Who we are.
Meet the many faces behind the Deadly Ed Foundation.
Board
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Kane is a proud Dharug man with a strong dedication to education, community, and advocacy. Over the course of my career, Kane has held a range of roles including various high school educator positions, Manager at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE), and Senior Executive Officer at TAFE NSW. As an experienced educator, he has spent much of his career working to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
At the Deadly Ed Foundation, Kane is committed to creating pathways for young people to succeed academically while celebrating and preserving the rich cultural heritage of Aboriginal people.
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Josh is a Worimi man, who grew up on Worimi country on the Mid North Coast of NSW. As a teacher, Josh has evolved his education background into business, consulting and organisational strategy on outcomes that enhance cultural education and positively impact Aboriginal peoples and country.
Through his work in education, Josh aims to create a future where all Australians are educated about and connect with Aboriginal cultures, whilst enhancing reconciliation and future outcomes of our Aboriginal kids.
Josh is Co-Founder of the Deadly Ed Foundation & Deadly Ed, and is the Chair of the Foundation Advisory Board
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Born and bred on Dharawal Country, Mel is a proud Aboriginal woman who lives in Shellharbour on the NSW South Coast.
Mel’s background is working in the tourism industry, where she worked at Destination Wollongong for many years in several roles that include visitor information, administration, international sales and marketing, domestic marketing campaigns and social media.
Mel is an active member of the local Aboriginal community and previously sat on the Destination Wollongong RAP committee in helping establish their RAP.
Mel is focused on helping the Deadly Ed Foundation to empower Aboriginal education across Australia, in particular to regional and remote communities.
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Derek Kinchela, a proud Gamilaroi and Yuggera man, is an educator with a background in secondary education. He brings extensive experience in advancing cultural competency and empowering Indigenous student success.
With a focus on celebrating Indigenous knowledge systems, Derek’s career spans roles in student engagement, curriculum innovation, and strategic educational initiatives. His work prioritises equity, cultural pride, and reconciliation, building awareness of colonisation while promoting cultural responsiveness.
Derek’s strengths-based approach continues to drive meaningful, lasting change across the education sector and broader communities.
Our Advisors
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Alex is a seasoned leader who brings expertise in sustainability, place-based solutions, policy, strategy and governance. Alex is a Non-Executive Director of St George Community Housing, Place Management NSW, Tracey Brunstrom and Hammond Pty Ltd, a Trustee of Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
As a former Deputy Secretary in the NSW Government, Alex drove a place-based approach to planning and infrastructure and led Premier’s priorities to improve the quality of public space across NSW and to plant a million trees across Greater Sydney. Alex also led significant cultural infrastructure projects and supported the work of the Government Architect’s Office in finalising the Designing with Country guidelines.
Alex is a planning and environmental lawyer admitted in 1999 and has a Masters in Administrative Law and Policy from the University of Sydney. In 2022, Alex founded Sustainable Solutions Advisory which provides strategic advice on sustainability, place-based solutions, and leadership. Alex is also a member of the Science Advisory Council of UNSW.
Alex is passionate about values-led and inclusive leadership. She grew up in Dubbo on Wiradjuri Country where she began learning about First Nations culture, a journey that continues - Alex deeply values what she has learnt from the world’s oldest living culture and the opportunity to broaden her perspective by growing her knowledge.
Alex is committed to doing what she can to support First Nations leadership and enable other people to grow their knowledge of First Nations culture so that we can begin a process of healing in Australia.
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Simon grew up on a farm in Bundjalung country. After graduating with a Bachelor of International Business (majors in Marketing & Japanese), Simon moved to Japan for four years where he became an interpreter and translator for an international trading firm, whilst teaching on weekends and evenings. This grounded Simon’s love for business and multi-culturalism right from the outset.
Simon was then headhunted by a large Japanese scuba franchise and seconded to their busiest operation in Saipan, Micronesia for another four years. This was where he cut his entrepreneurial teeth, where in between dive guiding he launched a wakeboard business from scratch within the scuba firm, outstripping the entire core diving revenue within two years and changing the face and success of the entire operation. Simon was also responsible for much of the island’s PR and media on many fronts including commercials and documentaries.
Upon returning to Australia Simon worked in corporate spanning a range of industries including air ambulances, insurance and pharmaceuticals. In 2010 Simon became one of three co-owners of the newly founded Vegepod, and as Sales & Marketing Director was responsible for taking it from a meagre $20k/annum revenue to an annual multimillion dollar business operating in 22 countries and winner of numerous awards.
Simon’s passion in horticulture and Vegepod always remained in the community projects. As Head of Community he drove Vegepod’s entire arm supporting aged care, disabilities, remote and rurals, returned servicepeople, indigenous groups, in the justice system, mental health, hospitals, social housing, schools and early learning centres. It was in this sphere where Simon met DeadlyED co-founder Josh Brown.
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Richard Davis was born and bred on Dharawal Country, on the NSW South Coast. With ties to Bunjalung and Yuin nations within NSW.
Richard was the AEDO at Illawarra iTec for over 30 years and during that time he helped small businesses with advice and assisted them in establishing themselves as successful Aboriginal businesses within the community.
Richard is currently Chairperson of the Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation, a role he is very passionate about and one that he has done for many years. Richard is known in the local Illawarra community as an Elder and if often performing a Welcome to Country at local events as well as attending and presenting at community and corporate events throughout the region.
Richard is now retired however remains passionate about his local community and his culture, he continues to be a presence in the community to ensure our culture is acknowledged and celebrated.
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Michael is a member of the Gumbaynggirr Nation and has been involved in Aboriginal education since 1992, working in schools through to University. Within higher education, he has worked at the Wollotuka institute at the University of Newcastle (UON) from 1996 until 2018 teaching across all the Aboriginal Studies courses within the degree. Including being the coordinator and developer of a mandatory working with Aboriginal students’ course for all education students at UON since 1998. A primary focus of his teaching and research has been based around supporting Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students working with Aboriginal students and the benefits of implementing collaborative content about Aboriginal society to all students.
Michael is currently the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at La Trobe University and engage through La Trobe’s Indigenous Strategy with all aspects of Indigenous education and engagement in teaching and learning and research at La Trobe. He is a member of the Australian Research Council Indigenous Forum, an Executive member of University Australia Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous committee and a Life Member of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Committee (AECG).