The people who work at Life Ed Qld are dedicated to ensure generations of healthy young Queenslanders can live to their full potential.
Our teams work together to bring our mission to life through empowering children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education.
Read more about each of our senior leadership team members at Life Ed Qld below.
After starting his career in banking and international business, it was Michael’s experience of being a child sponsor with World Vision that led him to begin working for World Vision in the late 1980s.
Since then, Michael’s career in non-profits has spanned 30 years, which has included managing the 40 Hour Famine for World Vision in NSW, where he developed their global youth leadership conventions which have inspired many thousands of young Australians to make a difference to global poverty. He left NSW to live in the sunshine state in 1997 to take on the role of Queensland State Manager for World Vision and subsequently became National Operations Manager.
In 2006, Michael was nominated as one of four finalists for the 2006 Queensland Australian of the Year Awards in recognition of his contribution to the alleviation of global poverty. Following that, Michael joined Life Ed Qld as CEO, where he has worked for the past 12 years. Over that time, Life Ed Qld has grown from a team of 12 to more than 50 staff, and the organisation now supports more than 200,000 children each year to live a safe and healthy life.
Joining Life Ed Queensland in 2018, Sharon envisions a future where every child and young person has the necessary tools and opportunities available to them to reach their full potential in life.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Education, a diploma of community service coordination and teacher registration with the Queensland College of teachers and has collaborated with stakeholders across corporate, not for profit, community, education and government sectors.
A passionate professional with over 20 years’ experience leading highly skilled and diverse teams, Sharon supports, enables, and empowers teams to collectively create meaningful change in the lives of children and young people.
Sharon’s enthusiasm for championing the wellbeing of children reflects her belief in the transformative impact of education and she is excited to be part of an organisation working in partnership with students, schools, families and communities to foster positive change and help create a brighter more equitable future for generations to come.
Deanne Lugton brings over 20 years of generalist human resources experience to Life Ed Qld, with career highlights working for prominent brands such as hotel chain Marriott International; manufacturing groups HPM Industries and Riviera, together with telecommunications industry experience.
With a degree in Human Resources gained from Griffith University, and strong practical skills in recruitment and selection, performance management, employee relations, workers compensation, workplace health and safety, as well as having strong organisational restructure experience, Deanne is well placed to head up with HR team.
Deanne is part of the Life Ed alumni and is proud to be able to work and support the great work the organisation continues to deliver to Queensland children.
Zoe Shearer is a passionate strategic marketer with over 20 years’ experience who thrives utilising her skills in environments where she can make a positive social impact and change within communities. Zoe completed a Bachelor of Business Management at Griffith University, where she majored in marketing, communications, and management.
Her previous role with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service saw her develop and implement local, state, and national campaigns and she spearheaded ‘National Blood Donor Week’ campaign from their Melbourne head office replenishing critically low blood stocks nationally.
When she was Group Marketing Manager for HTG Solutions, Zoe was responsible for all marketing and communications for businesses including Telstra Retail Stores, Telstra Business Centre’s and Techwell.
She led a successful marketing team for many years and under her guidance, the team’s knowledge and expertise delivered numerous impactful marketing campaigns, most notably the Pinky Promise Cancer Council Queensland Campaign and the Pawfect Gift with Animal Welfare League Queensland which increased foot traffic and revenue.
Zoe has been recognised throughout her career including, awarded with Telstra Going Beyond for Community Engagement, Director’s Manager of the Quarter, Outstanding Commitment, Directors Choice Diamond Annual Award.
Brooke Castles brings a wealth of experience to her role, with a significant start to her career at G8 Education Ltd where she spent six impactful years within the Early Education Sector. Her tenure included being a finalist for, Support Officer of the Year, highlighting her dedication and excellence not only to the marketing department but the organisation as a whole. This period culminated in Brooke leading the organisation-wide implementation of a comprehensive CRM program, showcasing her expertise in marketing and customer experience strategies.
Transitioning to the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, Brooke assumed the role of CRM/CX Manager, contributing significantly to the establishment of workflow automation, customer journey mapping, and digital content creation.
Currently the Fundraising Manager at Life Ed QLD, her focus is on leveraging data to diversify fundraising initiatives. She is deeply passionate about making a positive impact and ensuring strategic decision-making through data-driven insights. Brooke is apart of Life Ed QLD’s alumni, and is extremely grateful to now work for an organisation that continues to impact the future lives of younger generations.
Tracey is a journalist, presenter and media adviser with 30 years’ experience. After completing a a cadetship at the Redland Times, she joined Seven News Brisbane and spent 15 years with the network as a senior reporter and newsreader.
As a journalist, Tracey travelled Australia covering breaking news, and stories on health, education, politics, tourism and rural issues. As a presenter, she covered some of the biggest stories of the day and hosted election coverage and other network programs.
Throughout her career, Tracey has enjoyed being an ambassador for Lifeline and various children’s charities.
Since leaving television, Tracey has worked with a variety of corporates and not-for-profit organisations, managing successful media campaigns nationally and throughout Queensland and helping organisations raise brand awareness through a variety of channels.
As Life Ed Qld’s public relations and media manager and the host of Life Ed’s parent podcast series, Tracey is delighted to be part of a passionate team dedicated to educating and empowering young people to make good choices for life.
Sue Osmond has more than 20 years’ experience in educational settings, and has been working with Life Ed Queensland since 2018. Having worked in the independent and state school sector, Sue has a passion for working with young people and enabling them to thrive. Prior to obtaining her education degree, Sue completed studies in sociology and possesses a great enthusiasm for highlighting the needs of children along with supporting colleagues to strive for their best as well.
Sue has held various roles in educational settings, including in Learning Support, Curriculum Coordination and Teaching and Learning Facilitation. She possesses mentoring, supervising and training experience along with extensive planning and implementation experience as well. As an alumnus of the Life Ed program, Sue is excited to lead the team effort in ensuring our Life Ed program is delivered to the best of our collective ability and excited to be able to work with others to share and grow our organisation.
