Jayne Meyer Tucker

Jayne Meyer Tucker is the CEO of Good Beginnings Australia, and has over 10 years’ international experience in the provision of early intervention programs for children and families, specialising in creating productive partnerships between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Prior to working for Good Beginnings, Jayne was a Director of the UK’s Sure Start program, an interdepartmental government initiative to reduce child poverty. She was responsible for leading and evolving Sure Start Dover Kent from its inception, based on national frameworks, and for driving change based on workable solutions.

This role drew on Jayne’s wide-ranging skillset, which includes analytical, business management, human resource management and financial management proficiencies. By developing local strategic frameworks capable of being implemented on a national scale, Jayne established a culture of continuous improvement in the program, and dramatically improved business effectiveness.

Other achievements during this time included spearheading governance arrangements for the program’s non-legal partnership board; designing communication systems to aid information flow and decision making; managing multiple budgets for revenue and capital spending; chairing district debates and meetings to ensure positive outcomes; and developing a virtual, multi-agency staff to operate cohesively across several employers. Based on her myriad achievements, Jayne was elected independent chair of county strategic partnership, for which she facilitated local community groups in achieving charitable commission requirements.

Only six years after its inception, Sure Start became a major entity within the Department for Further Education and Skills, embedded within a new Children’s Act 2004. The program is frequently cited as an example of joined-up thinking, local community empowerment, and a determined effort to reform historically inefficient public services.

Jayne has also held the position of Lecturer/Consultant and Head of Division at South Kent College, where she was seconded to a National Governing Body to design and deliver a set of national vocational qualification (NVQ) management programs alongside an accreditation body. Other professional experience has included implementing a national psychology training program in Australia with American Professor Dr Lew Losconcy.

Jayne’s longstanding professional memberships span such groups as the Council for Social Impact, National Children’s Community Health Council, and the ARACY Reference Group. She is also a member of the Australian Children and Families Research Centre Advisory Committee, and has spoken at the Marymead conference in Canberra, and at various UK Sure Start Conferences. She is also involved in promoting Good Beginnings’ achievements at professional industry gatherings including the 2020 summit in 2008.

Jayne is the author of A Sure Start to Partnerships in Kent. She has a Masters Degree in Public Health, a Certificate in Counseling and a postgraduate Certificate and Diploma in Training & Development, Organisational Development and Executive Coaching. She is currently completing a PhD in Social Policy and Political studies.

Jayne’s strong analytical and leadership skills, coupled with her practical approach to problem solving, enable her to communicate complex concepts to a variety of audiences, and to work effectively with different people, cultures and situations. Her local and global experience gives her a rare dual perspective that lends integrity and pragmatism to everything she undertakes.