Defence veteran Andrew Condon named to top veterans post at ACU

Defence veteran Andrew Condon has been appointed as ACU’s first Industry Professor Veterans and Their Families as the university strengthens its commitment to improving opportunities for the defence community in higher education. It is the first appointment of its kind at ACU and the latest addition to the university’s suite of initiatives aimed at supporting veterans to post-service career pathways in their transition to civilian life. Condon will take up his position on 31 January and will be based at the university’s North Sydney Campus. Condon will work directly with ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Zlatko Skrbis whose deep commitment to helping veterans make the leap to civilian life via ACU stems from his own personal experience. “I am delighted to welcome Andrew to this new role which will reinforce ACU’s position as the university of choice for current military personnel, veterans, and their families,” Skrbis said. “Our ambition is to be the place to go, both as an educational and research institution, for our defence community. Andrew’s exceptional leadership, standing within the Australian Defence Force, the veteran community and understanding of issues they face will be instrumental in helping them to realise opportunities beyond their service careers.” The new role will identify strategic partnering, collaboration and funding opportunities across education, research, and impact locally and internationally. Condon has held high-profile leadership and management roles across engineering, defence, social and welfare services, aged care, and sports administration and has significant experience in agriculture. His 27-year career in the Australian Regular Army included several civil secondments – as an engineer with a missile manufacturer in West Germany; a design engineer with Jaguar Rover Australia and 12-months as a Visiting Fellow to Sydney University. In the 2007 Queens Birthday honours list, he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross for his role as the Commander of the Australian Defence Force Joint Task Force that deployed to the Mediterranean to support the evacuation of over 5,000 Australian nationals from Lebanon during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. He saw active service when assigned to a US Corps Headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq on a six-month deployment in 2004, and had shorter operational visits to Timor, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Sinai and Sudan. “I am very excited to be joining ACU in this role given my interest and passion in ensuring veterans and their families successfully transition from a life in defence with dignity to being contributing and valued members of a flourishing society,” Condon said. “Enriching lives through learning and knowledge, and being job ready, are key elements to a successful transition from defence for veterans and their families.” Condon said undertaking higher education is a clear pathway from the military to civilian life and acknowledged the central role education had played in his career. “Education has been a massive contributor to my career,” he said. “ACU has done tremendous work to engage and cater for veterans and the opportunity to grow what it already has in place, is really exciting.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]