People

Staff

Rangan Srikhanta is the Executive Director of OLPC Australia. In his role he manages the organisation’s partnerships with departments of education and training, Indigenous Land Councils, Universities, state and federal Government representatives and major Australian corporations.

While the local arm of the OLPC organisation officially launched in May 2009, Rangan had been focused on its conception since three years prior and is counted as one of the founders of the Australian program. Having recognised the great divide in opportunity for metropolitan and remote children in Australia – the fourth world – Rangan lobbied the Global body of OLPC to extend its reach.

Since its launch Rangan has overseen OLPC Australia’s growth from a fledgling to a multi-tiered organisation that addresses educational disadvantage through the provision of a unique learning tool, a comprehensive teacher-training module and a sustainable deployment and implementation strategy which aim to empower 400,000 young Australians to realise their full potential.

Rangan is a graduate from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) with a double degree in Business (Accounting Major) and Computing. He spent four years at the United Nations Association of Australia, NSW Division as a Director and three years as Treasurer.

Rangan is a recipient of the Elizabeth Hastings Memorial Award for his work contribution to the wider community as a student of UTS.

Penelope Bowden, Marketing Manager

Penelope Bowden is the Marketing Manager and Corporate Liaison for OLPC Australia. She holds a degree from the University of Technology, Sydney in Communications where she majored in Public Communications, Marketing and Music.

Before joining OLPC Australia, Penny avidly explored many of the world's poorest nations and communities, an endeavour which spurred a desire to be involved in empowering persons affected by abject living conditions.

In her role at OLPC Australia she is responsible for the development and delivery of marketing initiatives that are relevant to the institutions, schools and students with which the organisation is engaged, as well as corporate and public Australia.

Penny strives to deliver dynamic and consistent marketing tactics that reflect the charity's unique philanthropic offering. Penny also manages the relationships between the charity and a host of influential corporate institutions across various sectors of the Australian business landscape.

Crighton Nichols, Research and Education Manager

Crighton joined OLPC Australia in August 2009 to help ensure the deployment model respectfully considers the diversity of Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems. Crighton now also manages the education and research stream, where he assumes overall responsibility for ensuring that appropriate training is available to educators, be they in the school or community, so they are capable and confident of using the XOs in creative ways that will engage their students and help them learn more effectively.

Crighton has Bachelor degrees in Computer Systems Engineering (Hons I) and Physics from the University of Queensland, a Masters degree in International Development Studies from Uppsala University (Sweden) and is now a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. At the intersection of his work with OLPC Australia and research is the desire for a better understanding of the capability of Indigenous peoples to design technological innovations they deem valuable.

Prior to commencing his role with OLPC Australia and his PhD research, Crighton spent a decade in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle-East and North America. During this time he held a variety of leadership roles covering the full spectrum of the ICT industry including Executive Strategy, Research and Development, Professional Consulting, and Sales and Marketing with projects ranging in size from small non-profit organisations and commercial start-ups to some of the largest ICT projects in the world with leading multi-national organisations.

Kelly McJannett, Communications Manager

Kelly McJannett is the Manager of Communications and Government Relations for OLPC Australia.

In her role Kelly is responsible for driving public relations and developing communications campaigns that support the growth of the organisation and build awareness among its various publics and stakeholders. She also manages key relationships with Government representatives from across party lines; from the grass-roots to members of the cabinet.

Understanding the impact of each individual, Kelly hopes to facilitate a groundswell of support that will seed the adoption of OLPC Australia's education initiative on a national scale.

Previously Kelly has worked in public relations in the agency environment on accounts in the IT, finance and not-for-profit sectors.

Kelly holds a degree in Communications from the University of Technology, Sydney, with majors in Public Relations, World Politics and French Language.

Sridhar Dhanapalan, Technical Manager

In his role as Technical Manager, Sridhar is responsible for OLPC Australia's integration of technology both internally and externally. His primary duty is to ensure a reliable technology platform to facilitate learning and knowledge sharing.

With over twelve years of active involvement in Free and Open Source Software, occupying numerous positions of leadership, Sridhar has a firm grounding in principles and technologies underpinning OLPC. He has held directorships in several organisations, most recently as President of the Sydney Linux Users Group. He has also presented at international conferences.

His professional focus has been in realising the benefits of open source and open standards for companies ranging from start-ups to large financial institutions. With experience including IT operations, business intelligence, data warehousing, systems administration, satellite and wide area networking, knowledge management, training and marketing, Sridhar is adept at crossing disciplines to achieve holistic results.

Sridhar holds a Science degree from the University of New South Wales, with specialisations in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and in Government, Politics and International Relations. Also possessing a Certificate IV in Network Engineering and numerous industry certifications, Sridhar holds an appreciation for the intersection of factors that make OLPC such a unique and encompassing project.

Elisha Barrett, Program Manager

Elisha completed a Bachelor of Social Science degree in 2009, undertaken at the University of Western Sydney. Throughout her degree, Elisha maintained a distinction average, earning a place on the College of Arts Deans Merit list for 2008 and 2009. The list is a way of recognising students who have maintained a position in the top 10 per cent of their academic cohort.

In 2009, Elisha was awarded the Vice Chancellors Excellence Award for Project Design and Implementation for her work with the Indigenous community of Wilcannia, located in Far Western New South Wales. In 2010, she was awarded a scholarship to undertake an Honours degree through the University of Western Sydney. Her nominated research area is Indigenous Education; specifically identifying factors that affect learning outcomes of Indigenous students residing in remote communities.

Elisha has held various roles within non-government organisations over the past 10 years, working alongside local and international communities.

In her role as Program Manager at OLPC Australia, Elisha is responsible for liaising directly with Education Departments, teachers and students. Through her communication with XO-perts - prior to, during and after their online training - Elisha will endeavour to design and implement support models which provide on-going assistance.

Holding the belief that education is an essential tool for enabling individual and collective empowerment, Elisha hopes to facilitate change through her role in supporting teachers and students within the OLPC Australia program.

Rita Sharma, Office Manager

Rita Sharma is the Office Manager for OLPC Australia. She holds a bachelors degree from the University of Sydney, majoring in Art History and Theory.

Rita brings with her over 10 years administrative experience having worked for major corporations across many industry sectors in Australia and oversees. In her role with OLPC Australia, Rita is responsible for developing and maintaining internal procedures. Working with the various internal departments and external contributors to ensure the efficient management of day-to-day operations, offering pragmatic solutions to facilitate and support the growth of the organisation.

Liddy Neville, Principal Education Advisor

Liddy Nevile (PhD, MEd, BJuris/LLB) has worked with technology in education since 1972. Her work has been published extensively internationally.

Liddy was involved in the first national evaluation of computers in schools in the early 1980s, where she introduced computers into primary school K-6 and went on to become the Education and Technology lead for ACER for three years. She then moved to RMIT as Director of the Sunrise Research Laboratory for 10 years.

As a leader of the first full-school laptop project in the world in the 1980s (MLC Kew) and also a major Government project in Queensland (Coombabah Primary School), and the OZeKIDS projects introducing schools across Australia to the Web, she has extensive experience with new technologies in schools.

In 1990 at RMIT University, Liddy led a three-year laptop project involving 50 RMIT faculties. Appointed Assoc. Prof. of Educational Technology in 1996, she developed Web-based technology standards working internationally with W3C, the DCMI, ISO/IEC and has continued representing Australia in standards writing for the Web and educational technology. In the 1990's, Liddy was metadata architect for the Victorian Health and Education Channels, and other commercial developments.

Liddy has a strong interest in ensuring that new technologies improve the lives of those who use them, and this includes creative use of the new XOs in situations where they have not been deployed before. Her work with XOs started in Cambodia more than three years ago, and will continue in her role as Principal Education Advisor for OLPC Australia.

Board Members

Michael Harte, Director

Michael Harte was appointed Director of One Laptop per Child Australia in May, 2009.

Michael also currently heads the Technology and Banking Operations teams for the Commonwealth Bank, in his role as Group Executive Enterprise Services and Chief Information Officer.

Michael joined the Group in April 2006 as CIO to lead the enterprise-wide technology function and implement a new IT strategy. The Group formed Enterprise Services in October 2008 to enable the Customer Service focus and to accelerate the delivery of technology and operations for superior customer service.

Prior to joining the Group, Michael was VP Systems at Citigroup and EVP and CIO for PNC Investment Services, one of the world's largest investment fund administrators.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Business degree and a Diploma in Business. His post-graduate studies include Economics and a Master of Science in Systems with distinction from New York University.

Philip Argy, Director

Philip Argy is an experienced mediator and arbitrator. He specialises in intellectual property, science, technology and competition law. Philip left Mallesons Stephen Jaques on 31 December 2007 after being with the firm for over 31 years, 24 of them as a partner.

He qualified at the University of New South Wales for a Bachelor of Commerce (Information Systems) degree in 1975 and a Bachelor of Laws the following year. He is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Western Australia.

Philip is Immediate past President of the Australian Computer Society and he still speaks extensively on subjects such as professionalism, risk management, electronic evidence and record retention and on intellectual property issues.

He established ArgyStar.com in January 2008 to both evangelise and implement dispute resolution strategies in the IT sector, applying what are expected to become known as the Adroit Principles jointly promoted by the ACS, IAMA, and PMI.

Prof. Barry Vercoe, Director of Education

Barry Vercoe is Professor of Media Arts & Sciences at MIT. Born and educated in New Zealand in music and mathematics, he gained a doctorate at University of Michigan, then taught at Oberlin and Yale University before moving to MIT. In 1985 he was a founding member of the MIT Media Laboratory, where he does research in Music Cognition and Machine Learning. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Computer World / Smithsonian Award in Media Arts and Entertainment.

In 2005 Vercoe joined other Media Lab faculty to establish One Laptop per Child, an initiative aimed at putting an inexpensive but powerful laptop in the hands of every child on the planet. Focusing on children of the Pacific, Vercoe has sent laptops to remote villages of the Solomon Islands, and is now systematically distributing machines to the 22 island nations of the Pacific Community.