Academic Board
Professor Leon Sterling
Chair, Academic Board

Professor Leon Sterling has had a distinguished academic career. After completing a PhD at the Australian National University, he worked for 15 years at universities in the UK, Israel and the United States. He returned to Australia as Professor of Computer Science at the University of Melbourne in 1995. He served as Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering for 6 years. After stepping down as Head, he took up an industry-sponsored chair and became the Adacel Professor of Software Innovation and Engineering. In 2010, he moved to Swinburne where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies for 4 years and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Digital Frontiers) for two years. He has been a prominent figure in IT in Australia and a strong advocate for coding in schools through public lectures, blogs, and committee memberships. His current research is in incorporating emotions in technology development. He has extensive academic governance experience, serving for 4 years as Chair of the Academic Board Teaching and Learning Committee at Melbourne, and has reviewed many departments throughout Australia and New Zealand. He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a director on several boards.

Professor John Hall, PHD
Academic Board Member and Dean
With more than 20 years’ experience as an academic, John has provided leadership in a variety of administrative roles, including being a Professor, Dean, Head of Department, Campus Head, and Director of a research centre, along with an extensive record of teaching, research and publication. John’s expertise is in the field of Marketing where he had some 250 outputs relating to marketing theory and practice, which include 75 journal articles, 160 conference papers, 15 books and 25 chapters and case studies. John’s research has had a substantial impact with an h-index of 29 and over 14,000 citations. His main research interests are in consumer behaviour and branding with a focus on leisure, tourism, hospitality, marketing education and social marketing. His research and teaching has been recognized for its excellence in the attainment of a number of awards, including seven best papers in track at well recognized conferences. John’s expertise is also in applied research with over 90 research projects undertaken with local, state and federal governments as well as small, medium and large business organizations, including two ARC linkage grants. John is an experienced, hardworking and enthusiastic academic who delivers strong, collaborative and supportive leadership leading to quality teaching and research and positive administrative outcomes.
Professor Garry Harris
Academic Board Member
Garry brings a unique mixture of board level industry experience and relevant academic management to EIA. He has been professor and Head of the Marketing Department at Monash University and the CEO of one of the largest advertising agencies groups in the world (DDB). More recently, based in Hong Kong, he served as a Global Marketing Director for a significant international digital technology player. Throughout his career, he has consulted at board level to global blue chip clients in Australia, Asia, USA and Europe. His Monash experience included teaching, research and building links with industry. At the time, Monash marketing had the largest marketing department in the Southern Hemisphere and secured undergraduate students that ranked within the top 3% of high school results. While at Monash, he also developed undergraduate degrees in marketing and retail management and graduate diplomas in International Trade, Logistics and Agribusiness together with a Master’s degree in Marketing (the first of its kind in Australia) and attracted top PhD research students to the department. During this time, he was the chairman of committee that led to Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM) award. More recently, he has spent 6 years as a member of the Academic Board at Cambridge International College. At the time, they successfully developed a bachelor’s degree in management. Whilst running DDB, he was responsible for 300 staff, 50 clients (including Heinz, Cadbury, Schweppes, Telstra, McDonalds, Flybuys, etc.) and subsidiary companies in PR, direct marketing and the largest call center in the Southern Hemisphere, Salesforce, of which he was Chairman. He continues to advise leading companies at board level and governments on strategy, branding and digital opportunities. He also retains a number of board posts in Australia, Asia and Europe.
Professor On Kit Tam

Academic Board Member

Professor On Kit Tam is a Professor of Finance at RMIT University, and the Vice President of the Australia China Business Council Victoria. He has extensive experience as a board director, industry association leadership, leader of consultant teams, and chairing committees at university, faculty and school levels. He has published highly acclaimed books and journal articles in finance and economics. His research has received significant research grants from organizations including the Australian Research Council, University of Maryland, and the Ford Foundation. Professor Tam was previously the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor at RMIT University and the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University. He has also worked in Australian Government’s Department of the Treasury, UNSW, Monash University, and Philips Hong Kong. He has held visiting/adjunct positions at ANU, University of California Berkeley, Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco, Nanjing University, and the University of Hong Kong. Professor Tam has been a consultant and adviser for major international organizations and corporations including the World Bank, ADB, ANZ Bank, Bankers Trust, Lend Lease, MLC, and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has served on several company boards including a fund management company set up by CBA, and was a Director of Board of Royal District Nursing Services.
Dr Celina Yu
Academic Board Member and General Manager
Dr Yu is the founding Managing Director of two related educational organisations in Melbourne, Global Business College of Australia (GBCA) (vocational) and Edvantage Institute Australia (EIA) (higher education). Under her leadership, GBCA and EIA have become vibrant and growing private education providers.

Dr Yu obtained her Master of Professional Accounting at Monash University and PhD in Finance at RMIT University. Her PhD thesis was awarded the prestigious Best Doctoral Research Excellence Award in 2014. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and a qualified CPA.

Dr Yu has also been active in contributing to a range of public, academic, commercial and not-for-profit sectors in leadership roles. These include Member of the Victorian International Education Advisory Council (IEAC), Vice President of Executive Committee, Co-Chair of Women’s Executive Forum and Deputy Chair of the Education and Training Working Group at Australia China Business Council (ACBC) Victoria, Non-Executive Director of Australian Contemporary Opera Company (ACOCo), Member of Employment and Education Task Force of the Business 20 Forum at G20, and Co-Founder and Inaugural President of Australia-China Association of Scientists and Entrepreneurs (ACASE).
Dr Wen Shao
Academic Board Member and Academic Director
Wen is the Academic Director at Edvantage Institute Australia. He received his MPhil in Computer Science from the Australian National University. His research interest focuses on Higher Education Policy and Management (Quality Assurance), Higher Education governance and management at systems and institutional levels using international comparisons, and technological innovations in Higher Education.

Wen has significant expertise in tertiary education, with focus on governance, leadership and quality assurance. He has led and participated in a few higher education registration and course accreditation projects.