James Ruse Agricultural High School Foundation

Rachel Powell commenced as Principal at James Ruse Agricultural High School in 2019. She has a BA Hons in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and an Masters of Arts (MA) in Women’s Studies, both from Manchester Metropolitan University. 

Rachel taught for 16 years in England, holding a range of teaching and leadership positions in inner urban public comprehensive schools. This included teaching History, Geography, Media Studies and English and being Head Teacher of Humanities. 

In 2002, as part of the newly established National Program for Gifted and Talented Education, Rachel was uniquely appointed as Head Teacher Gifted and Talented at Burnage High School where she established and coordinated an innovative and successful Gifted and Talented Program. From 2005 to 2008 she was Assistant Principal with a specific responsibility for inclusion. During her tenure she successfully completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (a requirement for being promoted to Principal in England). 

In 2009, soon after her arrival in Australia, Rachel worked as Head Teacher of Wellbeing and a HSIE teacher at Kesser Torah College. 

From 2010 – 2019 she worked at Sydney Boys High School as Head Teacher of History until 2014 and then Deputy Principal for the rest of her tenure. Additionally, she led the large and successful Debating Program, co-organised the 2018 NSWDPA Conference, provided professional learning to both to pre-career and established teachers at UNSW and advised on the development of the professional learning materials to accompany the new High Potential and Gifted Education Policy. 

Alan Macdonald is Manager of Erindale NewsXpress Newsagency. He has just been appointed to this position after spending the last 4 years as Operations Manager at Laverty Pathology and Justrite Australia.

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.

Maha Corbett is Co-Founder of SWIISH, a leading Australian wellness brand, which produces a range of the highest quality Australian-made health products. 

Maha began her career in Investment Banking Human Resources where she held senior executive roles and worked alongside CEOs and MDs at the likes of global powerhouses J.P. Morgan and Bankers Trust, as well as ANZ Bank. 

Maha’s desire to start her own business, coupled with a passion for wellness saw her leave this career behind to launch SWIISH in October 2012. The success of SWIISH has meant that Maha is regularly featured in the media both for her leadership and expertise in wellness and in business. She is regularly found speaking on panels and podcasts, presenting on TV, and MC’ing events. 

In addition, Maha is also co-author of five bestselling health cookbooks, Super Green Smoothies (2015); The Good Life (2016); Simple & Lean (2017); Super Easy (2019); and Dinner’s Done (2020). 

Passionate about giving back, Maha supports several charities including the Cancer Council, and Humpty Dumpty Foundation (providing lifesaving equipment for babies and children in hospital). 

Maha holds a B. Arts (Psychology) from Macquarie University and is a class of 1995 James Ruse alumni. Maha participated in many extra curricular activities during her time at Ruse – from Drama to Debating, fundraising, organizing events, to being a Prefect, a Peer Support leader and Student Representative Council member. As a result, Maha received the Graham S. White Award for Service in 1995. 

Li-Anne Tung is a chartered engineer and project manager with twenty years’ international experience in project management and water infrastructure engineering. Li-Anne is an experienced, collaborative leader passionate about integrating excellent socio-environment outcomes with strong business performance. She is currently Head of Integrated Planning at Kellogg, Brown and Root – Infrastructure Services.

 Li-Anne has previously worked for other consulting engineering companies where she had operational leadership roles in parent companies and client organisations.

 Li-Anne attended UNSW where she was awarded Bachelor of Engineering (Honours I) degree in Chemical Engineering. Several years later, she completed a Master of Project Management degree with University of Sydney.

 Li-Anne is an alumni of James Ruse AHS, completing her HSC in 1998. Li-Anne is grateful for the diverse opportunities made available to her whilst at Ruse. In addition to participating in academic competitions, she represented the school in sporting teams and cross country running, she participated in school musical and drama productions, was a member of several choirs, and was a poultry handler. Li-Anne 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. Li-Anne’s contribution to school life resulted in several James Ruse Bronze and Gold Awards. Li-Anne believes this exposure to a wide variety of experiences has given her a holistic view of personal development and of our world.

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 is a member of the investment team at the Australian Business Growth Fund, a public-private partnership between the Federal Government and six leading banks to invest growth capital into and support Australian SME businesses.

Prior to joining ABGF, Alex 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-profits in the US and India focusing on economic empowerment and childhood education. He studied and lived in the US and China before graduating from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Commerce (Liberal Studies), majoring in Finance, Economics, and Chinese Studies.

Alex graduated from James Ruse in 2011 and remembers his formative years at Ruse fondly. He is particularly proud of his diverse experiences serving as a Sports House Captain, Prefect, and a member of the Cadets.

Alex was born and raised in Western Sydney. Being the younger brother of two sisters, he enjoys keeping himself busy – riding his motorbike, competing on the tennis court, and dabbling in photography to stimulate his creative side.

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.  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, a 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 is a current 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. Her daughter, being the eldest, and two sons attending from Years 7 to 12, with the youngest son currently in Year 12.

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 University of Sydney. She is a North Sydney Girls’ High School alumna.