Jeff Sengelman

Jeff Sengelman

Position: Board Member

Board Member since: 2021

Qualifications: Jeff holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts in International Relations, and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies. He is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College, United States Army War College, the US Pinnacle Strategic Leader Development Program, and a Fellow of the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Background: Jeff is a retired Major General from the Australian Defence Force, with a distinguished career spanning almost 40 years, most recently as Special Operations Commander, Australia where he played a pivotal role in the events that led to the Bereton Inquiry into alleged War Crimes.  He has been a trusted senior adviser to both Government and the Chief of the Defence Force on security issues of national significance, and a principal adviser on Counter Terrorism. His expertise and experience include a wide range of areas including government, governance, leadership, and management at both national and international levels, leading dynamic organisations and effectively managing significant budgets.

Since retiring at the end of 2017, he has pursued a portfolio career and at present this includes appointments as non-executive Chairman of an ASX listed multinational communications technology Group (Harvest Technology) and non-executive Chairman of a human performance optimisation company (Fusion Sport) that supports elite athletes, the AIS, Olympic and sporting teams around the world. In both these appointments he has accrued considerable experience in Boards, commercial professional standards, strategic direction, corporate governance, risk and all aspects of financial reporting and budgets.

Jeff is married to his partner of 27 years, and has a son and a daughter, both who are currently attending universities here in Canberra. He and his family live in Canberra and his current work commitments allow time for him to maintain a sound work life balance and volunteer support and service into areas he is passionate about including helping others to build lives free from domestic violence and fear.  This passion comes from his own personal experiences as a childhood survivor of domestic violence and later, as a military leader, witnessing the impacts of domestic violence on military and veteran families.

Jeff enjoys running, reading, and writing poetry. He also lends support to local veterans with PTSD and is currently engaged in a personal project to rehabilitate a mistreated former racehorse and provide it with a safe contented life, free from fear. Jeff is inspired by DVCS, and the people associated with it, and as a Board member he wants to help DVCS achieve its Vision and to help his community.