Chief Executive Officer - Maureen O'Keefe

Maureen O'Keefe was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the ACO in March 2013.  Maureen is highly qualified, holding a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours and a Diploma in Education.  In addition Maureen is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Williamson Community Leadership Program.  More recently, Maureen completed an Executive Education Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  Maureen has spent her career in higher education, research and health organisations and has more than fifteen years experience in senior executive roles.  Maureen was a member of the Council of the Victorian Cancer Agency for 6 years, a Ministerial appointment which commenced in 2007 and included two years as a member of the VCA Clinical Trials Working Group.  Maureen is currently a member of the BioMelbourne Network, which she joined in 2011.  Maureen left her role as Chief Operating Officer with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, where she had worked for the past seven years, to join the ACO.
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General Manager Finance & Corporate Services - Clare Escott

Clare Escott was appointed as General Manager Finance & Corporate Services, and Company Secretary, in December 2010.  Clare is a qualified Chartered Accountant who has a wide range of experience, having worked in both private practice and the public sector over the last 20 years.   Most recently Clare held the position of Director of Corporate Services for North Down Borough Council, a local authority in Northern Ireland.  In this role, she headed up a team of over 50 staff and was responsible for leading the delivery of Finance, Human Resources, ICT, Procurement and Member Support activities across all Council Departments.  As General Manager, Finance & Corporate Services, Clare leads a team of staff in delivering and developing corporate support services, including Finance, IT, Property Services and Administration.
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Director of the National Vision Research Institute - Professor Michael Ibbotson

Professor Michael Ibbotson was recruited as the new Director of the National Vision Research Institute in 2010 and started in the position in July 2011.  Professor Ibbotson carried out his PhD in the field of visual neuroscience at Queen Mary, University of London.  He took up a post-doctoral fellowship in the Centre for Visual Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra, working with Professor Srinivasan in 1989.  In the last year of that post he won an ARC research fellowship, during which he worked with Professor Richard Mark.  He was awarded tenure at ANU in 2001 and simultaneously became Chair of Faculty at the Research School of Biological Sciences.  He became Head of the Visual Sciences Department in 2006, and Associate Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science in 2007.  In that same year he was tasked with the development of the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience at ANU.  In 2011 he became Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne and also holds an honorary position at Monash University and a visting fellowship from the Australian National University.  Professor Ibbotson has worked extensively at Emory University, Atlanta and New York University as part of research exchange programs since 2003.  He has strong research collaborations with the University of Washington, the University of Queensland and with Monash University.  He is one of the twelve Chief Investigators that won the special fund in 2009 to develop an Australian-built bionic eye.
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Head of Clinical Services - Associate Professor Jonathan Jackson

Jonathan Jackson joined ACO in October 2011 having been appointed as Head of Clinical Services.  He studied Ophthalmic Optics/Optometry at Glasgow College of Technology (UK), achieving a 1st Class Honours Degree (1981).  Upon completion of a pre-registration year at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, he obtained membership of the College of Optometrists and was awarded both the Scottish and  Colebrook prizes (1982).  In 1993 he completed a PhD entitled "An Analysis of Corneal Endothelial Morphology under Normal and Traumatic Conditions" at Queen's University, Belfast.  More recently, Professor Jackson has been awarded Fellowship of the British Contact Lens Association (FBCLA, 2006) and the American Academy of Optometry (FAAOptom, 2008).  In 2007/2008 he spent a sabbatical fellowship at University of Californial Berkeley under the mentorship of Professor I Bailey.  He was responsible for developing hospital optometry in Northern Ireland and, until recently, was Head of Optometry at the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast, Assistant Director of Integrated Care (Optometry) NI Health & Social Services Board and Policy Advisor (Optometry) at the Northern Ireland Department of Health & Social Services.

Associate Professor Jackson has held, until recently, an Honorary Professorship in the School of Biomedical Sciences/Centre for Vision Science, Queen's University, Belfast.  His research interests include visual disability, paediatric visual impairment and corneal physiology/contact lenses.  Professor Jackson has contributed to in excess of 60 peer reviewed scientific papers and has presented research findings at a broad range of national and international multidisciplinary meetings.  He has co-authored, along with Professor James Wolffsohn, a textbook on low vision entitled "The Low Vision Manual".
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Director Clinic Operations – Neville Turner

Neville Turner graduated as an optometrist from the University of Melbourne in 1990 and begun work at the (then) Victorian College of Optometry as a Staff Optometrist. Over the years he has worked in many different areas of the organisation including managing a metropolitan clinic, involvement with low vision service provision, lecturing and clinical teaching.  Whilst working at the ACO Neville has completed further post graduate studies including a Certificate for the Rehabilitation of the Partially Sighted, a Post Graduate Diploma of Advanced Clinical Optometry and a Graduate Certificate of Ocular Therapeutics.  Over the past 10 years Neville has undertaken various management roles in the College with responsibilities for IT, reception, business, and dispensary services. Neville was appointed General Manager Clinic Operations in 2007, then with an organisational restructure, Senior Manager Clinic Operations in 2009.  Currently Neville is Director Clinic Operations.
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General Manager Professional Development - Jolanda DeJong

Jolanda DeJong joined the ACO in October 2012.  Jolanda holds a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Commerce. She worked in The Netherlands as a teacher before she came to Australia 17 years ago.  Jolanda has held a number of senior management positions in the areas of  service delivery and education industries. Most recently Jolanda was the Tasmanian State Manager and Manager of the Specific Interests Faculty for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She was responsible for the delivery of a wide range of member services, including CPD, exams, collegial events and advocacy. Her experience in managing projects, leading change and delivering on service outcomes provides an excellent set of skills to the role of GM Professional Development.
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