Dr David Poole is an educator, writer, speaker, and the founder and CEO of Dragon College of Business. His vision is, and remains, to create and deliver Australia's best applied programs in the fields of business and management.
Prior to this, he owned a highly successful small business in the retail book industry, facilitated strategic retreats for corporate clients, and taught at several business schools in Australia, China, Singapore, and Vietnam. Between 2004 and 2006, Dr Poole was the NSW and National Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA), an industry association for the property development sector. As CEO of the UDIA, he led the Institute’s transformation, including its doubling in size, the relocation of its secretariat and rebadging of its corporate image. He also maintained a national media profile. Prior to this position, and until 2010, Dr Poole taught corporate strategy, organisational behaviour, human resource management, and general management at some of Australia's leading business schools, including the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the Australian Graduate School of Management. He served as a tenured Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Western Sydney between 1996 and 2004. In 1999, he won the Faculty of Management’s Teaching Excellence Award. From 1995 to 2004, he was an elected Councillor in the most populous local government area in Sydney. During this period, he served on Council's Development Committee, where he considered some of the most significant new urban developments in the Greater Sydney region.
Dr Poole has delivered MBA and undergraduate programs in China (2000, 2002, 2007, 2010) and Vietnam (2009, 2010), served as Visiting Professor of Management at Utah State University in the United States (2001), and is co-author of the popular textbooks "Management: An Asia-Pacific Perspective" (Wiley, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010) and “Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour” (Thomson Learning, 2006). In recent years, he has written several articles about management, higher education, and urban development which have appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian newspapers, and has presented keynote speeches at several major national and international conferences. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Business, Master of Business Administration, Master of Educational Administration, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management, Organisational Behaviour, and Strategy. He also holds a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. He is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a member of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) and Vocational Education Learning Group (VELG).
In addition, since 2003, Dr Poole has regularly delivered lectures and seminar programs for the Australia-China Cultural and Educational Exchange Council to groups of public sector managers coming to Australia from Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, and other regional cities of the People’s Republic of China. In both 2009 and 2010, he delivered MBA units for La Trobe University in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Prue Ram is Dragon's Administration Manager. Prue joined Dragon after serving another Registered Training Organisation as Client Services Administrator for three years. With an outstanding record in customer service and administration roles, Prue also brings experience in the retail and social services sectors to her role at The Dragon. Prue has been very active in leading a range of youth and adult community groups and continues to give much of her spare time to these roles. Holding a Certificate in Retail Sales as well as a Diploma of Arts in Interior Decoration and Design, Prue also has a passion for beauty and aesthetics.
Mike Ridley is one of Australia's most qualified and experienced business trainers. Among other qualifications, Mike holds a Bachelor of Business and a Master of Applied Science from the University of Technology, Sydney, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Applied Management, a Diploma of Training and Assessment Systems, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and a Certificate IV in Occupational Health and Safety. Having worked for RailCorp, IBM, and the Department of Education and Training, Mike is a learning and development specialist with vast experience in compliance, curriculum design and development, training needs analysis, training implementation strategies, training delivery, assessment methodologies, course and student progression evaluation, and project management of these projects. Mike also has extensive quality assurance experience under the AQTF and ISO9001.
Walter Frankel is known throughout Australia as the edutainer for his amazingly engaging and enjoyable training style. Originally from South Africa, Walter moved to Australia several years ago and has since become one of the nation's most respected and admired trainers. Walter's qualifications include an Advanced Diploma of Management, a Diploma of Retail Management, and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. He also has considerable industry experience, having served as Financial Controller of several large international organisations and as General Manager of a digital signage company. Dragon is proud to have both both Mike and Walter join its staff as Adjunct Trainers.
Pete Ocean has also joined the training team at Dragon College of Business. Having served as an In-Flight Supervisor for GoJet Airlines at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, an Assistant Quarantine Officer, and a Sales Representative, as well as a trainer at several leading colleges, Pete brings a wealth of experience to Dragon College. Pete's qualifications include a Diploma of Management as well as Certificate IVs in OHS, Frontline Management, and Training and Assessment. Pete loves to bring his passion for inspiring and motivating others to his training roles, passions which will benefit Dragon's learners greatly during the years ahead.