“I am passionate about transforming education and empowering people to thrive through change.”
Dionne Higgins
About
Dionne is a Partner in KordaMentha’s Performance Improvement team and the firm’s Education industry practice. With deep executive experience across higher education and global business, Dionne is a trusted advisor to university leaders, boards, and government on strategy, transformation, and sector resilience.
As former COO and Interim Vice Chancellor at RMIT University, Dionne led large-scale digital and organisational change, enabling students and staff to thrive through disruption. Her leadership is defined by a human-centric approach—championing innovation, inclusion, and wellbeing to build high-performing, future-ready cultures.
Dionne’s career spans executive roles at Pearson Plc, the Financial Times, and Penguin Group, delivering impactful change across diverse markets. She is passionate about helping education institutions adapt, innovate, and deliver on their mission in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Expertise
- Education sector transformation
- Operating model design and implementation
- Organisational resilience and crisis leadership
- Digital enablement and business transformation
- Governance, risk and organisational culture
Education and accreditations
- Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Chartered Accountant
- Bachelor of Business
Significant Engagements
- In response to dual sector University COVID business disruption, delivered $300m in savings (OPEX and CAPEX) generated through operating model redesign, cost reduction initiatives, divestment of non-core businesses and asset sales
- Led multiple large scale global business transformation of corporate service functions, spanning technology, outsourcing and service design in publicly listed, and not-for-profit entities
- Developed and led crisis management spanning pandemic response, natural disasters and security threats
- Accountable executive officer for effective risk management design and improvement in a regulated industry
- Accelerated the path to carbon neutrality in a large complex organisation, through a multi-year change program, community leadership and targeted investments in core infrastructure
