2018 Alumni

2018 ELGP Participants

Amy Hallam

Amy has over ten years’ experience working for multinational professional services firms, government and the not-for-profit sector. Amy graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Science and previously worked as a consultant managing environmental social impact assessments in Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Liberia. In 2009, Amy volunteered in remote western China as an AusAID Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD) initiating environmental education and training programs. Based in China for 6 years, Amy attained professional fluency in spoken and written Mandarin.

Amy currently works for the Perth Convention Bureau, a not-for-profit funded by the West Australian government which helps not-for-profit associations, corporations and agents bring their national and international conference and incentive groups to Western Australia. Amy sits on the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA WA) committee, Australia China Business Council (ACBC WA) Food & Agriculture Committee and the Curtin University Humanities Faculty Advisory Council.

Joseph Kufakwandi 

Joseph Kufakwandi is a Senior Consultant with the newly formed Department of Communities. His volunteer experience begun with the Adult Migrant English Program’s social soccer team as a volunteer coach in 2008-2009. He has since volunteered on the organising committees of three community public speaking clubs most recently as a founding President. He is also volunteering as the interim vice-president of the Australia Zambia Business Council and has co-founded a social enterprise that helps international students integrate in Western Australia.

His interest in not-for-profit sector begun when he had the privilege of visiting two not-for-profit organisations as part of a Staff Exchange Program. His interest has continued to grow guiding community services procurements within the Department of Communities.

Courtney Reynoldson

Courtney is the Risk and Compliance Advisor at St John of God Healthcare, one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit healthcare providers. In this role, Courtney has a lot of exposure to the executive team and is committed to driving good governance practice. Courtney is a lawyer, although not currently practising. She has a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia. Her law honours thesis analysed the terms of aged care/retirement village contracts under the unfair contract terms legislation. Courtney selected this topic in pursuit of her desire to work in this sector and her interest in upholding the rights of vulnerable members of our community.

During her time as a Solicitor at Lavan Legal, Courtney negotiated agreements for large-scale commercial property developments across Australia, including a retirement village. In recognition of her achievements, she was the Property Council of Australia’s Young Achiever of the Year runner-up in 2013. To further her career in governance, Courtney holds a Certificate IV in Compliance & Risk Management from the Governance, Risk and Compliance Institute of Australia (2015) and a Certificate in Governance Practice from the Governance Institute of Australia (2014).

Bart Morris

Bart Morris is a professional engineer and MBA graduate with a keen interest in the affordable housing sector. He believes that affordable housing is a powerful mechanism in preventing the spread of broader social issues, such as substance abuse and domestic violence, by providing vulnerable members of the community with safety, security, stability and self-esteem.

He has extensive experience in the construction of fixed plant, dwellings and incidental structures, a deep familiarity with the regulatory requirements of such activities in Australia, and a thorough grounding in business optimisation and improvement. He has built a successful career at BHP Billiton, but is motivated to use his skills to benefit those less fortunate, as while he comes from a less privileged background himself, he was raised in and knows the value of a loving home, and thinks others deserve to have that as well.

Amanda Rickman

Amanda’s passion for community building started with her involvement in the organising committee of the Youth On Health Festival (YOH Fest) as a teenager. As a youth board member she was involved in developing a constitution for a new not-for-profit organisation, later becoming an adult board member. Before moving to Canberra in 2011, she held volunteer positions at a district and state level coordinating youth programs for Lions in WA, and as a camp coordinator with Camp Quality supporting children and families touched by childhood cancer. Since then, she has held several volunteer and professional roles that focus on promoting inclusive and resilient communities in Australia and overseas.

Gabriela Di Perna

Gabriela is very passionate about making a difference and supporting communities that are disadvantaged; this is what first attracted her to the Disability Sector. Gabriela worked for National Disability Services (NDS) WA from 2011 to 2016, managing the Area of Access and Inclusion—overseeing direct service delivery to more than 90000 customers with a disability in WA. She joined the Not-for-profit specialist consultancy BaxterLawley as Principal Consultant in 2017.

Gabriela holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business (1st Class Honours) granted by Oxford Brookes University, UK and a Diploma of International marketing granted by the International Advertising Association (IAA). Her career started in Private Banking, in Munich, Germany where she acquired Sales, Marketing and Internal Project Management training, working alongside the CEO of Private Banking as a Junior Head of Staff before leaving to move to Australia. Gabriela currently volunteers at Nation Church in their Youth Ministry and is a Committee Member of Blue Gum Early Learning & Child Care Centre.

Candelle Nestor

Candelle is a social intrepreneur, technology innovator, systems designer and social enterprising champion. Since 2014 Candelle has worked at the WA Council of Social Service specialising in social enterprising and technology projects. Whilst at the council, Candelle also completed postgraduate studies in Social Impact at the University of Western Australia and now serves as an active Alumni Committee member.

Prior to this Candelle established a successful English language and communications coaching business in Brazil where she supported executives, researchers and government officials in developing their public speaking, negotiation and storytelling skills. Candelle also has experience in running youth leadership initiatives, having lead a state team of over 100 volunteers in the delivery of a global working internship program through AIESEC, a global youth leadership development organisation. Candelle demonstrates highly developed strategic thinking, partnership development and leadership skills and is passionate about finding new ways of doing things that drive meaningful change for the world and everyone in it.

Gabriella Re-Matthews

Gabriella is a Management Consultant at PwC primarily focussing on Healthcare. She works with a large range of clients across the private, public and not for profit sectors and specialises in organisational transformation, complex program and risk management, contract management, and productivity in health care. She discovered her passion for the health industry whilst studying a Bachelor of Health Science and through her volunteer work. She has volunteered as a sexual health peer educator with the Youth Advisory Council of Western Australia (YACWA), as a team leader with Edmund Rice Camps for Kids, as a GoGirls! Program mentor with YMCA, and as captain of her hockey team. She also completed pro bono research into the health care system in rural communities in India, the prevalence of communicable diseases in WA and supported multiple research studies at the University of Western Australia.

Danielle Spagnolo

Danielle has a Bachelor of Physiotherapy and has worked in the public health and disability sectors in Australia and the UK for ten years. With a keen interest and expertise in service improvement and governance, Danielle has held leadership roles in multiple high value projects including the commissioning of Fiona Stanley Hospital assuring policy and legislative compliance, and in the WA Health governance reforms to establish the Health Services Act 2016. Danielle possesses highly developed leadership skills and was recognised as a young leader with her acceptance into the Leading Collaboration Program directed by the Institute of Health Leadership.

Danielle has since worked as a facilitator conducting workshops for multiple organisations including the Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia. With experience chairing committees within WA Health and a long history of volunteering, Danielle aspires to use her skills and innate knowledge of the sector to serve her community through a Board.

Chloe D’Souza

Chloe’s interest in volunteering emerged when she undertook a semester of mentoring for first year Curtin Law students. Chloe was in her penultimate year and wanted to share her experience with new students, and provide support where she felt she could have used it when she started as part of an inaugural cohort. Chloe has always had a desire to use her skills to give back to the community, and hopes to pursue this interest further now that she has achieved her immediate career goals.

Dawn McAleenan

With over thirteen years of management and consultancy experience within the not for profit sector, Dawn has managed a range of projects and services at a national, regional and local community levels across the UK and now more recently in Western Australia. Dawn’s interest in the not for profit sector initiated whilst undertaking her academic studies in Social Science and the impacts a community has on disadvantaged individuals.

Subsequently, she developed a greater interest in Criminology and completed her BA with Honours in this area, as well as a Masters in Criminological Research. With the above academic record and interests, Dawn has been focused on reducing the gap of social exclusion for vulnerable clients through targeted provision and community integration. The varied experience that Dawn has across all levels of an organisation (from volunteering to acting CEO) within the not for profit sector, has placed her in a position a gain some unique insights and these experience are invaluable for an emerging influential leader within the Board space.

Lauren Brazier

Lauren is an experienced Insurance Broker specialising in the Health, Community Services & Not for Profit Sectors. Building a portfolio of WA based not for profit clients over the past 8 years exposes Lauren to organisations facing comparable daily challenges. This allows her to identify areas of risk that may be manifesting in the sector and make recommendations to help ensure informed decisions are made by her clients for both insurable and non-insurable risks. Lauren is proud of the partnerships she forms with her client’s with whom she is not only seen as an insurance broker but as a trusted advisor within their business.

Sankareshwaran Thiagarajan (Sankar)

Sankarmoved to Perth from Melbourne. He studied Masters in Information Systems at the University of Melbourne and proceed to work in challenging IT environment, as it was his childhood dream to work with computer technologies. Passionate about the outdoor sports, the move to Perth was a natural fit. In his free time, Sankar loves to work with young kids in teaching science and mathematics. He also participates and runs social events to raise funds for the social cause such as Ride 2 Conquer Cancer and Australian Red Cross. Sankar met his wife, Danielle in Perth they got married in 2015 and have good looking baby boy Rishav. Grateful for an amazing group of friends, Sankar make sure that new friends are welcomed and made part of his pact.

Georgina Ferreira

As a student Georgina regularly participated in Curtin Volunteers, Remote and Indigenous programs volunteering in youth development programs in Laverton and Leonora, resulting in her becoming the organisation’s Vice President. Work in community development influenced career direction, interning with Cystic Fibrosis Western Australia, the Department of Development and Training’s Aboriginal Workforce Development Centre and Rio Tinto’s Communities team. Georgina completed an Honours thesis researching West Australian Community Funding Models in 2014.

In 2015, Georgina was deployed to the Philippines as a part of the Australian Volunteers for International Development, a program for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She worked with community groups in the beautiful mountain city of Baguio, developing aid application and reporting processes in collaboration with local partners.

In 2016 and 2017 Georgina worked as the Program Coordinator for the John Curtin Leadership Academy. She facilitated the intensive leadership program, bringing together Curtin University’s high achieving students with not for profit partners. Georgina has recently returned to her hometown in the South West. She hopes to continue working to positively impact the community she’s most passionate about.

Jordan Oakley

Jordan has recently completed a PhD in Chemical Engineering focused on energy improvement within the oil and gas industry. He has undertaken notable career and volunteering experiences including an internship with Shell working on the start-up of the Prelude asset. In the volunteering space, Jordan has contributed significant time towards the not-for-profit, Society of Petroleum Engineers as President of the UWA Chapter and board member for the WA branch. Jordan has also volunteered in CSIRO’s Scientists in Schools Program and coordinated UWA high school outreach programs both aimed at promoting STEM as a career pathway to school students.

Jordan believes the oil and gas industry needs to become more integrated within the not-for-profit space due to its high influence in WA. By building his experience through this program and future board roles in the community sector Jordan hopes to help bridge this industry with the not-for-profit space.

Kerry Bloxham

Having studied at Cambridge University, Kerry was originally a management consultant for Monitor-Deloitte. She then decided to put her acquired skills into giving back to the community, moving into the not-for-profit sector. She spent 4 years at Cancer Research UK, delivering the charity’s patient engagement strategy and developing innovative information products for patients. She then continued her work in cancer with the Collaboration for Oncology Data in Europe (CODE) – providing valuable information to improve patient care and supporting greater access to cancer drugs.

Kerry has also been a long-term volunteer for Sported, mentoring community organisations that improve the lives of disadvantaged children through sport. Now in Perth, she has recently become a Strategy and Project Manager for the Western Australia Football Commission, a not-for-profit organisation aiming to enhance and connect communities through football. Kerry is excited and committed to further apply her experience and drive to community projects in WA.

Kashinee Veeren

Kashinee is passionate about learning new experiences and making a difference in the world. Kashinee moved to Australia at the age of 18 to study Actuarial Science at Curtin University. As soon as she moved she got involved with Curtin Volunteers where she spent two years on the Board whilst she was studying. With the help of BHP she travelled to Wiluna to set up a monthly project with the Shire where curtin students would help to get involved with the youth and assist the community in making Wiluna a better place. She has also been involved with youth projects such as School Volunteers programs, ABCN etc… As a JCLA graduate, along with her group she raised $10k for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

She also organised several fundraising projects for the Rotary Club of Ascot for their Interplast project. Her most fascinating, yet opening volunteering opportunity was volunteering for a week at Handicamp prior to which she had limited experience with people with disabilities. She was impressed at how much she underestimated people with disabilities,yet these people were way more confident and courageous than she was. Kashinee is grateful about what life has given to her and during her spare time she enjoys giving back to the community, learning from everyone’s experiences and making a different in young people’s lives; the future of tomorrow.

Libby Kraus

Libby is a dedicated and self-motivated communications and marketing professional with ten years’ experience in sport, property development and local government. She currently holds the position of Corporate Communications Manager for the Western Australian Cricket Assocation – a highly regarded sporting organisation which is currently transforming the way in which it works.

Her experience includes stakeholder engagement, media management, internal and external communications, strategic project management, marketing and online communication channels. A caring and driven person, Libby enjoys boxing, personal development and spending time with family and friends in her spare time. Libby has been volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House in Perth for the past two years to give back to the community and make a difference. As someone who has predominately worked in the not-for-profit sector, Libby is interested in understanding how these companies work at the board level to benefit the community and/or their members.

Amanda MacNamara

Amanda is a Chartered Accountant presently employed with a Not for Profit Aged Care Provider in a senior executive position. She has a broad range of experience from public practice (audit), commercial ASX Listed companies (mining, oil & gas, litigation funding) and the Not for Profit Sector (aged care) and volunteering (community sporting groups and religious groups) and experience working within a complex regulatory environment including working within Government Funding and Compliance Regimes, ASX Listed Rules, Accounting Standards and many other legal requirements.

Amanda is highly interpersonal and an effective communicator to all levels of stakeholders. She is passionate about working in the “For Purpose” sector and marketing the sector to the community at large to attract and retain the right staff to honour and respect the vulnerable members of the society who built the community we enjoy today.