The Board of Directors

Frank Peach - Chairman

Frank Peach is a director and Chairman of the Board.  Frank had an extensive career in the Queensland Public Sector which included appointments as Director General of the Department of Education and Director General of the Department of Families.  Prior to his appointments to senior positions in Education and Families, Frank was a secondary school inspector, principal and teacher. With nearly forty years experience in teaching, administration and leadership Frank brings vast experience and expertise to the Board. Frank is currently a management consultant and has worked as an international consultant.

Douglas Pritchard - Director

Douglas Pritchard, FCA, ACIS, JP, joined the ICA Colleges Board in April 2008.  Douglas is owner, Director and Principal of Pritchard Seymour Chartered Accountants.  He has specialized in audit, SME compliance and taxation for over forty years. 

Doug has previously served on the Boards of Elders Mining Ltd and Malachite Resources NL and has served as the Finance Director to the Rotary Club of Sydney. 

Doug has also served as a  Board Member of The McDonald College Limited (1984 – 1987), as Chair of  The McDonald College Limited Board (2000 – 2006), as Finance Director of The McDonald College Limited (2000 – 2005) and as an advisor to the Board of the American International School at Carlingford, NSW.

Dr Peter Cuttance - Director ec

Dr Peter Cuttance joined the ICA Colleges Board in April, 2008. Peter has 35 years of experience as an educator, researcher and educational administrator in schools and universities and holds degrees in science, economics and education. He has held the positions of Professor and Head of the School of Educational Psychology, Measurement and Technology and the School of Educational Psychology, Literacies and Learning at the University of Sydney (1996 – 2000), and Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied Educational Research at the University of Melbourne (2000 – 2005). Since 2005, Dr Cuttance has held the position of Managing Director of the Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII) which he established as a non-profit Education Foundation providing services to education organisations throughout Australasia.

Peter has an international track record in educational innovation, educational improvement and effectiveness and in the development of evidence-based projects in education. Over the last decade and a half, he has developed programs that have been responsible for the evaluation and development of projects in a wide range of areas of education in Australia and New Zealand. He has led government Research and Development Projects with a combined budget of more than $10 million and is an adviser to the Commonwealth Government and State Governments on a range of educational policy issues. Peter has led the research and development teams for the National Quality of Schooling Framework and the Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools Project since their inception.

Peter has published numerous scholarly articles and contributions were recognised in an editorial forward in the Cambridge Journal of Education as being at the ‘leading-edge’ of school review and improvement internationally.

For a list of Dr Cuttance's consultancies, projects and engagements, please click here.

Peter Hocking - Director

Peter joined the ICA Colleges Board in September, 2008. He has had a 30 year career in commercial, corporate and investment banking with various executive roles including Chief General Manager / Executive Director of Credit Lyonnais Australia Limited and director of Credit Lyonnais Securities.  Peter was at the time, the youngest director ever appointed within the Credit Lyonnais global network, then ranked as the 7th largest Bank in the world.

Peter began his career with the Commercial Bank of Australia in South Australia, moving to NSW to work in branch banking, personnel management and corporate banking. In 1980, he was seconded by CBA to its then consortium merchant bank, International Pacific Corporation, working with other shareholders, N.M Rothschild and Harris Bank Chicago, in a corporate services role. This appointment was the beginning of a continuing career in merchant / investment banking. After leaving Credit Lyonnais at the end of 1990, Peter headed a financial services executive recruitment business for two years and then assumed the role of Director, Business Support Services with chartered accountants BDO in Sydney, working in close collaboration with the BDO Insolvency practice, also undertaking Independent Assessment assignments for both CBA and ANZ.

Since 1995, Peter has been consulting to and advising second tier companies, as Group General Manager of  The John Hewson Group,  raising capital for new and existing businesses and advising on growth and businesss development strategies. Peter teamed with John Hewson in 1995 and has worked across all business sectors in this role. He is an authorised representative under the Hewson Group AFS Licence.

Peter is currently a director of a number private companies, including Arthritis Research Taskforce Limited. He was a founding director / shareholder of Belle Property Pty. Ltd and has over the years held other board positions, both executive and non executive. Peter has extensive national network connections across the business and professional sectors.