Tracey Davey - Managing Director

Tracey brings extensive experience across Early Learning, Primary, and Secondary Education, with a deep commitment to ensuring all children have access to high-quality early childhood education and care. In senior operational roles, she has successfully led teams across multiple sites, driving excellence in service delivery, achieving “Exceeding” ratings under the National Quality Framework, and fostering environments where children thrive.

  • Her innovative approach to occupancy growth, waitlist and debt management, and local marketing has led to record-high occupancy rates and the strategic expansion of services to meet the evolving needs of families.

    Tracey works closely with Approved Providers, Nominated Supervisors, and Educators, providing the support and leadership needed to deliver exceptional learning experiences. Her passion for operational excellence, compliance, and continuous improvement drives every aspect of her work.

    With a strong background in financial management, service development, and team leadership, Tracey is dedicated to empowering early childhood professionals and strengthening the sector to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families.

Lucas Wang - Pedagogy and Practice

Lucas is an accomplished Early Childhood Education professional with extensive experience in teaching, research, leadership, and operations.

  • His career spans early learning leadership, teacher education, academic lecturing, research, and workforce development, providing a holistic understanding of both practice and policy. With expertise in operations, workforce planning, compliance, and strategic implementation, Lucas has supported leaders to strengthen governance, improve efficiency, and align programs with sector priorities.

    In higher education, he has designed curricula, lectured at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, coordinated professional practice placements, and contributed to internationalisation and research. Recognised for his impact on student experience, partnerships, and sector research, he has co-authored peer-reviewed publications and received awards for academic innovation and leadership.

    Currently pursuing further study in human resource analytics, Lucas is passionate about teacher identity, leadership, and best practice, and is dedicated to advancing the Early Childhood Education workforce and sector.

Lisa Ferguson - Operations

Lisa is a seasoned early childhood education professional with over 20 years of experience, including 15+ years in senior leadership across diverse early learning environments. As an Operations Manager, she combines strategic oversight with a service-driven approach to deliver exceptional outcomes for children

  • Holding a Bachelor of Early Childhood and extensive knowledge of the NQF, EYLF, and sector legislation, Lisa has guided multiple services through assessment and rating with consistently positive results. She is a champion of continuous improvement and high-quality practice.

    Her collaborative and evidence-based leadership spans centre operations, compliance, enrolment growth, financial management, and staff capability building. With proven expertise in leading change and implementing effective systems, Lisa drives sustained service excellence.

    A visible and supportive leader, she builds strong relationships with children, families, educators, and communities, while mentoring teams and fostering environments where every child and educator can thrive. Passionate about the transformative power of early education, Lisa is dedicated to creating positive outcomes for children, families, and communities.

Kate Daffy - Construction, Building, & Operational Services

With over 20 years of experience in Early Childhood Education, Kate is a passionate and respectful leader dedicated to empowering educators, Nominated Supervisors, Centre Directors, and Educational Leaders.

  • Drawing on her extensive operational leadership experience, Kate has helped teams build their capacity, strengthen their practice, and deliver high-quality, inclusive programs that meet the needs of every child and family. Her expertise lies in identifying areas for improvement based on exceeding themes and collaborating closely with teams to implement sustainable enhancements.

    A strong advocate for inclusion, Kate is deeply committed to nurturing welcoming and supportive environments. Her collaborative leadership style — grounded in mentoring, coaching, and a comprehensive understanding of best practices — ensures the teams she supports are motivated, aligned, and equipped to provide exceptional education and care.

    Kate’s wealth of knowledge, compassion, and unwavering dedication continue to inspire those around her, making her an invaluable leader in the field of Early Childhood Education.

Susanne Forbes - Operations

Susanne has over 16 years of experience in the childcare industry and holds a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. She has worked across single-proprietor centres, large for-profit organisations, and non-for-profit services, gaining experience in a diverse range of socio-economic settings.

  • This breadth of experience has provided Susanne with deep insight into supporting children, families, and educators, particularly in developing social and emotional capacity.

    As a Centre Director, Susanne has led teams of educators, providing guidance and mentorship to foster leadership skills within services. She has supported other Centre Directors in all aspects of their roles, from payroll management to staffing solutions. A strong advocate for leadership development, Susanne enjoys coaching teams and helping centres achieve their goals.

    Her extensive experience, combined with a thorough understanding of child development, enables Susanne to create nurturing and supportive environments for both children and educators.

Kerry Ye - Operations and Compliance Support

Kerry plays a key role in ensuring the smooth operation and compliance of our services. She is responsible for facilitating new service approvals and transfers, managing all associated documentation including CCS Applications, and maintaining adherence to regulatory and compliance requirements.

  • With strong organisational and people-focused skills, Kerry supports HR processes including recruitment, onboarding, and offboarding, while maintaining accurate personnel records and assisting with employee relations. She works closely with Centre Directors to develop and refine staff rosters that meet service needs, uphold educator-to-child ratios, and align with award conditions, ensuring high-quality coverage across all learning environments.

    Kerry’s excellent communication and customer service skills ensure that Clients are kept up to date with regular policy and procedure reviews. All CCOMP Policies, Procedures, Forms, Guides, Audit Tools, and Checklists are managed and stored in 1place.

Vanessa Hextall -Compliance, Risk Management Consultant

Vanessa Hextall is a executive compliance, risk and crisis management consultant with over 20 years’ experience supporting regulated, child-facing organisations across multiple industries.

Her work spans environments where children are present, engaged or supervised — including education, outside school hours care, sport and recreation, training, community services and not-for-profit sectors.

  • Vanessa is trusted by leaders and boards to bring clarity, structure and calm in environments characterised by regulatory oversight, safeguarding obligations and reputational risk.

    With a background across frontline operations, leadership and advisory roles, Vanessa specialises in building defensible systems that protect children, leaders and organisations — particularly in high-risk or high-scrutiny contexts.

    Her areas of expertise include:

    • Child safety and safeguarding frameworks

    • Regulatory compliance and governance

    • Risk management systems and risk registers

    • Crisis, incident and complaint response

    • Operational readiness and audit preparation

    • Leadership accountability in child-safe environments

    Vanessa is particularly known for her ability to support organisations through critical moments — including serious incidents, regulator engagement, investigations, complaints and reputational threats — while also strengthening long-term capability to prevent recurrence.

    As Director of Anvil Advisory Group, Vanessa works with organisations to move beyond reactive compliance and embed risk-aware leadership, robust governance and child-centred decision-making.

    Her approach is pragmatic, direct and outcomes-focused:
    child safety is non-negotiable, compliance is a leadership responsibility, and unmanaged risk is a strategic failure. 

Jenna Dawes - Finance Consultant

Jenna is Sprout Payroll and Finance’s Managing Director and ELC Group’s preferred finance partner.

Jenna is an accomplished finance leader with over 15 years of experience across commercial and chartered accounting sectors, including nearly a decade dedicated to the childcare industry. She brings strategic oversight, operational excellence, and deep technical expertise to drive financial performance and support sustainable growth.

  • As both a finance professional and a parent, Jenna brings a unique perspective to childcare financial management. Her passion for supporting the childcare sector stems from firsthand understanding of how crucial quality childcare is for families, combined with her natural interest in numbers and compliance.

    Throughout the years, Jenna has earned a reputation for her meticulous and extremely well-prepared approach to every client’s financial needs as well as her exceptional track record of results for childcare businesses across Australia.