Our CEO

Mark Painting
Chief Executive Officer
Mr Mark Painting joined NAATI as Chief Executive Officer in July 2015 and has overseen the organisational transformation of NAATI, including the implementation of the national Certification System.
Mark is the chair of the Australian Mirror Committee (CS117) to the ISO Committee on Translating, Interpreting and Related Technology (ISO TC37/SC5). He is also a member of the Judicial Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and the Industry Advisory Board for Monash University’s translating and interpreting program.
Prior to joining NAATI, Mark held several corporate and operational roles at senior executive levels in the Australian Public Service. In addition to his public sector career, Mark also has experience as Board Director and sat on several governance and audit committees. He has also been a lecturer/tutor at TAFE and university levels.
Mark holds a Master of Public Administration, a Graduate Certificate in Management and a Bachelor of Business. Mark is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Institute of Management and Leadership and an Executive Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).

Magdalena Rowan
Chair
Magdalena Rowan was appointed to the NAATI Board from 1 December 2023 and appointed as the Chair of the Board from 1 July 2024.
Ms Rowan has been a practicing certified interpreter and translator for over 40 years. During this time, she has also been involved in most facets of the industry. She has provided services across all levels of interpreting and translating. She has been an educator in interpreting and translating since the eighties, both at university and vocational levels in Australia and New Zealand. She was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the T&I Public Service Training Package and has designed and implemented T&I courses as a senior lecturer at TAFESA, including courses for Indigenous and sign language interpreters.
Ms Rowan has worked extensively with NAATI since the 1990’s including being a member of the NAATI Regional Advisory Committee for many years. More recently she has been involved in the development of the NAATI Certification System and Continuous Improvement Program. She was a NAATI examiner for many years and also assisted in training examiners. Until recently, she was also a member, and then chair, of NAATI’s Technical Reference Advisory Committee (TRAC).
Ms Rowan is also a member of the Judicial Council on Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee, responsible for the development of the Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals. Ms Rowan regularly presents to professionals who work with interpreters and continues to be a practicing interpreter and translator in Spanish. In the past, Ms Rowan also practiced as an accredited Polish Professional Interpreter.
Ms Rowan has a Bachelor of Arts, a Postgraduate degree in Adult Education and an Advanced Diploma in Interpreting and Translating and has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Foundations for Directorship course. She is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators and a member of the New Zealand Society of Interpreters and Translators.

Prof. Nicholas Farrelly
Deputy Chair

Jeff McAlister
Board member

Gulnara Abbasova
Board member

Andrea Creado
Board member

Caitrin Dunn
Board member
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About Us
NAATI is a public, not-for-profit company that is jointly owned by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments.


Projects & investments
Learn more about how we re-invest into the translating & interpreting profession.