Management & Key Staff

Marcus Sellen

In January 2004, at the age of 24, Marcus Sellen founded SELMAR Institute of Education (originally under the Vitreous name) to provide training and assessment services to call centre staff.

Marcus' motivation for establishing his own company was accelerated when his previous employer, a training organisation, went broke and he was left without a job. Marcus was passionate about developing a career in training, having been disgruntled with high school and yet responding positively to good on-the-job training when he commenced work at KFC.

Today, SELMAR Institute of Education has a national presence, employing over 120 staff and with a multimillion dollar turnover. It now provides a range of accredited courses to students in Children's Services, Aged Care, Hospitality, Retail, Customer Contact and Office Administration industries, and is aleader in the delivery of Certificate IV in Training & Assessment. At the foundation of SELMAR's success is Marcus' commitment to quality and his unflagging determination to develop career opportunities for young people through training.

SELMAR Institute of Education is also a strong reflection of Marcus' innovative style and entrepreneurial, can do attitude. Marcus was a Regional Finalist in the 2007 Entrepreneur of The Year awards and has won several awards since.

Grant Paine

Grant is our COO and comes to SELMAR with extensive financial and operational management experience over a long career with Pacific Brands in both Australia and New Zealand. He has led commercial teams in shared services groups providing finance and IT services as well as senior financial roles in operational companies. His finance background includes having worked with Ernst and Young, Accenture and both wholesale and manufacturing companies within the Pacific Brands Group.

At SELMAR, Grant is responsible for overall financial and administrative performance, providing support to Marcus as CEO and accountability through to the Advisory Board.

Grant holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Auckland University and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. In his time off he prefers the great outdoors whether it be walking, cycling or travel.

Kate Robb

Kate is our Compliance and Quality Manager and is responsible for ensuring that all facets of the organisation comply with the requirements of our State Training Authorities, Funding bodies, and other relevant government departments. The role enables Kate to support all departments in achieving strategic growth whilst maintaining compliance.

Kate has been working with SELMAR since 2007 and moved from a Trainer and Assessor role to her present position in 2009. Kate is very well qualified holding a Bachelors degree in Politics & English, together with a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. Recently, she completed her Diploma of Training and Assessment.

With more than ten years' experience in the industry, she has been employed as a VET trainer and assessor in Business, IT and TAA and has delivered this training in a range of settings. These included Adult Community Education, private RTO's and individual workplaces where she has proven skills in the preparation for AQTF Audit and Scope of Registration documents and developing learning materials.

Away from SELMAR, Kate enjoys relaxing with family and friends, and her “couch-potato” retired greyhound, Pedro. Kate is a supporter of the Greyhound Adoption Program and has fostered several ex-racing dogs during their transition to household pets.

Timothy Biddle

Timothy Biddle has over 11 years experience in human resources, leadership and competency development. This is complemented with more than 15 years operational experience in delivering hospitality solutions to all market segments. Tim has a unique insight into the hospitality, retail and service industries having worked closely with front-line team members, and executive management of prominent organisations, to deliver a range of cultural change, development and strategic resourcing projects.

Tim studied politics and psychology at Melbourne University and later, a Bachelor of Social Science at Swinburne University, with honors grades in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management (HRM). He holds AQTF accredited certificates in Workplace Training & Assessment and Food & Beverage Operations. He is currently completing his Masters of Commerce (HRM). He has held HR leadership roles with prominent Victorian and National catering and accommodation businesses, and prior to joining SELMAR was responsible for the Work Integrated Learning and Internship program at William Angliss Institute.

Tim's role at SELMAR is to ensure we engage the right talent, and make connections between the commercial necessities of the business and the personal needs of the employee. In doing so, we seek to create a unique symbiotic relationship for maximum results.

Georgia Aikman

Georgia Aikman has a rich history and has worked in significant leadership, sales and marketing roles, with national and international brands. Her breadth of industry experience includes corporate advisory and investment banking, training and education, advertising, film and television. She has worked extensively with business improvement and has previously held a directorship of a listed public company. Georgia holds a Bachelor of Education, a Graduate Certificate in Investment Banking & Finance, and has continued her professional development with various short courses.

As the National Sales and Marketing Manager, Georgia has the responsibility to ensure that the SELMAR brand is positioned as Australia's leading provider of vocational education within their core areas. Georgia ensures that SELMAR builds lasting relationships with our customers, aspiring to improve business performance, and provide strong vocational career pathways to our students.

She has considerable experience leading and developing teams. Her management style is to develop, nurture and ensure individual performance within a great team environment. "I am a great advocate for personal development and training - this is a perfect environment to practice what we preach" says Georgia.

Georgia enjoys rural life in the Yarra Valley where she is an active participant in her local community. She is also a respected and accredited Show Horse judge. On the weekend, she's either on a committee, on a horse, on the mower, or having fun with family and friends.

Linda Richardson

Linda is our National Learning and Development Manager and joins SELMAR with over 25 years experience working in education and training. Linda has extensive experience in delivering high quality learning programs for diverse audiences having worked both in the government and private sector including William Angliss Institute, Victoria University, the Department of Justice, private consultancies and with leading accounting and advisory services firm, KPMG.

Linda has gained her extensive learning & development both at the corporate strategic and operational levels and combined this with her 'hands on' approach . She believes effective team work ensures that learning, development and change delivers positive outcomes. Linda is experienced in liaising and working with a broad number of professional organisations, clients, agencies and consultancies. She has lived and worked both in the UK (education) and the USA (research).

At SELMAR, Linda is responsible for the strategic direction, planning and leadership of all the courses that SELMAR Institute of Education offers. She has ownership to direct the campus and distance learning modes, and is charged with guiding wider delivery modes. Developing and ensuring the delivery of high quality, innovative programs that maximise student learning and provide an unique educational experience is central to this role.

Linda completed her Arts Degree and Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) at La Trobe University. Additional skill sets include Prince 2 Project Management, change management experience and numerous short courses. She continues to be registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Having visited 26 sites on the "100 places to visit before you die" list, Linda is keen to continue her travels and adventures. Linda enjoys watching Dr Who with her teenage daughter, reading historical fiction and being inspired by great chefs and their recipes.

Sarah Hanslow

Sarah has been with SELMAR for over three years and in that time has been involved in the development of the field based programs. She began working at SELMAR as a trainer and has advanced through the company as it has grown. Prior to working at SELMAR, Sarah managed several multi-million dollar restaurants in the hospitality industry, managing large numbers of managers and staff in extremly busy locations.

Sarah is now our National Training Manager and is responsible for field based clients enrolling close to 2000 students last year. Her clients include McDonald's Licensee Stores, Nando's, KFC and, most recently, developing the rolling out of a staff development program for Village Cinemas Australia, ranging from Certificate II though to Diploma. Sarah leads a team of highly motivated Account Managers who in turn lead their teams of trainers to deliver high quality training in the fields of Retail and Hospitality. Sarah is very excited about her role at SELMAR and looks forward to increasing the number of clients that she and her team service across Australia.

Jenn Hadweh

Jenn is an experienced Financial Controller and joined SELMAR after many years in the freight forwarding and rail industry. Her most recent role has been as CFO for Gemco Rail, a Perth–based organization which operates major overhaul and maintenance facilities around Australia. In this role, Jenn Prior to Gemco, Jenn was Finance Manager for Pacific National in Melbourne.

Jenn holds a degree in Business (Accounting) from Victoria University and is completing her final year of the CPA program.

Julie Bowry-Needham

Julie comes to SELMAR with a broad range of experience including Registered Training Organisation management, compliance, project management, the coordination of Vocational Education and Training programs for school based and post secondary students and private sector Learning and Development initiatives.

Julie is responsible for providing leadership and direction to the administration department, promoting business efficiency, process and service excellence and best practise information management and reporting as well as the management of the campus facilities. Julie is currently completing a Masters of Education – Leadership and Management and holds a Bachelor of Education and Training, an Advanced Diploma of Hospitality, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and City and Guilds Cookery. Away from SELMAR Julie enjoys quilting, walking her dog Toby and tap dancing.