Executive team

Andrew Barnum

Head of College

Andrew Barnum joined Billy Blue in 1999 to lecture in Communication Design. He was appointed to the position of Program Director as well as specialising in Visual Identity for the Visual Communication program at UTS. He is currently undertaking research study at UTS looking at re-defining creativity in order to support its sustainability in the emerging creative economy. In 2006 Andrew accepted the role of Head of School at Billy Blue College of Design.

Andrew was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA and raised in Sydney, Australia. He completed his design education at RMIT before starting his career as an Art Director with McCann Erickson in Sydney. He since returned to the USA to freelance in design and perform as a singer songwriter and returned to Sydney with his own creative business. The Barnum Group have created corporate identity and communications for Macquarie Bank, Ord Minnett, Sydney Futures Exchange and HSBC. The company has won prestigious projects as well as been AGDA and AWARD finalists.

Neil Barnett

Head of Communication Design

Neil has over 14 years teaching experience and course leadership gained at a range of higher education institutions in the UK and Australia. He was a course director at LCC in London for three years prior to his appointment at Billy Blue, instigating and implementing new pedagogic approaches including: the introduction of student centered teaching and learning strategies, practical workshops, group learning and peer assessment into studio based projects. He also set up a mentoring scheme for final year students through a CLIP CETL fellowship research grant.

His industrial experience includes work with multi-national design and branding consultancies in the UK, Spain and Australia. Previous research projects include the exploration of the relationship between industry and design education, an exploration of real time information systems for Melbourne's public transport system and research into typography for children.

Neil has spoken at international education conferences in London and Lisbon and is published in Rosemary Sassoon's book "The Designer – half a century of change in image, training and technique".

He gained an MA in Graphic Design from Central Saint Martins, London, has a teaching degree from Cambridge University and is a member of AGDA.

Paul Brafield

Head of Digital Media Design

Graduate Diploma in Multimedia (AUT), Master of Arts (University of Auckland)

Paul has over 15 years industry and teaching experience in the field of digital media. Prior to his appointment at Billy Blue, for the past seven years Paul was the Programme Leader for the Digital Media programmes at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). In his time at AUT he designed and implemented a wide range of new digital media courses in areas including motion graphics, post production, digital visual communication and digital media research methods. Paul also coordinated the development of an interdisciplinary programme in creative technologies, drawing together design, media, computing and engineering disciplines, established industry advisory groups for digital media and creative technologies, and implemented new postgraduate study pathways in digital media.

Prior to his career in education Paul worked as a broadcast graphic designer and art director for a number of major television networks including TVNZ, CanWest and Sky, and he has since combined teaching with freelance design work on a number of broadcast, film and web animation projects. He is currently undertaking research investigating the design of digital media software tools and their influence on the creative design process. Paul has has also had a number of short creative writing pieces published, and is passionate about combining the visual and the verbal through the storytelling potential of digital media.

Michael O'Brien

Head of Environment & Interior Design

Michael O'Brien has over 17 years experience in the Interior Design industry and education arena. Michael has worked for prominent Interior Design practices both locally and Internationally including DCM, Hassell, HOK/Lob and Foster and Partners. Over this time Michael has worked on numerous commercial projects including retail, corporate, exhibition, sport and hospitality environments. In 2001 Mr O'Brien moved to London to work as a Senior Interior Designer on the New Wembley Stadium, a combined Foster and Partners, HOK/Lobb project.

Since 1992, Michael has been heavily involved in education and has lectured or tutored at numerous universities, institutes and TAFEs throughout Australia, including Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Southbank Institute of TAFE (SIT), University of New South Wales (UNSW), University of Technology (UTS), Sydney Institute, Design Centre Enmore ( DCE) and Lidcombe (DCL).

Michael has been heavily involved in developing course curriculum at a number of institutions including Billy Blue and was responsible for writing the Commercial and Residential interior streams of the new Bachelor of Applied Design. Michael is acting Program Director for both of these streams as well as the existing Branded environment.

Michael is passionate about what influences and informs the spatial design experience in both the physical and digital arenas.

Mieke Leppens

Head of Branded Fashion Design

Dr Mieke Leppens has 25 years experience in the international design arena, having worked mainly in the fields of fashion design, fashion marketing and design education. Her professional design career spans across all levels of the industry from 'haute couture' in Paris to 'design original' in Belgium, fast fashion and brand fashion labels in Australia. Mieke has extensive design teaching expertise right across the board - in private colleges, universities, design studios, with theory and research subjects, and in writing and implementing new design programs. She was awarded a PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Since then, Mieke has actively participated in the furthering of the Australian fashion design industry by writing, winning and implementing Federal Government Grants allocated to Australian fashion companies for creative improvements of their businesses culture. Mieke has been the external consultant in the development of the Bachelor of Applied Design (Branded Fashion) course at Billy Blue College of Design.