Profile
Tracey Kift is principal of Penola Catholic College in Broadmeadows & Glenroy, and is a passionate advocate for education as a force for opportunity, equity and transformation. Before entering educational leadership, she worked as a journalist with The Age, where she developed a deep appreciation for the power of storytelling. It was ultimately the belief that education offered the greatest opportunity to change lives that drew her back to the classroom.
Having previously served as deputy principal at Kolbe Catholic College and Marymede Catholic College, Kift has built a reputation for creating innovative programs that help young people discover their passion, purpose and pathway. Her initiatives include the LEAP Academic Extension program, expanded opportunities in the performing arts and sport, the Penola Student Promo Crew, and the Student Ambassadors Program, a unique leadership initiative open to any student willing to step forward and grow.
A musician, songwriter and educator, Kift has written the school songs for both her current and previous schools. She regularly sings and plays piano at school Masses, modelling to students the importance of using their gifts, embracing vulnerability and continually challenging themselves to grow. Equally passionate about developing teachers and leaders, she strives to create cultures of trust and psychological safety where people are empowered to learn, grow and flourish.
Broadmeadows & Glenroy, VIC
03 9301 2777
tkift@penola.vic.edu.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-kift-56888695
https://www.penola.vic.edu.au/
Tracey Kift
Principal Penola Catholic College
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Bio
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2002–2005
2009–2015
2016–2019
2020–2023
2024–2026
Began pursuing a career in journalism. Having graduated from RMIT and awarded the BSB Cook Memorial Prize (for the best graduate student, based on performance in all subjects in the Journalism Program), she was employed at The Age newspaper
2002–2005
Wellbeing Leadership and Learning & Teaching Leadership
2009–2015
Deputy Principal at Marymede Catholic College
2016–2019
Deputy Principal at Kolbe Catholic College
Recipient of the PAVCSS Memorial Scholarship 2023
2020–2023
Principal at Penola Catholic College
2024–2026
Milestones
The professional philosophy that underpins all of it is strikingly basic – and Bruce knows it. “I know this seems pretty simple,” he says, “but always doing what’s right for clients and not what is best for me. I never have to worry about something coming back to me from a previous client.”
He has helped clients through years-long credit rehabilitation without earning a cent along the way. He has never placed a client in a product he wasn’t prepared to fully stand behind. The result is a practice built on trust generating its own momentum: repeat business and referrals that arrive without prompting, from clients who know the difference between a broker who serves them and one who services a transaction.
In Alberta, where Bruce has built a particularly strong market presence, his name is amplified by a heavy advertising campaign across television and radio – channels he values not simply for reach but for credibility. The ads, he notes, help legitimize him in a market where clients are choosing who to trust with some of the largest financial decisions of their lives. Alongside that visibility, he has cultivated deep relationships with builders and financial planners, creating a diversified pipeline of leads that insulates the business against the inevitable swings of the rate cycle.
The operational side of the business has evolved with equal deliberateness. The appointment of a dedicated ‘Director of Wow’ – a role conceived to ensure every client interaction exceeds expectation – and the adoption of Dominion Lending Centres’ Gold Rush CRM platform have together driven a meaningful uplift in repeat client business over the past year.
The present year of 2026 brings its own complexities. With clients emerging from a period of historically low rates and confronting sharply higher mortgage costs, Bruce has tilted his focus toward refinancing – helping existing borrowers navigate a transition that, for many, has been genuinely painful. He is also investing in AI tools to sharpen lead generation and streamline internal processes, a measured embrace of technology from someone who has never confused efficiency with the thing it is meant to serve.