online program continued last week with "A Beginners Introduction to Seesaw" workshop on Thursday morning facilitated by Lora Bance from the Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and presented by Mia Leonard from Seesaw in Chicago.
If you or your colleagues missed this event or the the recent Seesaw School Champions workshop, recordings of these events can be found in the Catholic Learning Online Resources page.
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Upcoming Catholic Learning Online Events 2021
Upcoming Events:
- March 18 - 4.15pm AEDT
The Apple Teacher Mac 2021 series will commence.
Presented by Apple Education and personnel from CEnet Member Dioceses.
- March 25 - 4.15pm AEDT
The Apple Teacher iPad 2021 Virtual Check-in number 2.
- April 12 - April 16
The Catholic Learning Online Summit
- May 27 - 3.30pm AEST
Google Fundamentals series commences.
Registration can be completed through Diocesan PD Registration Systems or by clicking here or using the button below to register interest.
Additional information will be made available in the Catholic Learning Online website closer to each event.
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Member Sharing
Tasmanian Catholic Education Office
Professional Learning Opportunity
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The following professional learning information, was provided by the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office (TCEO)in the spirit of sharing and is an opportunity for teachers from CEnet member dioceses to participate in a series of online events.
Details are as follows:
9 March | 8:00-9:00am AEDT
Making the most of Chromebooks
Join the Australian Google for Education team as we walk through ways to maximise your use of Chromebooks to impact learning in your school.
Register: bit.ly/3pLWXLB
15 March | 3:30-4:30pm AEDT
Google Classroom and SeeSaw
Join the Australian Google for Education team as we explore the power of Google Classroom. Let’s unpack how this powerful learning platform works hand in hand with SeeSaw in TCEO schools.
Register: bit.ly/3bAUu1A
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Lisa Mullins from the OverDrive team has designed a webinar specifically for Australian schools, "Using and Promoting Sora for Classrooms and Curriculum".
This free webinar will be held on Thursday, 11 March at 9am AEDT and is designed to benefit all schools that use Sora.
Discover the flexibility and adaptability of digital content for your classrooms, libraries, curriculum, and more while meeting your students' varied and complex needs.
Join the OverDrive team as they discuss the importance of a digital platform, how to use Sora from the staff and student perspectives, how to implement digital reading into your classrooms and curriculum, and how to get the word out to your school community about Sora.
If you are interested but unable to attend, please register anyway. All registrants will receive a link to the webinar recording to view at their convenience.
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Microsoft Mondays
Microsoft Australia is partnering with Girl Geek Academy, education social enterprise, to launch the Girl Geek Academy x Microsoft AI Technical Series to inspire and educate Year 7-10 (13-16 year old) women-identifying students to solve problems through AI through building technical skills.
This free initiative, which commenced on 22nd February and is running on Mondays from 4.30pm - 6.00pm AEDT, will provide a range of opportunities for girls including:
- Learn coding, technical and AI skills in a supportive and engaging environment led by Girl Geek Academy
- Learn practical skills like creating your own website, creating a Chatbot, creating a face tracking app, drawing with code – and much more!
- Access to inspiring women models at Microsoft & Girl Geek Academy – opportunity to hear their career journeys
- Access to virtual sessions in times that suit students: sessions take place after school at 4:30pm-6pm AEST, every Monday from February 22 – June 21 2021
For program details and registration for these free events commencing on 22nd February, click here or use the button below.
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Book of the Week
The CEnet member dioceses ACEN eBook Consortium, with the assistance of Lisa Nash and Saba Maniar from the Digital Learning and Library Services in Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta provide the book of the week feature for students and staff who have access to the SORA eBook Library.
Each week, two reading recommendations for eBooks or audio books, with age guidance are published for primary school students and high school students and to make sure that no-one is left out, there is a recommendation for staff too.
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Click on any of the three options above to go straight to the recommended books and enjoy the read!
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Share a Story
The CEnet Member Bulletin provides a great opportunity to share information about activities occurring in member dioceses.
If your diocese has an interesting story to share contact us.
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An archive of CEnet bulletin and other publications can be found in the CEnet website.
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Login now to access all of your CEnet applications.
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