QCEC Leadership Team

Dr Lee-Anne Perry AM

Executive Director

Prior to taking up her current role in 2015, Dr Lee-Anne Perry had a longstanding involvement in school education as a teacher, school leader and principal. She is an active contributor to state and national strategic education policy development.  

Dr Perry has been a member of many state and national associations and committees concerned with school and higher education. She is currently the Deputy Chair, National Catholic Education Commission, a member of the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority Board and the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board. She is an Honorary Professor of the Australian Catholic University.  In 2022 Dr Perry was appointed as a Director on the board of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.

Dr Perry is the recipient of numerous awards including a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to secondary education; the Australian Council of Deans of Education award for Outstanding Service to Education; and the 2021 recipient of the ACELQ Miller Grassie Award for outstanding leadership in education. 

Chris Woolley

Chief Operating Officer

Chris Woolley is the Chief Operating Officer at QCEC and leads the governance, strategy and corporate services teams.  He has more than 20 years’ experience in law, policy and strategic issues management in both the private and public sectors.  As a lawyer he worked in the areas of commercial litigation, insurance and corporate risk.

Prior to working in law Chris worked in government, strategic policy, advocacy, communications and issues management. He has worked for a wide variety of organisations, including State and Commonwealth Ministers, the Queensland Government, and the Law Council of Australia.  Chris left legal practice in late 2015 to pursue a career opportunity as the Commission’s inaugural Director of Governance, Strategy and Corporate Services, with his role later becoming Chief Operating Officer.

Yvonne Ries

Director – Education

Yvonne Ries has over 20 years’ experience in strategic education policy, spanning early childhood education, schooling, vocational education and training, and higher education. Yvonne has held senior positions within the Queensland Department of Education as Director of Strategic Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, as well as with Australia’s largest early childhood educator, as National Social Policy Manager for Goodstart Early Learning.

Yvonne joined the Queensland Catholic Education Commission as its Director of Education in January 2019 and works closely with both state and national governments in areas of reform, such as the National School Reform Agreement and the implementation of the new senior secondary system in Queensland.

Yvonne holds degrees in Law and Commerce and a Graduate Certificate in Management (Public Sector).

Steven Jeffery

Chief Financial Officer

Steven Jeffery has been the Chief Financial Officer of the Queensland Catholic Education Commission since 2011. This has been a dynamic period of change in school funding and Steven has been at the forefront of these negotiations and the implementation of new systems of funding and accountability.

Steven has a degree in economics, a Masters in Accounting, and an MBA. He is a fellow of CPA Australia, an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Steven is also a member of the board of the Australian Catholic Superannuation Retirement Fund.