Practera is pleased to welcome Professor Laura-Anne Bull to the team as Executive Director of Academic Partnerships.
As a recent Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students, committed digital innovator and Practera customer, Laura-Anne is well placed to work with our Higher Education customers in Australia and globally.
About the appointment, Laura-Anne said, “Experiential learning is a strategic opportunity space for Universities seeking to attract & retain students, enhance their employability and engage industry. 2020 is proving to be a year like no other and institutions have had to adapt quickly to becoming more digitally enabled whilst remaining cost-effective. A great deal of the heavy lifting has been done by university staff but there is still more work to do. I wanted an opportunity to develop my own skills and experience in digital innovation and edtech as these are crucial to the future of our sector. I’d worked with Practera before so I knew that they were global leaders delivering amazing impact for their customers and also great to work with. So having made the call to ‘disrupt myself’ in this time – it was a natural discussion and I’m now delighted to be part of the team. I’m looking forward to working with a range of colleagues from across the sector as we work in partnership to define our ‘new normal’ and continue to position Australia as a global leader in tertiary education where all our students engage in the best student experience anywhere in the world.”
Practera Co-Founder and Co-CEO Beau Leese agreed. “We’ve had years of edtech innovation compressed into months this year, and the next few years will see further innovation required to develop new value propositions for domestic & international students and industry partners. Having worked with Laura-Anne previously I knew her as a strategic digital innovator with a passion for student experience, access and equity – values that really align with our mission. I really respect that someone of Laura-Anne’s calibre has joined an edtech startup and she will be well placed to help our customers and leadership team with her insights and experience.”
Laura-Anne brings 15 years of Senior University Executive experience to the role. Most recently, Laura-Anne was Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students at James Cook University. Prior to her role as DVC with JCU, Laura-Anne was PVC Student Engagement and Equity at UniSA, Registrar Student Life at ANU, and Head of Student Experience, Registrar and Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Laura-Anne has worked as a Development Engineer with Syngenta & British Gas and holds a PhD in Chem Engineering.
Laura-Anne will join longstanding Practera Senior Academic Advisor Professor @Tony Watson as resident former Senior University Executives. Tony is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor International and Executive Dean Computing, Health & Science with Edith Cowan University.