Nicole Gower

Vice President, Professional Services Macquarie University

Nicole is an experienced senior executive with a track record of successful organizational transformation, dedication to service and effective leadership of high performing teams. She specializes in corporate services, people and culture, change management, digital technologies, and enterprise leadership. Nicole is known as a down to earth, persuasive leader and a passionate advocate for diversity, inclusion and belonging. Nicole’s industry specializations include Higher Education, Health, Professional Services and Superannuation. She maintains a complementary portfolio of Non-Executive Director appointments, including as Deputy Chair of one of Australia's largest and most awarded superannuation funds. Nicole holds a BA/LLB (Hons) from the University of Technology Sydney and is an accredited mediator and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nicole is also a graduate of Harvard’s esteemed Advanced Management Program and is an active member of the Harvard alumni.

Main Conference Day One, Tuesday, June 3, 2025

1:30 PM Leveraging UniForum Data to Revolutionize University Services

NousCubane will host a panel discussion bringing an international perspective and insights from university shared services leaders across Canada and Australia.

 

This session will explore how UniForum benchmarking and workforce analytics data has been used to highlight the business case for shared services, how they impact service delivery across the entire institution, and opportunities for improvement. The panel discussion will include:

 

  • Establishing the Business Case for Shared Services
  • How to articulate the value proposition of shared services to gain support from academic/institutional leaders?
  • What role do data insights play in a strong business case? 
  • Implementing a Shared Services Centre
  • How to assess the right sequence of services to transition to a Shared Services Centre?
  • When should you focus on redesigning efficient processes before a transition, as opposed to leveraging a ‘move then improve’ approach?
  • Accountability, Scalability, and Benefits Realization
  • How can you extend scope to bring in new services? How do factors such as simplification, economies of scale, and standardized processes support scalability?
  • Embedding a culture of continuous improvement.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Nicole.

Download The Latest Agenda