Wendy Wood will take the reins of Federation Training, a recent amalgamation of GippsTAFE and Advance TAFE, as its new chief executive.
The news follows the shock resignation of Federation Training chief executive Shaun McDonagh in the first week of the institution’s formation on 1 May.
In its next stage the institution is proposed to integrate with Federation University Gippsland, which operates at the former Monash University Churchill campus.
Ms Wood said her vision and plan for education in Gippsland was integration.
“Eventually under Federation Training, we’ll be mandated to deliver an integrated approach for training in Gippsland leading towards the amalgamation with Federation University,” Ms Wood said.
“A student will enter the technical or vocational sector with the ability to articulate directly with the higher education under the same organisation.”
Ms Wood comes to the role with expertise in business and cultural transformation in a consulting capacity and managing major changes.
She said the institution was looking at innovation and teaching outside of the traditional model.
“Our way of thinking is future delivery, that is we want more students, more access to students and more courses as flexible as possible,” Ms Wood said.
Ms Wood has held a number of senior executive and management roles within the health industry, with her most recent position as deputy CEO and executive director allied health, nursing and support at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
She also holds an honorary clinical associate professorship in the department of nursing, faculty of medicine, dentistry and health sciences at University of Melbourne.
