Lei Bao grew up in Jiangsu Province in China and one of his favourite subjects in High School was Mathematics. He came to Australia after High School, initially to study Business and Finance, but whilst tutoring some students in Mathematics, he realised that teaching would be a more rewarding career and switched his studies. His natural enthusiasm and effective teaching methods soon attracted attention and in 2010, he was offered a scholarship by the Department of Education to undertake a Master of Numeracy Degree at Melbourne Uni and at the same time, he was invited to join the AMC Primary Problems Committee. Since then, he has been a most effective inventor of problems and has become well-known at MAV conferences for his thoughtful presentations on how students learn. He was involved in the Australian government’s reSolve project on one of the topics called “Bar Model method”. Lei was a contributor to the AMT Discovery series as a video presenter and has more recently begun a PhD based on his Action Research. For his contribution to the AMT and to Mathematics Education more widely, Lei Bao is a most worthy recipient of the BH Neumann Award.
Kevin has recently retired from his position as an adviser and accredited facilitator in Mathematics Education at the University of Canterbury, working with teachers as they explore aspects of mathematics teaching. He still continues to contribute to Mathematics Enrichment in a variety of ways. He is a well-known conference speaker in New Zealand Mathematical Education with a particular emphasis on Evidence-based Practice and getting students to engage with problem solving. He has been a guest moderator for the AMC since 2007 and was a Problems Committee guest in both 2007 and 2011. He joined the Committee on a permanent basis four years ago and has produced many delightful problems.
By her own admission, Thanom sees mathematics everywhere, from knitting to baking and beyond! She grew up in an environment where exploring problems was encouraged and became involved with AMT programs at an early age. She attended a number of Olympiad training schools and also the National Maths Summer School (NMSS) and this set her on a pathway which, despite a brief flirtation with the idea of becoming a research biochemist, has led inexorably to her career as a maths teacher and her high level of involvement in Maths Enrichment. Thanom is a long time supporter of NMSS, involved in tutoring and welfare from 2002 to 2018, and was invited to become a Challenge Moderator in 2011. In 2013 she joined the committee and has been a major contributor since then. When the Trust decided to enter the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO), Thanom was an obvious choice for Team Leader and has done an amazing job in encouraging more girls to be involved with Olympiad level Mathematics and to achieve success at the highest level. Thanom is a worthy winner of the BH Neumann award.