Ian Blandthorn AM

Board Member

In 2014 Ian was made a member of the Order of Australia “for significant service to workforce development and training in the retail, wholesale and personal services industries”.

Ian is a:

  • Board member of SkillsIQ.

  • National Assistant Secretary of Shop Distributive and Employees Association (S.D.A.).

  • Member of ACTU Executive.

  • Chair of National Wholesale, Retail and Personal Services Industry Training Council.

  • Board member and former Chair of Victorian Service Skills Industries Ltd.

  • Former Chair and Board member of Service Skills Australia.

  • Former Joint Chairperson of the National Wholesale Retail and Personal Services Industry Advisory Committee of Service Skills Australia.

  • Former Chair of National Industry Reference Groups responsible for the re-development the Retail, Wholesale, Community Pharmacy, Hairdressing, Beauty and Floristry Training Packages.

  • Former member of State Training Board of Victoria.

  • Former President and Member of Flagstaff College of TAFE Council.

  • National Assistant Secretary of Shop Distributive and Employees Association (S.D.A.).

  • Director and Board member of Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST).

  • Member of REST Member and Employer Services Committee, Marketing Committee and Tax Planning Committee.

  • Member of Essendon (AFL) football club.

Ian has a BA (Hons) and is married to Anne with three children and one grandchild.

Latest News

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Webinar - Introduction to Skills Literacy

In the first webinar of the six-part series, Yasmin King will join our series host Dr. Mark Keough to discuss the basics of skills literacy, including: What does skills literacy mean? Why do people have difficulty understanding and defining their own skills? And how can skills literacy lead to better career outcomes?

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CEDA - Opinion Article

Much of our workforce training is compliance-focused and not aimed at upskilling our workers. Without systems to track and recognise informal, formal, and self-directed learning, employees are having to repeat training unnecessarily. This highlights the need to embrace open recognition and use AI-powered skills recognition systems like SkillsAware to validate real skills in the workforce, if we want to address the issue of productivity.

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VET Research Conference ‘No Frills’

National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) VET Research Conference ‘No Frills’ co-hosted with TAFE Queensland. Melinda Brown, General Manager, SkillsIQ, presented how technological solutions can be adapted and integrated into existing systems to validate individuals' capabilities and experience in the workforce.

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