est. 1924
Independent Catholic Girls School Preparatory to Year 12
Angela O’Dwyer is Principal of Loreto Toorak, one of Victoria’s most respected Independent Girls’ Schools. Educating 1,200 students from Preparatory to Year 12, the school is consistently recognised for outstanding VCE results and holds the distinction of being the state’s leading Catholic school.
Angela joined Loreto Toorak as Executive Deputy Principal in 2017, was appointed Principal-Elect in 2020, and assumed the Principal role in 2022. She holds postgraduate qualifications from The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University.
Her leadership has shaped the learning and wellbeing culture, and strategic development of the School. In 2024, Loreto Toorak entered its Centenary year, with Angela overseeing this significant historical milestone. In the same year, she opened the Loreto Federation conference alongside senior Loreto leaders, setting the tone for discussions centred on environmental justice, sustainability, and community action.
Principal
BA, GradDipEd, MEd, MBA
BA, GradDip IR & HRM, GradDipEd (Sec), MEd, GAICD
BCom, CA
BA, GradCertRelEd, GradDipEd (Sec), MEdLead
BAppSci, MAppSci, EdD
Director of Mission and Student Leadership
BA, GradCertRelEd, GradDipArts, GradDipEd, MEd(Wellbeing), MLead
Director of Innovation and Partnerships
BAppSc(HumMove), GradDipEd, MEd(EdMgt), FACEL (Vic)
BA, BTeach
BExSc, GradDipEd(Sec)
Director of Operations
BEd
BA, LLB, GradDipMgmt
Director of Digital Transformation
BEd (Sc)
Loreto Toorak is an Australian public company, limited by guarantee and governed by a School Board.
Correspondence for the School Board should be
directed to the Company Secretary.
The School maintains a register of interested candidates for the Board and Committees and refers to this register when a position becomes available. Should you be interested in
volunteering for a position please send a brief summary of your interest and skills together with a resume to the Company Secretary.
Angela O’Dwyer is Principal of Loreto Toorak, one of Victoria’s most respected independent girls’ schools. Educating 1,200 students from Preparatory to Year 12, the school is consistently recognised for outstanding VCE results and holds the distinction of being the state’s leading Catholic school.
Angela joined Loreto Toorak as Executive Deputy Principal in 2017, was appointed Principal-Elect in 2020, and assumed the Principal role in 2022. She holds postgraduate qualifications from The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University.
Her leadership has shaped the learning and wellbeing culture, and strategic development of the School. In 2024 Loreto Toorak entered its Centenary year, with Angela overseeing this significant historical milestone. In the same year, she opened the Loreto Federation conference alongside senior Loreto leaders, setting the tone for discussions centred on environmental justice, sustainability, and community action.
Her aim for students at Loreto Toorak is that each girl is grounded in community and develops the confidence to know who she is and what she stands for, so that she may choose her own path and follow it with passion.
Angela brings broad experience in both Secondary and Tertiary education at some of Melbourne’s leading independent schools and universities, including Methodist Ladies’ College, Scotch College, St Kevin’s College, Camberwell Grammar School and The University of Melbourne.
At Methodist Ladies’ College, Angela served as Deputy and Acting Head of the Senior School, contributing to whole school wellbeing, while leading the Senior School Curriculum Team in overseeing the implementation of VCE, VCE/VET, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
At The University of Melbourne, Angela served as Director of the Maria and Allan Myers Academic Centre (a resource shared between St Mary’s and Newman College), and as the Dean of Newman College. She also worked with both undergraduate and postgraduate students guiding the transition to the Melbourne Model of Education, the new academic degree structure.
Angela and her family are active members of their local parish, Immaculate Conception Church in Hawthorn, and have strong ties to the local community. Angela’s Catholic faith is of great significance to her, and is complemented by the Mary Ward Charism, both of which underpin her personal approach to how she lives her life and leads a Catholic School.
As a mother of six daughters, all of whom are proud alumni of Loreto Toorak, Angela has a longstanding connection with the School, the values and the community. She believes deeply in lifelong learning and the capacity of every person to grow.
Louis is a partner at law firm Allens, where he specialises in renewable energy, infrastructure, and climate change, acting for a range of private sector and government clients. An alumnus of Xavier College and the University of Melbourne, Louis is father to two Loreto Toorak graduates.
Louis has been a School Board Member since 2018 and Board Chair since 2021. He has held several other not-for-profit board positions, including with ER Law, the Energy and Resources Law Association, and Asialink, based at the University of Melbourne.
As a Partner at Ernst and Young, David is focused on helping organisations achieve significantly higher returns from their IT dollar through transformation of the IT and Change teams, improved governance, and the development of modern, agile, and fit-for-purpose strategies. David is passionate and transformational leader driving bottom line results through smarter use of technology and building high performance, agile IT teams. He has led significant change as a consultant for seventeen years with Accenture and EY, and in financial services with Commonwealth and National Australia Banks. Some highlights include leading the four-year transformation of NAB’s technology organisation into a high-performance team powering the digitisation of banking services for customers, and the design and implementation of new IT operating models for three of Australia’s financial services organisations.
With over twenty two years in the Recruitment and HR industry, Sally has extensive experience in consulting, leading teams, sales, and nationally managing businesses across the IT, Scientific, Executive Management, Office Support, Executive, Call Centre, Banking and Finance, Management Consulting, as well as Accounting practices.
Currently, Sally is the Managing Director of flexhive, powered by Hudson. She was previously on the Royal South Yarra Board for seven years as well as holding the position of Vice President and Board member of the Australian Women’s Tennis Foundation for four years.
Sally was a past student at Loreto Toorak for thirteen years; she has three nieces currently at Loreto Toorak
Kate has been with The Walt Disney Company for twelve years. She is Head of Communications, Government Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility and Live Entertainment for Disney in Australia and New Zealand. Kate is a key member of the Executive Leadership team and is part of the Executive team leading Diversity and Inclusion for the company. As well, Kate has over twenty five years of experience in marketing, product management, change management, communications and corporate social responsibility working for global blue-chip companies. Kate has a Master of Marketing from Monash University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is the mother of two children, one of whom graduated from Loreto Toorak in 2023.
Lesley, along with her husband Roger, are founders of Bakers Delight, a 670-plus bakery franchise network across four countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Community involvement has been important, and over the years Lesley has been involved in many community activities ranging from serving on school boards to chairing advisory committees at Swinburne and Monash universities.
In 2019 Lesley was asked to join the Board of the Australian Business Growth Fund. This initiative is a federal government partnership with the major banks and is committed to helping small and medium sized businesses prosper leading to more employment and ultimately stronger more cohesive communities. It is modelled on similar funds in the UK and Canada.
Lesley’s accomplishments include 2006 OAM Order of Australia Medal; 2014 Champion of Entrepreneurship at the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Southern Region awards and Honorary Doctorates from both Swinburne University of Technology (2018) and Monash University (2021).
Dr Helen Goode has worked in primary, secondary, tertiary and adult education in the State, Catholic and Independent Schools in Victoria. Her qualifications include PhD, M Ed, BA, Grad Dip Ed Admin and Grad Dip Student Wellbeing. In addition to her work as a lecturer in the Master of Education program at Melbourne University, she operates her own educational consultancy business specialising in leadership development and organisational review. She networks and researches extensively with academics world-wide and presents frequently at conferences both nationally and internationally. Research interests and publications include sustainability of successful leadership, learning communities, teacher career paths and the role of coaching in building leadership capacity, and marketing in education.
Through sitting on and consulting with several educational and other Boards of Management, Councils and Commissions over a number of years, she brings with her experience in various models of governance. She is a Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders both in Victoria, and nationally and a Research Fellow of the Education University of Hong Kong.
Paul has over thirty five years’ experience in education as a teacher, administrator and leader. He has worked at Haileybury College, St Kevin’s College and Camberwell Grammar, where he was Headmaster for twenty years.
He has worked with a number of Boards, including the Centre for Strategic Education and the Association of Heads of Independent Schools, Australia (at State and National level), the Association of Grammar Schools, Victoria and The David Scott School. He was Chair of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (Victoria) and the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria during the COVID-19 years. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Directors’ Course and holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master of Education from the University of Melbourne, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Cambridge.
Jo has spent more than twenty years working across engineering, transport planning and sustainability in Australia and internationally, and is recognised as a leader in corporate sustainability in Australia. Jo’s experience includes consulting across the public and private sectors and working in corporate environments across the infrastructure and energy industries.
Jo has been leading corporate sustainability in ASX listed entities for more than twelve years, with responsibility for various functions including health and safety, climate and environment, social impact, corporate governance and risk management. Jo currently holds the position of Director Safety, Sustainability and Risk at Atlas Arteria.
Jo is member of the St. Mary’s College Council at The University of Melbourne, which was founded by the Loreto Sisters (as St. Mary’s Hall) in 1918. At St. Mary’s, she also sits on the Finance and Risk Committee and the Property and Building Committee. Jo holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Hons.) from The University of Melbourne and a Master of Engineering Science from Monash University.
Andrew Tanner has more than twenty seven years of experience in financial markets including five years based in New York and fifteen years in Sydney. Andrew started his career in Melbourne with JB Were and Son and was a partner at the merged entity with Goldman Sachs. For the past six years he has been Head of Equities for JPMorgan, Australia. As part of this role at JPM he was a member of the Asia Pacific Equity Management team.
Andrew has previously served on both the Board of Trustees for the GSJBWere Superannuation fund and the Investment Committee. Andrew has also been a panel member of ASIC’s Markets Disciplinary Panel.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment and has previously held the US FINRA Series & License to Advise in the USA.
Andrew has been a member of both the Finance & Investment Committees at Loreto Toorak since 2017. He was appointed Chair of the Investment Committee in 2022 and Chair of the Finance Committee and joined the Board in 2023.
Both of Andrew’s daughters attended Loreto Toorak, graduating in 2020 and 2025.
