Stefanie Johnston

Stefanie Johnston graduated from Curtin University School of Pharmacy in 2004 and has been a registered pharmacist in WA since 2005. Obtaining accreditation in 2008, Stefanie has been providing medication management reviews in aged care and community settings since this time. Stefanie has worked across many areas of pharmacy and primary health care including community pharmacy, medication management, quality use of medicines, primary health care and health administration.

Stefanie is currently the WA Branch Director at the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. Stefanie has been involved in representing pharmacists in a variety of settings and as a board member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Western Australia. Stefanie is passionate about further immersing herself in the aged care and community sectors, and to share her ideas about innovation at a governance level and to contribute to important conversations about sector reform and client centred care.

Davina Hunter

Davina Hunter is an Employee Relations Advisor at the Western Australian Local Government Association and provides advice to over 150 Local Governments in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Davina has completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 2012.

Davina has a strong background in providing effective industrial, employee relations and human resources strategic advice, as well as experience in advocacy, negotiation and training facilitation. Davina is committed to being an active member of her local and international community and is particularly passionate about gender equality and the proper and respectful treatment of our aged community. Davina has volunteered for the Australian National Committee of UN Women since 2009 and is currently the Volunteer Chair of the Perth International Women’s Day (IWD) Committee and is a member of the Perth IWD Collaboration.

Miguel Gomez

Miguel recently moved to Perth from California where he worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for a variety of organisations. Through his experience in companies ranging from a sporting goods retailer to a multinational software company, he brings knowledge in various fields including Accounting, Financial Modelling, and Operations Analysis. His current role as Senior Business Analyst for the cement division of BGC Australia sees Miguel managing the analysis of business performance and efficiency within production, sales and logistics to provide advice on continuous improvement to senior management. Miguel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from San Diego State University.

Outside of work Miguel is an avid traveler and has gained a great deal of life experience through his travels. Wanting to help out the community in his new hometown of Perth, Miguel would like to apply his skills within community and aged care organisations to enable them to achieve their objectives and feels participation in the Emerging Leaders Program is a great step in that direction.

Shanna Crispin

Shanna is a media specialist having worked as a journalist for a variety of media outlets internationally. Originally starting out as a broadcast journalist in New Zealand, Shanna then ventured to London to write specifically on healthcare technology. Three years ago Shanna found her way to Perth and established herself as a respected business journalist with Western Australia’s Business News. While in that role Shanna covered the not-for-profit sector, which provided her with unique insights into the challenges facing the sector while also strengthening her desire to become involved herself. Shanna’s particular areas of interest in the community sector are mental health improvement and awareness, youth development and public health.

Shanna’s journalism experience recently resulted in her being sought out to join Platform Communications – one of Perth’s largest strategic communications companies – to act as the in-house Media Adviser to Platform’s clients.

Travis Thomas

Travis currently works as business manager at Integral Development, a small consultancy focused on leadership development and “doing well by doing good” in the community. Travis is currently attending UWA where he is studying an MBA and will be completing the Graduate Certificate of Social Impact this year. He is also a UniMentor at UWA, mentoring other post-graduate students.

As the president of a community charity group P.A.C., which he helped start with less than 10 members and zero funding, Travis has helped drive growth to collect more than $20,000 in it’s first year, which was all given directly to charity. Travis recently completed the Company Directors Course and leverages this in his role as Treasurer on the Integral Leadership Institute board, a not-for-profit registered charity, whose focus is on bringing awareness of mindfulness to the community via low cost courses while also focusing on academic research.

Maryam Khan

Maryam has a strong background in Business Analysis, Project Management and Software Development across the Health, Engineering, Finance and Government sectors. She also has significant experience in the community sector where she coordinates a project that distributes non-perishable food to people in need through the Salvation Army, Anglicare and others.

Maryam’s involvement in the community sector started back in 2005 when she set up an NGO to address the demands on young Muslims. She has been involved in various community projects at a National and Community level. Maryam wants to meld experiences from both sectors to establish sustainable services in the community. She is currently working at Baptistcare.

Tamara Findlay

Tamara is delighted to be chosen for the 2015 Emerging Leaders Program. Tamara is the Assistant Director, Sector Performance Reporting, with the Public Sector Commission. In this role, she leads the preparation of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment Annual Report and the State of the Sector Report.

Tamara has worked in federal and state government in Canberra and Perth. Prior to commencing her public sector career with the Department of Defence in 2005, she was the Technical Manager for an environmental consultancy, building on her postgraduate qualification and laboratory experience. Having settled back in Perth, Tamara is keen to make a positive difference by helping guide a community organisation. She desires to ‘pay it forward’ in terms of medical, social, educational and employment support she has been lucky to receive throughout her life. Tamara is looking forward to the program and to engaging with her fellow participants.

Marc Zen

Marc Zen currently works as a Project Officer in the Partnership and Sector Development team at the Injury Control Council of WA, a position he gained once completing a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion at Curtin University. While completing his studies, Marc worked simultaneously at the WA Centre for Health Promotion Research based at Curtin and at the University of Western Australia’s Health Promotion Unit on research and evaluation projects in LGBTI aged care, HIV prevention, sexual violence, mental health first aid and adolescent alcohol use behaviours.

Marc also has a long history of volunteer mentoring roles with the WA Aids Council, Curtin School of Public Health and the Rotary of Crawley. These roles saw him awarded a scholarship to attend the 2013 Leap program in 2013 and return as a Coach in 2014. Marc also represented Australia at the 2014 One Young World summit in Dublin.

Phil Beckett

Phil is a consultant, music events enthusiast, advocate for youth, and an ex not-for-profit board member. Originally hailing from the hills of Perth, Phil has been involved in his local community since he was 15 in various capacities. For over 6 years, Phil has also helped to put together WA’s biggest youth-run, all-ages music festival with the Hyper team; attracting thousands of young punters to see nationally touring artists in a safe environment each year.

Phil studied accounting and entrepreneurship at UWA while completing a cadetship with professional services firm KPMG and currently works with clients in the health, ageing and human services sectors, providing policy, program and evaluation services to government, not-for-profits and private providers. With this experience, Phil has occasionally spoken publically about ‘youth participation’ and until recently served on the board of the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia.

Karen Wellington

Karen Wellington is a Community Development Project and Program Manager working for the Fogarty Foundation in Perth, Western Australia. She is currently leading the WA development of the CoderDojo program; an open source social education movement that enables free, volunteer-run computer programming clubs for children. This involves leadership coaching, capacity building and engaging partners in collaborative problem solving and opportunity development. Karen is interested in civic and community leadership coaching, facilitating true bottom-up community development, activating participatory culture, social sector innovation and inter-generational knowledge transfer. She is currently studying towards a Masters in Community Development at Murdoch University and the Graduate Certificate of Social Impact at UWA.

Karen is currently the Board Secretary for pvi collective, an award-winning tactical media arts organisation. She previously managed the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards program for the State Library of Western Australia, and was the Marketing Director and Associate Curator for TEDxPerth in 2012 and 2013.

Georgie Carey

Georgie is a second Year Commerce student at UWA with a passion for community and a hunger to give young people more of a voice. She has been a part of numerous committees and volunteered for various organisations. A passionate advocate for youth empowerment, Georgie was elected as the inaugural Chairperson of the Mosman Park Youth Advisory Council at the start of 2014. In this role, she helps to organise events for youth in her area and encourages young people to become active within their local community.

At her university, Georgie was elected to her Faculty Society committee to represent the first year students doing Commerce at UWA. Georgie believes that young people have a distinctive drive in them. She wants to encourage that drive within others in the community and aged care sector in order to act as agents of change within their respective environments.

Tara Burke

Baptistcare Manager Strategy & Projects, Tara Burke migrated to Perth in 2012. Equipped with an honours accounting degree from Carlow Institute of Technology Ireland, she loves life in Western Australia. For the last two years, she has been instrumental in the delivery of Baptistcare’s five year strategic plan (2011- 2016).

She enjoys developing her project management skills, strategic thinking ability and is known for her attention to detail. According to Tara, her decision to pursue a career in the NFP sector was first realised when working for a Rape Crisis and Counselling Centre in Ireland. She continues to be driven by a desire to contribute to projects that genuinely enrich the development and wellbeing of the community. An experienced professional with great initiative, Tara is motivated by getting the best out of her team and the mentoring of young professionals within the aged and community sectors. Outside work she is part of a fitness boot camp team.

Alana Bernstein

Alana Bernstein is a solicitor at Jackson McDonald in the Corporate and Commercial team, working closely with Aboriginal Corporations and Not-for-Profit organisations. Prior to working at Jackson McDonald, Alana worked for the Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre as the WA Co-ordinator of the community legal education program, Human Rights are Aussie Rules. Alana has always been passionate about engaging with the community and has been involved in the sector in a voluntary capacity since she was a young teenager. Within the sector, Alana has identified strongly with organisations focused on education and developing leadership in younger generations. Alana understands the great benefits of having a strong community and Not-for-Profit sector and hopes to use her enthusiasm and skills to contribute to its growth.

Victoria Long

Victoria is an experienced Human Resource professional with more than 10 years’ experience, currently working as a Remuneration Specialist at BHP Billiton. This role provides expert analysis and advice to HR Business Partners throughout the Iron Ore division on remuneration and benefit matters and supports the development of strategies, policies and procedures for the organisation. Previously Victoria was a HR Business Partner based at BHP’s Port Hedland Port operations.

Her experience is not limited to the mining sector, having worked in the HR Department for MG Kailis Group in Fremantle, covering the Pearling and Seafood divisions, as well as the Public Sector with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Markant GmbH in Germany, a FMCG co-op. To complement her existing experience, Victoria is currently undertaking her Masters in Business Administration at UWA. Having volunteered for various organisations since High School, Victoria is passionate about giving back to the community and sees the opportunity to actively participate on a Board within the Aged Care / Not for Profit Sector as a great way to give back whilst applying the skills and knowledge she has gained in her career and personal life to date.

Laura Koh

Laura describes herself as American by birth, Australian by choice. Hailing from Wisconsin, she moved to Perth in 2011 after working at a children’s hospital while obtaining her MBA. During her undergraduate university Laura studied Business Administration and Global Business while working at a crisis pregnancy centre and as a hair dresser. Roles in Perth include project management and IT before filling her current role at the Manager of the Volunteer Program for Baptistcare.

Laura has always had a heart for others and desire to help people in need. She believes there is a need for a variety of ages on boards and is delighted to be in the Emerging Leaders Program as this will open doors for her to have an impact on the community around her, no matter where she may live.

Gabriel Lubieniecki-Reed

Gabriel Lubieniecki-Reed’s passions include women’s rights, support for the LGBTI community, maintaining a thriving public service and delivering positive social change. She is currently a Young Professional Member of the WA Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) , Professional Member of the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) WA and a Member of Australian National Committee for UN Women. She is also Vice-Chair for the Young Professionals Advisory Committee for IPAA (WA) and a member of the Emerging Leaders Network for AIM WA. Recently, she graduated from Women and Leadership Australia’s Advanced Leadership program, a one year course that supports the rapid advancement of high potential female leaders.

Gabriel has a significant interest in law and politics, and her work life has supported these interests, from being an Associate within the Supreme Court of WA to preparing budget briefings and strategic plans for Parliament at her current State Government Department.

Seemarpreet (Seemar) Riyat

Being a Chartered Accountant has allowed Seemar Riyat to attain a broad range of professional experiences from diverse industries, backgrounds and organisations; ranging from small public accounting practices to mid-tier accounting firms, commercial ASX listed entities and exposure to the not for profit (social and community care services) sector as well. Seemar is currently the Management Accountant of one of WA’s leading not for profit organisation known as Rise Network Inc.

Rise has a rich history of supporting people with a disability, people with mental issues, people who are aged, youth who are at risk and people who help these people over the last 30 years. Working closely with various members of the leadership team, she has the unique opportunity to develop, grow and add value to this organisation and potentially other organisations within the sector; that converge to provide more meaningful lives to the people within our community.

Dane Etheridge

Dane graduated with a PhD in Finance from UWA and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute of Australia. He is currently the Company Secretary and General Manager of Business Development for Focus Minerals, an ASX listed gold mining company. Dane’s diverse prior experience includes time in academia as a well as consulting firms conducting strategy development, financial modelling, and operational improvement projects across a diverse range of companies including not for profits and large ASX listed companies.

Dane has a long term interest in the community sector and to date has directed his efforts towards youth and mental health focused organisations. He believes that the community and aged care sectors are vital to our community and he hopes to contribute to their success and the quality of life of the people they serve.

Nicole Brown

Nicole is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and the Treasurer of the NSW branch of the Dietitians Association of Australia. She is also a Credentialled Diabetes Educator with extensive experience working for Diabetes Tasmania, the Australian Diabetes Educators Association, and clinical diabetes services in North West Tasmania, Canberra and Northern Sydney. In 2014 Nicole completed a MBA and she is passionate about utilising her qualifications, experience and skills to make a positive difference to the greater community.

James Jegasothy

Coming to Australia as a refugee, James Jegasothy has worked in both professional and volunteer capacities to support vulnerable people in Australia. Having studied Law and Politics, he worked in refugee advocacy in Sydney before moving to Perth in 2012. As Team Leader and then State Program Coordinator at Australian Red Cross Migration Support Programs, he provided leadership, quality assurance and strategic planning to a multicultural team working with vulnerable asylum seekers and new migrants.

James now works in Community Engagement and Funding at the Office of Multicultural Interests. Heavily involved in community organisations both in NSW and WA, James has held many leadership positions and is currently on the Management Committee of the CARAD and the Director of Welcome to Australia (WA Branch). Having worked in sensitive and challenging political environments, across NGOs, community organisations and government, James is an innovative and positive community-minded leader.