board of directors

Board of directors

Our directors

Rhonda Galbally AO Chair Rhonda Galbally AO has focused her life’s work on making a difference for a more equitable society. A CEO for 23 years in business, public sector, philanthropy and community, she has led the creation and development of a number of cutting edge organisations. From 2000 to 2010, Ms Galbally was the founding CEO of www.ourcommunity.com.au, a gateway of tools, information, advice and training to improve governance and to help Australia’s 700,000 community groups find funds, grants, insurance, business partners and board members. After serving as the head of the Myer Foundation and Sydney Myer Fund in the early 80s, Ms Galbally became the foundation CE of the Australian Commission for the Future. In the 90s she became the foundation CEO of the Australian International Health Institute (Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne) and the foundation CEO of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the ground-breaking funding body that redefined health promotion in Australia. Ms Galbally was recognised with an Order of Australia in 1990. She is Patron of Orygen Youth Mental Health Research Centre, Compassionate Friends and the Epilepsy Foundation. She is Chair of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council. In 2005, Ms Galbally was a member of the Victorian Government Human Rights Committee that reported on the need for a human rights bill for Victoria – the Human Rights Bill was passed by the Victorian government in June 2006. Ms Galbally is the Federal Government’s Chair of the National People with Disabilities and Carers Council and a member of the independent panel for the productivity commission enquiry into the Need for a Care and Support social insurance scheme. Stewart Leslie Deputy Chair Stewart Leslie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. For 15 years he was a partner with accounting firm KPMG where he specialised in assurance and advisory services. Since retiring from that partnership he has been appointed to a number of governance roles in the public sector. He is a member of the board of the Australian Institute of Management–Victoria and Tasmania, and the Audit Committee of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Aileen Berry Aileen Berry is development manager at News Custom Publishing, a division of the Herald & Weekly Times. In her 18 year career with News Limited, Ms Berry has held a range of senior positions, including Marketing Manager,HWT; Assistant Editor, Herald Sun; CEO, News Magazines and Managing Director of Broadsystem Ltd. From 1997 to 2000, she was Director, Corporate Affairs for News Limited in Sydney, reporting to the then Executive Chairman, Lachlan Murdoch. Ms Berry, who now works part time to accommodate her young family and her community activities, is also a board member of Open Family, serves on the Advisory Council of the Royal Women’s Hospital Foundation and is actively involved in intercountry adoption through Families with Children from China. Elleni Bereded-Samuel Elleni Bereded-Samuel is currently employed by Victoria University as the Community Engagement Coordinator and she is the Co-founder and Committee of Management member of the Horn of African Communities network. Her dynamic leadership in creating new solutions for community members to access and participate in the university community and society in general is consolidated by her vast experience in interpersonal communication skills and excellent networking and advocacy skills. In 2006, Ms Bereded-Samuel was appointed Chair of the SBS Community Advisory Committee and also a Victorian Multicultural Commission Commissioner. Ms Bereded-Samuel was one of the recipients of the Victoria University Vice-Chancellor’s Citations and Award for Outstanding Engagement with CALD communities in Australia. She also received the Victoria’s Premier Awards for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs – Education and Prime Minister International Year of Volunteers’ Award. Ms Bereded-Samuel’s name has been included on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women and she is also on the 2006/07 ‘Who is Who Australian Women’, among 6000 remarkable women in Australia. She works at Centacare Catholic Family Services as a Marriage Counsellor and is also completing her Masters in Education at Victoria University. Maria Butera Maria Butera is the Executive Manager, Marketing and Business Development Cbus (Construction and Building Industries Superannuation Fund), a position she has held since 1998. Cbus has over $11 billion in funds under management, with 500,000 members and 55,000 participating employers. Ms Butera has extensive experience in the public sector, specifically in the building and construction industries in industrial relations, workplace management and contract management. Felicity Pantelidis Felicity Pantelidis is currently on maternity leave from her role at GE Capital where she is Marketing Director for the Commercial Finance businesses. Prior to joining GE Capital, Felicity held a number of senior positions at Telstra Corporation, most recently as Group Marketing Manager, Consumer and Channels. Felicity holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree from Monash University and is actively involved in the not-for-profit sector. She is currently a Director on the Board of the Victorian Deaf Society and her previous Board appointments include the Board of the North Yarra Community Health Centre and, the Monash University Marketing Industry Advisory Board. Robert Thomas Robert Thomas is a Melbourne academic surgeon with a special interest in Oncology. He was based originally at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, then became the Foundation Professor of Surgery at the Western Hospital. In 2000 he was appointed Director of Surgical Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He was instrumental in the development of Surgical Oncology in Australasia and was responsible for the creation of the Surgical Oncology Group within the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was the first Chair of this group. He has been heavily involved in the development of cancer reforms within Australia, been past President of COSA, Chair of the National Committee creating the Colorectal Cancer Guidelines and a member of the recent Ministerial Taskforce in Cancer. He chaired the Clinical Services Working Party within the Department of Human Services in Victoria. His recent interests have been the encouragement of the Cancer Reform Agenda in Victoria including issues such as the introduction of multidisciplinary care and psychosocial support of cancer patients. He is the immediate past Editor in Chief of the ANZ Journal of Surgery and has served as Chair of NHMRC panels and has ongoing research interests in the molecular pathology of Gastrointestinal tumours. Janet Whiting Janet Whiting is a partner of the national law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, practicing as a commercial lawyer in litigious and non-litigious areas. In addition to full-time practice, Ms Whiting is actively involved in the not for profit sector. Previous appointments include being the inaugural Chair of the Royal Women’s Hospital Foundation. Her present appointments include Deputy Chair of the Victorian Major Events Company and a Trustee of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.

Board Secretary - Vanessa Greatorex