Dr Marilyn Wells has made a distinguished contribution to ICT by overcoming the challenges and demonstrating the benefits and practicality of providing localised face-to-face teaching and learning opportunities to tertiary students of ICT courses who lived in regional and remote areas. Her approach included industry integrated learning and professionals, which provided visibility of industry expectations, career opportunities, and employment outcomes. This increased student enrolments, engagement, and retention. As the Foundation Head of the College of ICT at Central Queensland University, she was instrumental in making it the most geographically diverse College/School of ICT in Australia. She was also a driving force in the restructuring of the Centre for Machine Learning, Network and Educational Technology (CMLNet) at CQUniversity which created opportunities for students and academics to work with industry partners, leading to global recognition for their research capability and output.