CEO
Sam Jacob is grateful to live in Naarm, on unceded Wurundjeri land, and tries to walk softly as a sign of respect to Elders past and present.
In their professional realm, Sam brings more than 30 years’ experience in higher education in the UK and Australia, including senior roles at Charles Darwin, Torrens, Deakin, Monash and Adelaide universities. Sam’s current role is CEO at the Australian College of the Arts (Collarts), a dual-sector, independent provider, ranked #1 in Australia in student engagement for creative education.
Sam is a specialist in conceptualising the future of higher education, inspiring organisations to meet customer needs. They believe that education transforms hope into agency, powering up the next generation of activists and changemakers. Sam has fallen in love with the staff and students of Collarts, seeing living proof every day that creativity is vital, difference is powerful and stories change the world.
Sam is grateful for a recent stint in the remarkable top end of Australia, where they learnt that grief best leaves the body through the hands, and that linear time is only one way to approach a deadline. Once in a while Sam thinks about leaving the sector, but graduation still makes them cry: education has their heart.
Sam has served on several community boards, including as Deputy Chair of Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival, Chair of Adelaide’s Feast Festival, and a board member of the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council, NTAHC. They currently volunteer for the Pinnacle Foundation and remain resolute about seeking out and supporting queer community wherever they live.