Chris has held positions as CIO, General Manager and National IT Operating Manager with some of Australia’s major suppliers of IT services. This experience helps Chris manage IT systems that are 100% fit-for-purpose, robust and competitively priced.

Chris is a people person and an acknowledged expert in providing clear IT advice and direction to business leaders. He leads a team of technical staff and is highly competent at converting business needs into viable technical solutions. Chris is also well versed in the IT needs of small and medium enterprises.

Olivia Mannering specialised in Office Administration; and in previous roles, has put her interpersonal, communicational and organisational skills to use in Personal Assistant; Executive Assistant and Event Management roles.

A passionate person, she loves to broaden her knowledge and experience by learning new processes and systems.  Her current position as Director / Financial controller includes the diverse and engaging roles of Office Management, Finance, Human Resources and Marketing.

Adding to this, Olivia and Chris have 3 children; so life is (most of the time) busy, busy, busy – but filled with much love, happiness and gratitude.

Tim is a versatile IT professional with over 13 years of experience working across multiple industries such as Education, Finance, Construction and Technology. Tim is passionate about IT and technology and is continually learning to find the latest and greatest technologies to help your business succeed.

He has a diploma in IT – Networking and has a broad range of skills in IT. He specialises in Microsoft Technologies, Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp, Cloud and Virtualisation and Networking.

Tim’s role within the Step FWD IT is a Senior Engineer and Team Leader of the “Special Operations” Team, which focuses on education. He has led the team through several large projects including Major Network Stabilisation, Infrastructure Upgrade and Server Virtualisation and a rollout of a BYOD program with Virtual Desktops provided by Citrix XenDesktop.

Jennifer started her career as a University Lecturer with a Bachelor's Degree in English Education and an Associate Degree in Computer Science and Technology. While hosting a full-time teaching position for nearly ten years, she completed a Bachelor's Degree in Tourism Management and a Master's Degree in English Literature.  

To have a big family, she moved to Australia with two suitcases. While pursuing a Master's Degree in Management (Accounting) from the University of Melbourne, she explored her interest in different occupations. 

She began to use accounting software when she got her first job as a Medical Receptionist in Werribee in 2017. She then worked as an Assistant Accountant, Finance Administrator and Management & Reporting Accountant.  

She has three beautiful kids and two cheeky cats. She is an active volunteer in her community to support people who can only speak Mandarin. In her spare time, she is studying to become a CPA.  

Jared has over 13 years of experience working in retail, undertaking various roles within a large store. Most recently, he held a supervisory position for the online fulfilment team.

Jared graduated with an Information Technology degree while majoring in Interactive Media. This provided an opportunity for him to pursue his passion for combining technology with creativity.

Outside of work, he can usually be found catching up with friends, working on craft projects, going to the theatre, or building sets from his ever-growing LEGO collection. For Jared, nothing beats going to the beach to enjoy the warm sun, the sand under your feet, and the soothing sound of the ocean.

Kiet has over 15 years of experience in IT and has continually sought to improve his technical skills over this time.

He is very customer focused, his skillset includes extensive infrastructure management, operational support and implementation capabilities.

He has extensive experience developing and supporting diverse business infrastructures for the private sector and public from his time at CenITex.  He was a member of the ‘Team of the Year 2011’ award winner at CenITex.

Kiet is an experienced Technical Consultant with a strong background in IBM Lotus Notes / Domino, MS servers.  And more recent experience in migrating clients to Office 365, Skype for Business and Notes/Exchange Co-Existence environments.

In his time off, Kiet enjoys relaxing and spending time with his wife and two sons.  He loves driving his children to Karate, music, swimming, soccer, parties and especially, PokeMon hunting.

Jacob has always had a keen interest in technology. His earliest memories are pulling apart machines just to put them back together again, trying to better understand the inner workings of technology. He brings this keen interest to his role at Step Fwd, helping the team pick apart problems and find solutions for clients.

Jacob has spent the last few years in a retail-orientated role, focusing on making sales, providing quality customer service and problem-solving for difficult customers.

In his spare time, Jacob is an avid gamer and likes to engage in methodical puzzle games on his PC. He is always on the lookout for new games and is keen to find new titles to help challenge and stimulate his mind.

Jacob brings his customer service skills and warm demeanour to his roles as Pod Leader and Engineer at Step Fwd IT.

Christopher joined our team in February 2023 as the third piece of the rapidly growing “Chris Alliance” that is slowly growing within the Step Fwd IT ranks. With a strong background in Education IT – Chris has slotted in seamlessly with the rest of our team at Salesian College.

With over 20 years of experience in the IT & Education space, Chris has held roles as an ICT Systems Administrator & Leader at St Michael’s Grammar School and Mentone Girls Grammar School. From a technical standpoint, he is certified as an MCSA in Windows Server Technology & Systems Admin for JAMF, has a Diploma in Computer Games Development, has vast experience in a multitude of scripting areas, and is very well versed in Adobe & Autodesk products too. In short, there are a lot of strings to Chris’ bow.

When it comes to time outside of office hours, Chris likes tinkering with Retro Arcade computer hardware and game consoles, even going so far to develop his own video games. But occasionally he likes to keep it a bit more simple – delving into a good old fashion LEGO set!

Neville joined the team in October 2023 and is our ICT Manager at Aquinas College. 

Grant became part of the Step Fwd IT family in November 2022 and has quickly become a pivotal part of our Education Team – becoming the on-campus primary engineer for staff and students at Thomas Carr College. 

He has a rich background in the IT space, spending four years as a Network Engineer before spending a further nine years working as a Specialist Technician for the Victorian Department of Education’s TSSP unit – giving him an excellent foundation for working in alignment with our niche as an education IT partner. 

Away from work, Grant’s main interests reside in all things cars & motorbikes, as well as having a keen interest in music!