James Ruse Agricultural High School Foundation

Matthew Dopierala commenced as Principal at James Ruse Agricultural High School in November 2024. He holds a Bachelor of Education (Technological and Applied Studies) from the University of Sydney.

Matthew has a long history of leadership in education, having served as Deputy Principal at North Sydney Boys High School from 2016, where he played an instrumental role in the school's continued success. Prior to his time at North Sydney Boys, he had a significant impact in leadership positions, including as Head Teacher of Industrial Arts at St Johns Park High School and as Head Teacher of Technological and Applied Studies at Fort Street High School, a role he held since 2009. Beginning his career as a teacher at Holroyd High School, Matthew has developed expertise in both teaching and leadership, specialising in Engineering Studies. His passion for education is matched by his dedication to guiding staff and students to achieve their best, both academically and personally. 

In addition to his professional achievements, Matthew is a keen cook and a regular at Farmers' Markets across Sydney. 

Alan developed his skills in business during 10 years as Owner/Manager of Macka’s Griffith Newsagency and founder of Macka’s Newspaper Distribution. Both businesses are in Canberra’s Inner-south. Alan was the ACT Director for the Australian Lotteries and Newsagents Association (ALNA) for 10 years, 9 of these years he was the Deputy Chair and lead the CEO review committee and the Audit Committee.

Prior to going into business, Alan spent 20 years with the NSW Department of Education and Training. He is a trained Mathematics/Computer Studies teacher and held the positions of classroom teacher (Condobolin High School), Head Teacher Mathematics/Science/TAS (Balranald Central School), Deputy Principal (Deniliquin High School), Training and Development Co-ordinator (Deniliquin District) and Principal (Hay War Memorial High School). Alan held a variety of positions in the Professional Associations associated with each level of his teaching career. During Alan’s training at Sydney Institute of Education Alan focussed on Gifted and Talented Education.

Alan was a 1st Form student during James C Hoskin’s final year as Headmaster. The school became co-ed that same year. Despite the enormous change the school went through, Alan has very fond memories of his school years and a lot to be thankful for.

Li-Anne Tung is a chartered chemical engineer and project manager with twenty years’ international experience in project management and water infrastructure engineering. She is an experienced, collaborative leader who is passionate about integrating excellent socio-environment outcomes with strong business performance. She was recently Water Infrastructure & Planning Business Group Leader at GHD, Sydney region.

Li-Anne is an alumni of James Ruse AHS. In addition to participating in academic competitions, she represented the School in sporting teams and cross country running. She was a member of the School’s Army Cadet Unit, achieving the rank of Sergeant, and participated in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, achieving Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.

Shabarika is a corporate lawyer, and is currently a Partner in the Corporate Group of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, where she specialises in public and private mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets and general corporate law and governance matters for a range of clients. 

She also practiced corporate law for a number of years in New York, where she specialised in public and private mergers and acquisitions for a range of private equity clients.

Shabarika obtained a Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Laws (graduating with First Class Honours) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Laws (graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar) from Columbia University.

Shabarika graduated from James Ruse in 2000 and has very fond memories of her school days. During her time at James Ruse, Shabarika served as a Prefect, Sports House Captain, Peer Support Leader, Student Representative Council Member and represented the school in a range of sports. 

In addition to her legal work, Shabarika serves on the Corrs Chambers Westgarth Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Women Lawyers’ Association of NSW Diversity Subcommittee and has served as a volunteer for the Sydney University Women’s Mentoring Program and Diverse Women in Law.

Andrew is the CEO of Teaminvest Private Group Limited (TIP), an ASX-listed private equity firm specialising in the transfer of knowledge between generations.

Prior to co-founding TIP in 2012, Andrew worked in investment banking where he advised and assisted clients on significant corporate deals in Australia and internationally with a specific focus on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising activity.

In addition to his corporate career, Andrew has served in volunteer board or executive roles with organisations including the Young Leadership Dialogue, Australian Democrats, National Union of Students, and UNSW Premier Cricket Club.

He is co-author of 'Relative Performance Incentives and Price Bubbles in Experimental Asset Markets' published in the Southern Economic Journal, and co-author of the business book ‘Building a Wealth Winner by Transferring Knowledge’. 

Andrew holds a B.Econ from the University of Sydney (Joint Hons 1) and is a Class of 2005 Ruse alumni. At Ruse, Andrew was a prefect and received school medals for ancient history, hockey and public speaking. He was also the MC for the 2004 NSW Premier's Awards for Excellence.

Alex Chang is an investor at BGF, the UK's most active growth capital investor. Prior to this, Alex was an investor at Australian BGF, and worked in investment banking at Greenhill & Co, where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets transactions across the industrials, professional services, real estate, and financial services sectors. Previously, Alex has had the opportunity to work at non-profit organizations in the US and India focusing on economic empowerment and childhood education.

Alex graduated from James Ruse AHS in 2011.

Dr. Charlie Koh is an academic with the University of Sydney Business School at the University of Sydney and the Macquarie Business School at the Macquarie University.  As a Fellow of the Advance Higher Education (UK),  he co-ordinates and lectures postgraduate professional accounting and finance units. Prior to this, he was on the board of directors of a leading multi-award winning publicly listed construction and engineering group based in Singapore, and had consulted with Arthur Andersen and Accenture.

Professionally, Charlie is a Fellow of Financial Services Institute of Australasia and UK’s Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Chartered Accountants ANZ, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  He was admitted as a member of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Directors. He has authored journal articles on JIT construction management and corporate governance, and organised university-industry conferences.  Charlie also engages in technical editing and authoring a number of key university accounting and finance titles with leading international publishers. He did his MBA at the Melbourne Business School (University of Melbourne), the AGSM (UNSW), and Stern School of Business (NYU).  His Doctor of Business Administration is from the University of Western Australia Business School.

Charlie is also a trustee of a superannuation fund and a chair and treasurer of a strata management committee.  He was the chair of the risk and audit sub-committee and an executive committee member of another established selective high school foundation, and a leadership committee member of its P&C Association. 

Charlie has a son who was a student at JRAHS.

Yvonne is the JRAHS Development Manager who looks after the School Archives, conducts School tours and information sessions for prospective Ruse families, oversees the Student Tour Ambassadorship programme, liaises with the Ruse Alumni and coordinates Back To School reunion visits.

Since 2013, Yvonne has been an active and involved parent in the Ruse Community with three children attending JRAHS from 2013-2022. 

During her children’s time at JRAHS she first served as a JRAHS P&C Association subcommittee member for 2014-2015. In 2017, Yvonne was elected as the JRAHS P&C Association Vice-President and subsequently became President for 2018-2020. She was the first female to hold the latter position for 3 years.  

Previously worked as a dentist in the public, health fund and private sectors, after attaining her Bachelor of Dental Surgery with Honours from the University of Sydney.