Our Board

Tara Taylor

Tara is SMTC’s Managing Director.

Tara’s background is in legal practice.  She remains a  Director at legal practice, Sophic Legal, which specialises in commercial law.  Tara was a senior associate at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and in-house lawyer with Westpac as part of their institutional banking team. 

Tara has a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney and has been admitted to practice in both New South Wales, Australia and New York State, United States.  Tara has been a board member of Inner Sydney Montessori School since 2016 and was its board chair for 7 of those years.  She has been a director of Sydney Montessori Training Centre since its inception and was its board chair for 4 of those years.  Tara is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has also been a board director in other sectors.

Dale Anthony

Dale Anthony is an educator with over 40 years’ experience that includes both classroom and educational management and leadership roles. She taught French, German and Modern History. 

Dale was a member of the Executive Team at PLC Sydney for over 20 years, serving in the roles of Director of Curriculum, and Head Teacher Learning and Teaching. These roles included responsibility for oversight of the delivery/compliance aspects of NESA curriculum; mentoring new staff and acting as the Principal’s delegate (Teacher Accreditation Authority) to implement the NSW Teaching Standards for the purposes of Teacher Accreditation for all staff.  Dale has experience as a school board director and has been on SMTC’s board for a number of years.

Andrew Duff

Andrew’s career has covered roles in senior management and as Chairman and director of both ASX Listed and private companies. He has extensive experience in financial, operational, regulatory and governance issues across organisations of various size and complexity.

In addition Andrew was a Director and Treasurer of Inner Sydney Montessori School for nine years.  He has been a director of SMTC since its inception in 2018.

Karen Bennetts

Karen has been involved in Montessori education since 1993. She is Montessori trained with qualifications across early childhood, primary, and secondary education, and was a 6-12 teacher and the founding principal of a Montessori school for 10 years. She later served as Senior Advisor, Schools at Montessori Australia.

Karen holds a PhD in Montessori leadership and is an AMI Leadership Trainer, leading SMTC’s AMI Montessori School Leadership Certificate Courses in Australia and internationally. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors with 20 years’ governance experience across schools, higher education, and the health sectors, and is also the board chair of a hospital. In 2016, she received a State Fellowship Award from the Australian Council of Educational Leaders for her contribution to education.