One of Australia’s leading experts on graduate careers, Mr Jeff Duncan, will be running a range of career development activities for St Mark’s students in first semester this year.

The College warmly welcomes Jeff back to St Mark’s, where he will be in residence for the next six months.

He is an Old Collegian with a stellar background who will be doing career development work with students in liaison with the Director of Learning, Dr Rachel Buxton.

Jeff Duncan was a Hawker Scholar at St Mark’s from 2005 to 2008, and College Club President in 2008. He secured First Class Honours in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Economics, the Lewis Scholarship, and a University blue in rowing.

Jeff subsequently worked for some years in management consulting with Port Jackson Partners before co-founding three businesses – GradAustralia, PostgradAustralia, and Prosple – all of them involved in connecting students, graduates, and employers.

Jeff’s fiancée, Caroline Govin, whose background is in marketing, branding, and social media, will also help students interested in managing their own online presence.

“The landscape for graduates is changing rapidly, and we want to ensure that our students are supremely well equipped to navigate it”, Dr Buxton said.

“We chose to work with Prosple – which was founded by Jeff Duncan and Geoff Adams (also an alumnus: 2007-2009) – in launching the St Mark’s Careers Directory in 2020.

“Having Jeff in residence in 2021 will enable us to supercharge our provision for students in this area, be it personal branding, job applications and job readiness, and networking with employers.

“I am hugely excited to be working with both Jeff and Caroline as we look to provide even more opportunities for our students to connect, develop, and equip themselves for life after university”, Rachel said.

Jeff Duncan said: “Not only did I make lifelong friends and have some of the most enjoyable years of my life at St Mark’s, I was also given unbelievable opportunities to develop as a leader and as a person. Many of these skills have turned out to be crucial in co-founding a start-up.

“Today, Geoff Adams and I are building the tools that we wished we had when we were students. I look forward to sharing them with St. Mark’s students and helping them to make the best possible career decisions.”

In welcoming Jeff and Caroline to St Mark’s, the Head of College, Professor Don Markwell, said: “Jeff and Caroline will be superb additions to the College and to our ability to help our students on career development and related matters.

“We are extremely fortunate that they are joining us for this semester!”

27 January 2021

Photo: Jeff Duncan (St Mark’s 2005-2008) and Caroline Govin