Trust

Jane Fenton AM is the founder of public relations, marketing and stakeholder engagement consultancy Fenton Communications.

Jane has a law degree from the University of Bristol in the UK, is a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a life Governor of Very Special Kids, Director of the Queen Victoria Market, past Director of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and immediate past Chair of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundations, VicHealth.

She has won a Victorian Telstra Women’s Business Award in the business owner category and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the community particularly through support for a range of health, medical research, youth and women’s groups.

Gaye has a background in education, environmental and cultural sectors. She was Assistant Director at Melbourne Zoo and Director at Werribee Open Range Zoo with Zoos Victoria before being appointed Director, Scienceworks and Director, Museum Operations, with Museum Victoria. Now retired from full-time work, Gaye undertakes a range of part-time work and sits on several not-for-profit boards, including the Western Bulldogs Football Club, the State Sports Centre Trust, the People, Parks Foundation and Zoos Victoria and Victoria University.

Wendy has a strong commitment to the community, social justice and the social determinants of health.  A music and law graduate, Wendy’s career has spanned philanthropy, marketing, business development, communication, management, legal practice and music performance (violist). Wendy has held senior management positions in the arts, health, finance and tertiary sectors. Currently Wendy is Corporate Relations Advisor, The Women’s Hospital and Philanthropy Executive, Lowitja Institute.  She is a non-executive director of a number of community organisations and trustee of the QVWC Trust and the National Trust of Victoria Foundation.

Stella runs own business Stella Connect P/L, to help people solve problems in networking, collaboration building and professional development.  Stella is also CEO (part-time) of Obesity Australia whose mission is to drive change in the public perception of obesity, its prevention and treatment. Before that she was CEO of the Bio21 Cluster for nine years. Her early career was as a biomedical research scientist. In 1994, Stella helped establish the Premier’s Award for Medical Research, which recognises outstanding talent amongst young Victorian medical researchers. Stella is currently on the Boards of the BioMelbourne Network and The Bionics Institute. She Chairs the Program Advisory Committee for Biomedical Science at RMIT University and is a member of the Melbourne Boston Sister City committee.  In 2012 Stella was made an Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne and was awarded an AICD Scholarship for the 2013 Company Director’s Course.

Maree runs a social change, communications and strategic planning consultancy. She has a background in education, community development, health promotion and marketing. Maree is on the board of the Melbourne Writers Festival, an Executive member of the National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB), a member of the Centre for Multicultural Youth Board and Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership.

Margaret has extensive experience in communications and government relations, as well as a background in industrial relations and human resource management. She has published widely on women and politics and has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Award. Margaret is currently Senior Manager, Government and Communications, for the Civic Group. She is a director of the Royal Women’s Hospital and was previously director of YWCA Victoria, and Chairperson of the Sandybeach Centre.

Kate commenced her career as a primary teacher. After actively pursuing family and community contributions, Kate entered the consumer protection sector through community, state and federal government bodies, the media, and the building and insurance industries. She has served on significant national boards, was appointed Legal Ombudsman Victoria, was CEO of the Retirement Village Association Australia and has co-established a seniors advice business. Kate is a Commissioner with the Victorian Commission for Gambling & Liquor Regulation, is a Board Member of the Eastern Community Legal Centre and a member of the Women’s Correctional Services Advisory Committee.

Kelly Johnston is currently the Head of Real Estate Finance at Australia Post, maintaining a portfolio of approx 1,500 sites across Australia; this follows on from a career in property finance related roles at ANZ, the Dennis Family Corp and Barclay Mowlem.  Over her career she has gained extensive experience in financial models for property sales and development opportunities, general property accounting both statutory and management, budgeting and forecasting and a great understanding of heritage sites. Kelly is also a CPA who spent 5 years working at accountancy firm WHK Group.

Tiz is an experienced general manager with an extensive background in retailing and management consulting. For the past 12 years she has worked in strategic market research, delivering complex projects across both the services (telecommunications and finance) and retail industries, currently as Head of Insights and Information at Murray Goldburn. Prior to this, Tiz was the Head of Consumer Insights for the Coles Group, pioneering through a greenfield approach the development of its retail division and being elected its first female board director worldwide. Tiz has also worked as Director and Principal Consultant at Forethought Research, as head of its banking and finance team, and as Managing Director of TLC Business and Research Consultants. Tiz holds an MBA from the Melbourne Business School and was awarded the Helen Schutt MBA Scholarship for demonstrating academic and management excellence. Tiz is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, is currently a Trust Member for the Tobin Brothers Foundation and is the former Chair of Marketing Women Victoria.

Josie is the Chair of the Trust’s Finance, Government and Audit Committee.  Josie is a chartered accountant with her own consultancy practice and has extensive experience in accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, strategic and general management, risk management and corporate governance.  This has included work with Arthur Andersen as a specialist in corporate and international taxation, Clayton Utz providing advice to the Royal Commission on the collapse of the Tricontinental Bank and Rio Tinto as taxation specialist in international corporate tax planning.  Josie is currently the Chair of Tweddle Child and Family Health Services, a Director  on Children’s Ground and an external member of the Audit Committee for the Department of Treasury and Finance.  Previous board experience includes as a director at Austin Health and The Eye and Ear Hospital.

Cathy is the Executive Officer of Trawalla Foundation and of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She has worked in the third sector for the past ten years, with a focus on effective philanthropic practices and capacity building for non-profit organisations. Most recently, Cathy worked with the Social Impact and Leadership and Learning teams at Social Ventures Australia. She was responsible for the project management of numerous projects for SVA, ranging from the social enterprise reporting framework through to the introduction of the new online financial training tool designed to support non-profit CEOs and executives. Cathy’s experience in the non-profit sector also includes roles as Capacity Builder Manager for the Foundation for Young Australians and Executive Director of Our Community. Prior to this, she held senior positions in the corporate sector including Co-Founder and Product Director for Wishlist.com.au and Senior Consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting (Telecommunications and Information) in the Melbourne, New York and Hong Kong offices. Cathy has remained active on numerous non-profit boards, including over the past decade Urban Seed, Spina Bifida Foundation of Victoria, Social Ventures Australia and Social Impact Fund.