Ms Julia L Page was appointed chief executive officer of veski in 2004 after a career spanning the public, private and philanthropic sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Julia joined the veski board of directors in March 2017.

As veski’s MD & chief executive, Julia leads a team responsible for the continued development and delivery of veski’s programs which include a prestigious fellowships program, an inspiring women program and a range of complementary skills, training and education activities. She demonstrates her unique ability to engage people at all levels and build partnerships which complement and extend veski’s programs and activities.

In the time she has been with veski, she has overseen the growth and expansion of the prestigious innovation fellowship, the inspiring women fellowship and the sustainable agriculture fellowship programs and has been responsible for awarding 38 fellowships.

Julia has also maintained a strong working relationship with the Victorian Government and established strong connections with national and international science and innovation communities. veski’s relationship with the Victorian Government has resulted in the organisation being asked to deliver other Victorian fellowship and award programs on behalf of the Victorian Government.

Julia is passionate about delivering diverse and inclusive programs – having delivered the veski inspiring women STEM sidebyside program and the veski inspiring women career recovery grants supporting the careers of mid-career emerging leaders in STEM and more recently through the Victorian Near-miss Award Pilot, supporting outstanding emerging researchers and future leaders and jointly addressing equity, diversity and inclusion by supporting the careers of groups who face systemic barriers to success.

As well as leading veski, Julia is actively involved in the community. From 2010 to 2015, she established and managed the LUCRF Community Partnership Trust in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. She also played an active role in the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust as Secretary from 2010 to 2017.

Julia contributes to the councils and committees of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, St Vincent’s Hospital Foundation; Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre and Inspiring Australia – Vic. Julia is also a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. More recently, Julia was appointed as a member of the Project Governance Group overseeing the Study Melbourne Research Partnerships program and has been appointed in an advisory capacity to the recently launched AgTech Seeds pre-accelerator program.

Julia relocated to Melbourne in 2000. She is trained as a technologist obtaining BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Essex, UK in Information Business Systems Technology and a postgraduate of Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government in Emerging Leaders Executive Education.