Susan Pascoe is an Adjunct Professor at the University of WA. She chairs the Australian Council for International Development, the Community Director's Council and is a member of the AICDs NFP Chairs' Forum. She is a Board Member of Mercy Health, and a Trustee of St John of God Health Care. She was inaugural Commissioner at the ACNC from 2012-17.
Prior to this role Susan was a Commissioner at the State Services Authority in Victoria, with a particular role to chair independent inquiries, including into the regulation of the NFP sector, Indigenous employment, and Victoria's regulatory bodies.
Susan was appointed as one of three Commissioners on the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, established to investigate the devastating bushfires in February 2009 which killed 173 people and ravaged much of the state's flora and fauna. The Royal Commission was innovative in many respects including live streaming its hearings, conducting meetings in situ with impacted individuals, and producing both electronic and paper versions of its reports.
Susan's earlier career was in education. She held a number of senior roles including as Chair and CEO of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (2003-06), and CEO of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2001-02). She chaired the review of the Victorian Curriculum and Standards Framework (1998-99) and led the Australian delegation to the UN's World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000.
Susan has extensive governance experience including as Commissioner of the ACNC with responsibility to improve the governance capability in Australia's 55,000 charities. In addition she has been director on a number of boards from 1990.
Susan's leadership was recognised in 2016 when she was awarded the Leadership in Government award for outstanding contribution to public administration in Australia.
Susan was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for her contribution to education.