Dr Stephen Brown

Dr Brown undertakes consultancies across a broad range of settings and contexts within Australia and internationally, including Scotland, Nauru, Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Micronesia, South Africa and China.

Dr Brown was Hume Regional Director in North-East Victoria for four years (2006–2009), and acted in the position of Deputy Secretary, Office of Government School Education (2010). Dr Brown was Executive Director of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (2010) in the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and a member of the departmental leadership team. In December 2010, he was appointed to the position of inaugural Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Queensland Education Leadership Institute (QELi) Ltd. Dr Brown completed his tenure as CEO of QELi in April 2016 and under his leadership developed an outstanding national and international reputation for the design and delivery of school leadership programs for all schooling sectors.

Dr Brown holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Southern Queensland, and a Master of Arts from the University of London. He was awarded the Australian Council for Educational Leaders Nganakarrawa Award in 2007 and a presidential citation from the same organisation in 2009. In 2009, Dr Brown was nominated for membership of the Global Education Leaders Program — a coalition of leading system thinkers. He was identified as a participant in the Victorian Leadership Development Centre’s 2009 program for future Deputy Secretaries and Secretaries in the Victorian Public Sector. In 2013, Dr Brown was awarded by ACEL (Qld) the prestigious Miller-Grassie Award. In 2016, Stephen was appointed to the Scottish College of Educational Leadership’s International Advisory Board and the Northern Territory’s Charles Darwin University and Department of Education’s Board of Management for the Centre for School Leadership as an external expert advisor.

Dr Brown is a Scholar-Practitioner Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change (APCLC), The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), Board Director at Stuartholme School Brisbane, National and State Fellow of ACEL, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders (FIML), and in 2014 graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors program (GAICD). He is a former external expert advisor to the Scottish College of Educational Leadership; Fellow and founding Board Director of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF). Stephen was a Rotary Foundation Scholar to the University of London (1990–91), and Australian Institute of Management (Qld) Professional Manager of the Year (2000). Stephen graduated from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School’s Executive Leadership Program in 2021.

In 2021 Dr Brown was appointed by Schools Plus as their Lead Fellow to work with cohorts of Australia’s finest teachers and school leaders. In September 2022, Dr Brown was appointed as Executive Board Chair and Head of Transformation for Edmund Rice Education Australia on a consultancy basis to lead EREAS’ cultural transformation and implement quality governance structures and processes. In June 2023, Stephen was appointed as Non-Executive Board Chair of EREA, Deputy Chair of the Council of EREA, June 2024 and in March, 2025 he was appointed the Chair of the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia (TEREA), then in June 2026 Dr Brown was appointed Executive Chair of TEREA.

Additional qualifications obtained are: Certified Team Diagnostic Survey Foundational Practitioner – Level 1 and Certified Team Diagnostic Survey Advanced Practitioner – Level 2 with 6 TEAM CONDITIONS, and Associate of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and endorsed facilitator. In May 2023 Dr Brown completed the Art and Practice of Leadership Development course at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Dr Brown undertakes a portfolio career with a combination of roles and positions. These include advisor to government on school leadership and reform; directorship of a global professional services company; consultancies, academic and board appointments. In addition to these roles, he is a writer and researcher on a range of educational leadership topics. In May 2021 in partnership with colleague Emeritus Professor Patrick Duignan he co-edited the text, Leading Education Systems; and in October 2026 in collaboration with Andrew Fuller co-authored the publication, Building a Positive School Culture – Connected, Protected and Respected. Both books are available globally through Emerald Publishing (UK).

In 2020 Dr Brown developed a podcast series titled Edge with Dr. Stephen Brown that focuses on the stories of inspiring everyday Australians.