Mary Pendergast is the Senior Adviser Regional Performance and Planning, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Mary is an experienced educator with a strong background in change management and turning organisations around. She is a respected leader of schools and community organisations and current board member of South West Health Care, South West Local Learning and Employment Network and Brophy Family and Youth Services. Mary is an expert in the educational landscape with her current role managing the oversight of 43 government schools in the south west of Victoria.
Mary is passionate about finding ways where the provision of education in the South West supports a positive life pathway for every child. She has a powerful belief that the issues which contribute to unemployment, ill health and recidivist criminal behaviours can be linked to early school leaving, low literacy and poor social behaviours. She has a belief in communities coming together to share strategies to address these issues.