National Board
Rob Thomason
President Victoria
Rob Thomason
BA, MBA, FAHRI, GAICD Executive Director, VETASSESS and eWorks
Rob has over 35 years’ experience working in education, consulting and executive development, in Australia and internationally.
VETASSESS, a Government Business Enterprise, is Australia’s leading independent skills assessing agency working with the public and private sector in qualification recognition and employment verification of citizens from over 150 countries.
Previously, Rob was Group Executive, Membership and Education with CPA Australia, with responsibility for their education activities. Prior to that, he was responsible for CPA Australia’s business development and new market entry.
Rob has over 30 years’ experience in doing business in India and South Asia. He was instrumental in establishing the first foreign education representative office in India in the early 1990’s. A regular visitor to India Rob has been involved in many education innovations in South Asia.
Rob has held several senior roles in education over the past three decades, having commenced his career in education management in TVET. He has worked with and for TAFE colleges, professional associations, universities and the private sector. He has been active in international development for over twenty years. He has business development experience in China, India and South Asia, South East Asia, the Gulf, the Pacific, UK and the USA. Rob has been a strong proponent of Australia’s engagement with Asia and was one of a small number of New Colombo Plan Business Champions appointed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has also been a vocal advocate for increasing skilled migration.
Rob worked with Fairfax Media, one of Australia’s largest media organisations and was Director, Executive Education with the Melbourne Business School. Rob is currently Chair of The Tax Institute Higher Education and has held many other directorships including the US-based International University Consortium for Executive Education, a successful Australian Financial Services RTO and company subsidiaries in Malaysia and China and the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort.