Jessica Hood

Jess is an accomplished project manager with over 18 years of experience in the applied research, quality assurance and program administration environments.

An integral part of the AHA team for more than a decade, Jess has worked across projects in the mental health, disability, education, aged and community care sectors, and many of AHA’s evaluation consultancies have benefitted from her expertise in project coordination and support. She has also coordinated quality review and audit programs of community service organisations across Australia.

Jess is currently the Project Manager for the Kindergarten Inclusion Support program, for which AHA administers the application process on behalf of the Victorian Government. Her responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day delivery of KIS application assessments and supporting the assessment and project support team leaders. She drives improvements to the KIS program guidelines and training resources and oversees the development of an online application portal. In this role, Jess draws on her many years of experience managing the Victorian Government’s Program for Students with Disabilities and her outstanding skills in fostering positive and productive relationships, rapidly implementing projects and managing stakeholders.

Jess was the Project Manager for the Program for Students with Disabilities, which AHA manages and administers on behalf of the Victorian Government as it transitions to the Disability Inclusion Facilitator Service. Jessica also managed the implementation of a state-wide pilot project to trial the use of a new tool for assessing the functional needs of students with disabilities and additional needs. 

Jess was also responsible for planning and implementing a customer support contact centre as part of AHA’s engagement as the Pharmacy Programs Administrator. This work drew on her previous experience establishing and managing large project teams to interview NDIS participants face to face and over the phone to gather information to help them to transition to the NDIS.

Before joining AHA, Jess worked as a team leader in the CATI centre of a large market and social research company while also studying at the University of Melbourne where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons). Her intelligence, adaptability and hard work continue to underpin everything she does.