Highly experienced educator Dr Sally Towns has been appointed as the new executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education and will start the role next year.
With more than 26 years in teaching and school and system leadership roles, Dr Towns is currently director of Catholic Schools and chief executive officer of Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools Limited.
Current BCE executive director, Pam Betts, will retire on December 10 and Dr Doug Ashleigh will act as executive director until Dr Towns takes over next May.
“In welcoming Sally, I pay great tribute to the contribution that Pam made to Brisbane Catholic Education and the Archdiocese of Brisbane for the past nine years and wish her well in the future,” Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.
Dr Towns started her professional career in the Canberra-Goulburn Diocese and has taught in a number of schools in the Diocese of Lismore.
In 2008, she took up an appointment as deputy principal and then as principal from 2009 until 2015 at MacKillop Catholic College, Hobart.
Dr Towns moved into system leadership with a role as director of School Effectiveness in the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Cairns in September 2015.
In this role, she took on significant leadership and administrative responsibilities. She was appointed as director of Catholic Schools in Lismore in July 2019.
Dr Towns gained a doctorate for the examination of the expectations and realities of students during their transition from primary to secondary education.
She has two Masters Degrees, in Education and Educational Administration respectively, and a Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies.
She has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course and is currently studying for Masters Degrees in Business Administration.
In addition, Dr Towns holds a B.Ed. (Secondary) and she has professional accreditation in Religious Education.
Her appointment follows an extensive national recruitment process, chaired by Bishop Ken Howell, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane, supported by Jenny Parker, chair of the Brisbane Catholic Education Council.