Kate Gunn – President

Kate is the Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Medical Research Institute. Kate has 25 years of business experience and prior to this appointment was the Chief Operating Office of the Garvan Institute as well as the Chief Operating Officer of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) at Sydney University.

Kate is also the Founder and Director of Balance! Healthcare, a leader in multi-disciplinary integrated primary healthcare, with practices in NSW and QLD. In 2015, Kate won a scholarship from Chief Executive Women and the Women’s Leadership Institute to attend the Women’s Leadership Program, Harvard Business School, and in 2012 she was named as one of the inaugural 100 Women of Influence in Australia (by Westpac and the Australian Financial Review).

Kate holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and a Graduate Certificate in Management from the University of South Australia. She has previously served as the Chair of the Government funded National Women’s Alliance Economic Security4Women (eS4W).

Jane Madden – Vice President

Jane Madden was, until recently the Executive Director for Tourism, Investment, International Education and Programs. As one of two deputy secretaries at Austrade, she had particular responsibility for strategic leadership of tourism policy and research, winning foreign direct investment, promoting international education, and delivering the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) and other programs. Jane has more than 30 years’ international government, diplomatic and business experience and holds qualifications in economics, Japanese and law from the University of Tasmania and ANU (Australian National University). She speaks Japanese and French. Jane has also studied at Harvard, INSEAD and the Melbourne Business School. She has worked in business and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). She has extensive Board experience and is currently a Non-executive Director of the Black Dog Institute.

Jane runs an advisory company with business partner, Dr Vanessa Findlay. Their firm, BrickfielderGE Pty Ltd partners with companies and organisations to develop clearly articulated and evidence-based strategies that advance business success, including internationally.

Throughout her professional and personal life, Jane has been passionate about the role of women in society and the work-force. She has been the first
female in several roles (including Ambassador to UNESCO) and has tried to focus on supporting young women, including as a Mentor and Adviser to the Careers Development Assessment Centre (CDAC) of the Australian Public Service. .

Vivienne Yu – Treasurer

Ruth Medd CPA, MAICD

Ruth is the Executive Chair of Women on Boards. She is also on the Board of Australian Ethical Superannuation. She is the principal of ‘All About Money’ a series of investment seminars that aim to educate women about investing.

Ruth started in IT in the seventies. Since then she has been a senior public servant, a broadcasting regulator, the inaugural Company Secretary at Telstra and the Executive Director of an industry association.

Professor Helen Hodgson

Helen Hodgson joined Curtin Law School in 2014. She has lectured in Taxation at UNSW, Edith Cowan University and Curtin University. She was also a Member of the Legislative Council in Western Australia between 1997 and 2001. Helen holds qualifications in accounting, business law and taxation, is a Chartered Tax Advisor, a Registered Tax Agent, a Fellow of the Australian Society of CPA’s and a member of the SMSF Association.

Her areas of expertise include superannuation, trusts, the taxation of small business entities and tax policy, and she was a participant at the 2010 Tax Forum. Her PhD was awarded in 2013 for analysis of the tax-transfer system.

She is also a member of the Tax Advisory panel for ACOSS, the Social Policy Committee of the National Foundation for Australian Women and the Women in Social & Economic Research group. In this capacity she has contributed significantly to policy review in the areas of superannuation and the tax and transfer system.

She now chairs the NFAW Social Policy Committee.

Liz Rowell

Beginning her advertising career in London with Young & Rubicum group, Liz has worked in multinational and independent agencies in account service, strategic planning, business development and management roles

Liz is owner, founder and CEO of Red Ark – a leading integrated creative agency working across broadcast, digital and social media, branding, content creation and retail activation. Red Ark is a Telstra Business Award finalist for social responsibility and is a consultant to the Australian and NSW Governments.

Liz’s board experience as Non Executive Director / Advisory Board member includes Quest for Life Foundation,), The Concourse Performing Arts Centre and AusCam Freedom Project, which supports girls in urban and rural Cambodia to complete their education. She has also mentored young women for the past 10 years through Layne Beachley’s Aim for the Stars Foundation, Glass Elevator’s Walk the Talk, Marketing Women and Mentor Central.

Michelle Macgregor Owen

Like many people in fundraising and alumni engagement, Michelle comes from a diverse professional background with a range of skills and talents centred around people, marketing and business development, all of which contribute to her work today. Most recently, Michelle has been tasked with building the advancement office from the ground up, at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

With almost 10 years in Advancement and more than 20 years’ experience in managing people and relationships for complex organisations, Michelle enjoys finding people’s passion and strengths to create meaningful interactions and deliver dynamic outcomes that benefit all parties. Michelle has programmed many major festivals and public events during her roles in Local Government and universities, most recently managing the 25th Anniversary celebrations for Swinburne.

Dr Petrina Schiavi – Secretary

Dr Petrina Schiavi is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of the ACT and holds a PhD in Sociology. Petrina is a specialist in corporate governance and social responsibility, and her career has taken her across private legal practice, academia, and government. As a corporate lawyer, Petrina advised clients in corporate governance, commercial contracting, and diversified commercial projects. Petrina has also published academic papers in corporate social responsibility, risk, trust and climate governance.

In her current role as Associate Director, Policy and Compliance at the University of Canberra, Petrina is responsible for the implementation and oversight of the University’s governance frameworks.

Liz Courtney

Liz is a passionate social entrepreneur and visionary leader with a strong background in brand and marketing communication with extended experience in digital production and social media storytelling. A stellar corporate career encompassing big brands, and agency roles has been balanced by her passion for philanthropy and giving back in the not for profit sector.

Liz brings experience as Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations, and General Manager, Cartwright Williams Agency where she was active in growth development, stakeholder engagement, creating effective communication campaigns, and inspiring a healthy culture to build team leadership. Liz has also delivered skills and insights in the NFP sector as CEO The Layne Beachley Foundation doubling revenue in 12 months, Global Marketing Director SEED Mantra, and in the Healthcare sector as Head of Media Communications and Marketing at NeuRA, advisor to Mindgardens Neuroscience Network in Sydney, Australia, and was appointed to the Earth Observatory of Singapore as “Artist in Residence” in 2019 to develop translational science and social impact communication for the region.

Professor Roianne West

Professor Roianne West’s career has been focused on the delivery of outcomes to Indigenous people and communities. She has successfully impacted on the health and well-being of Indigenous people through a range of processes from her initial role as a Health Worker in an Aboriginal Medical Service, as a Nursing Director for Indigenous Health and through to her current role as the Inaugural Dean First Peoples (Health).

Roianne’s progression to the tertiary sector is a result of an ongoing passion and enthusiasm to facilitate the empowering Indigenous people to take a direct role in changing health and well-being issues that impact on their communities. She has taken an active role in research, program development, individual support and organisational consultancy. As an Aboriginal woman Roianne is invested in building better communities and enabling individuals to provide a proactive and constructive contribution.

To enable this process, Roianne has developed the tools, skills and knowledge to influence every aspect of Indigenous health. She has undertaken comprehensive study resulting in the achievement of a PhD qualification while also participating in extensive research projects. Roianne identifies areas of concern and actively pursues research that will provide an evidence-based framework through which the Indigenous health workforce can be built. Significant outcomes have included the identification of barriers to and enablers specifically for Indigenous nursing and midwifery training.

An essential part of her career is establishing a profile that engages all communities throughout Australia and highlights the issues that impact on Indigenous communities. Roianne uses her knowledge and expertise to advocate on behalf of communities where essential health services do not match other areas of Australia.