Leadership

Noel Clement is Director of Migration, Emergencies and Movement Relations with Australian Red Cross. He first joined Red Cross in 2001 as National Manager of the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme and since 2002 has held senior management roles including General Manager (Domestic Operations), Head of Australian Services and Director Australian Services.

Reporting to the Red Cross CEO and as a member of the Executive, Noel's responsibilities include migration and emergency service programs across Australia, international humanitarian law activities and leadership of key Red Cross Red Crescent Movement relationships.

Noel has worked for almost 30 years in the not-for-profit sector, including many years in community-based organisations in community health and public housing. His previous roles have included senior leadership, management, program coordination, social work and community development. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work (PIT) and a Masters of Social Policy and Community Service Management (RMIT).

Belinda Dimovski joins Red Cross after 10 years at Weight Watchers where as a passionate people and customer experience advocate, she led the Customer Experience, Operations, Customer Service, PMO and Logistics functions for the Australia/NZ business and played a co-ordination role for the international team. She has a comprehensive background in leading a multichannel service delivery organisation that includes digital, face to face, call centre and global solutions.

She is a values driven individual who is excited by a challenge, is motivated by people and has fallen in love with making a difference. As a Customer Experience advocate, Belinda believes that supporting an organisation to be more consumer-centric (be it a product, service or an experience) leads to better outcomes for the consumer and therefore a more engaged organisation in a state of continuous improvement.

She has extensive senior management experience and a proven track record innovating strategic and service initiatives across three diverse sectors, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and health service delivery. Her experience has allowed her to understand the ongoing work required and challenges faced by a business that is implementing a focus of customer experience and service improvement.

Penny has held senior strategic leadership positions within prominent international humanitarian and development organisations for over 15 years. Drawing on her experience working with locally based partners internationally and in Australia, Penny is keen to fostering collaboration among organisations, communities and governments and through this ensuring community participation in developing responses to complex needs. She is passionate about empowering people, groups and partner organisations to lead and advocate for the changes and improvements they seek.

Penny commenced in the new position of Director Volunteering in December 2016 where she will play a key role to ensure Australian Red Cross is part of an inclusive, diverse and active humanitarian movement in Australia. Prior to this Penny was Director, Victoria for 18 months leading Red Cross' programs across the state.

Before joining Red Cross, Penny worked at Oxfam Australia for 8.5 years including as Associate Director International Programs. In this role Penny lead and provided operational oversight to humanitarian and community development programs in partnership with locally based organisations across Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific. Before this Penny worked in Australian Red Cross' International Program team for 3 years including and earlier over a six year period held a variety of positions with Médecins Sans Frontières including Country Directorships in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Penny holds a Master of Arts (Development Studies) and Bachelor of Arts (Hons) both from Monash University.

In his professional life, Lloyd has worked in many complex organisations experiencing change in their environments and helping make them successful at what they do. Starting out at the ATO in Adelaide, he performed various senior taxpayer facing roles during a period of great change in our tax system. He then moved on to spend several years in Chartered Accounting practice joining SA Brewing Holdings corporate finance team gaining exposure to a variety of manufacturing industries before being appointed as Finance Director in Europe for Penfolds Wine Group.

Returning from Europe to Melbourne he transitioned ultimately to Nexteer Automotive where an initial role as CFO of Australia later became that of CEO of Asia Pacific. Living and working largely out of Shanghai, China Lloyd oversaw the growth of the business from $20m million turnover to $1b across a region that included China, India and greater Asia. He then spent time in the Media and Communications sector with Dentsu Aegis.

A Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Company directors, he holds a B.A. in Accounting from Uni SA, an MBA in International Management from RMIT and a Graduate Diploma in Financial Strategy from Oxford University.

Michael leads the work of Australian Red Cross’ International Programs including international disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action, as well as leading the coordination of organisation-wide strategy and relationship with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and Australian humanitarian partners.

Michael joined the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in 2002. As an international development and humanitarian professional, Michael’s experience spans both humanitarian (complex and natural emergency) and the development fields across the African, Asia and Pacific regions. 

Poppy has a wealth and depth of leadership and sector expertise including:

• General Manager Early Education Inclusion and Acting CEO at various times at KU Children's Services – a not for profit national organisation which operates early childhood services and programs across Australia. Poppy has responsibility for over 400 staff, $80m budget and accountability for trauma informed and early intervention programs supporting vulnerable children and families, children with disabilities, migrant and refugee supports and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs. In this role, she works closely with approximately 6,000 parent members of the organisation. This includes ensuring the organisation seeks their input, meets their needs and addresses their concerns. 
• Management Consultant for Arthur Andersen focusing on strategic planning, organisation change, process and systems change.
• Learning and Development Manager including responsibility for graduate development programs.

Poppy has a BA Hons Business Economics, is a chartered accountant, has undertaken the Australian Institute of Company Directors course and is completing a postgraduate MBA in Social Impact. 

Sue has close to 20 years leadership experience across health, emergency services, aged care and community sectors including:

• Baptcare – led the business, digital and cultural change across aged care, disability, family services, affordable housing and asylum seeker programs in 3 states (VIC, SA and TAS). This includes co-designing an internal start-up trialling new ways of working in the community care sector.
• Various executive roles Ambulance Victoria (2007-17) – led major reform initiatives, strategic and operational performance, innovation and the transition of Victoria's adult retrieval service when it was on the brink of collapse.
• A volunteer mentor with Leadership Victoria and University of Melbourne's Connection Mentoring Program.

Sue has a Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Arts, Graduate Diploma in Business Management, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a certified coach/practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Tara joined Red Cross in 2018 as Head of Legal. She has 10 years’ experience as Head of Legal and an Executive team member of innovative, intellectual property and brand-based businesses; 8 years top tier private practice experience; and experience with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and volunteer legal organisations.

Tara was previously at Gilead Sciences ANZ, where she was Legal & Compliance Director from 2015. Tara also acted as an Executive team member, statutory director and Privacy Officer. During Tara’s tenure at Gilead, she developed and implemented a new compliance framework for the organisation and built a legal/compliance team. Tara also helped achieve key business outcomes such as the negotiation of the largest ever Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme product launch with Government.

Prior to Gilead, Tara was the Legal Director at Merck & Co Inc for ANZ based in Sydney. Tara was at Merck for 7 years, managing the Legal team and acting as an Executive team member, statutory director, company secretary and Privacy Officer. Tara supported key business priorities such as merger implementation, pricing and business development as well as developing the lawyers in her team.

Immediately prior to Merck, Tara was on an AusAID program (Youth Ambassadors for Development) where she worked for the WHO based in Hanoi, Vietnam assisting the Ministry of Health implement their WTO obligations.

In private practice, Tara was with Minter Ellison (lawyer) and Clayton Utz (Senior Associate) focusing on product liability and class actions.

Tara has been lucky to live in China, Hong Kong and Vietnam during her career so far. She used to be able to speak Mandarin but now unfortunately only remembers enough to order takeaway.

Tara has a LLB and Asian Studies degree from ANU, a Masters of Laws from USYD and a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute. She is admitted to practice in Victoria, NSW and the Federal system.

Tara is married and has two girls. Tara enjoys exercising and cake decorating in what spare time she has.

Veronica Frost joined Red Cross in 2009 and has held several senior management positions throughout her tenure, including Business Services Manager and Head of IT Operations, before being appointed to Chief Information Officer in May 2014.

Veronica has 20 years' experience in Information Technology and a long track record of leading the transformation of technology functions in diverse and complex organisations.

Before joining Red Cross, she held development and digital roles at NineMSN and Pretzel Logic, Senior Business Analyst and then Head of IT at Rusty Surfboards. Veronica is an avid traveller, holds a Graduate Certificate in Business and Technology (UNSW) and is currently completing her Masters of Business and Technology (UNSW).

She was recognised for her outstanding ability to drive transformational change by being named one of the top 50 CIO's in Australia from IDG communications in 2016. Veronica's motivation for joining Red Cross resonates in her passion for the role of technology in transforming the delivery and improving the effectiveness of essential humanitarian services.

Jai joined Australian Red Cross in January 2013 and is currently the South Australian Director for Australian Red Cross, responsible for leading Red Cross operations across the State. He has a strong focus on business development, building key partnerships and establishing high performing teams.

Jai has previously held a range of Senior Leadership roles including:

State Manager – Migration, Emergencies & Service Development and focussed on how to support communities to be better prepared for, respond to, and recover from emergency events; supporting refugees, asylum seekers and people who are vulnerable as a result of migration; and overseeing new service development and quality initiatives to improve outcomes for Red Cross clients.

Program Manager – Hazards within the Department of Environment, Water and Natural resources responsible for overseeing the department’s whole of government response to Flood and Riverbank Collapse and working on drought impacts along the Lower River Murray.

Jai also spent seven years in the private sector working in wine industry focussed on leading strategic research projects aimed at improving wine style and quality, production efficiencies and achieving a competitive advantage.

Jai has a Bachelor of Medical Science and Honours Degree in Science from Flinders University.

In his spare time you will normally find Jai either camping, fishing or travelling with his family, or coaching junior football and soccer teams through his local sporting clubs.

Following a successful career working across health, education, environment and community sectors Sharon has worked for Red Cross for the last nine years. During that time Sharon has been an executive leader in state operations as well as national strategy and policy in particular in the justice, mental health and place based strategic areas.

Sharon has an extensive background both in the Government and the Not for Profit sector primarily in the areas of health, community development, project management and leadership of community programs. Sharon has university qualifications in health and post graduate qualifications in business administration and communications.

Sharon has led state operations in multiple states and has been the State Director of Tasmania since April 2019.

Leanne Joyce brings a wealth of experience in government affairs and communications across the not-for-profit, government, and corporate sectors. Her experience is supplemented by my qualifications in journalism, public policy, and business administration.

Her corporate and government experience includes senior executive roles with Telstra, NSW State Government, and the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade).

Leanne was Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) in the 1990’s during a transformative time in health policy. She remains committed to social justice and to humanitarian issues.

Prior to joining Australian Red Cross, Leanne worked with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) - an international non-profit foundation created to develop new, affordable antimalarial drugs - as well as the Digital Industry Group, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), the Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS, and the Australian Primary Principals' Association.

Andy Kenyon has a 30 year career which spans a diverse range of themes and locales, including water management, Australian Indigenous land use and management, international development, monitoring and evaluation, program quality management and organisational change management and leadership.

He has lived and worked across Indigenous Australia, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Prior to employment with Red Cross Andy worked for Indigenous Australian organisations, for non-governmental organisations and as a consultant providing monitoring and evaluation services and training. While working for the Central Land Council in Alice Springs, his highlights included participating in a Social Impact Assessment of the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway and membership of the team, working on behalf to traditional owners, negotiating compensation for loss of Native Title resulting from the construction of the railway.

While working as an employee of Oxfam Australia he was involved in the management of major disaster responses in Sudan, northern Kenya, Somaliland, the Pacific and the Asian tsunami. Andy also led a major change process, devolving significant areas of management out of Head Office to country offices.

As a consultant Andy worked with AusAID, Australian Red Cross, Oxfam Australia, Ngaanyatjarra Council and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara land management team. He was involved in developing Close the Gap Local Implementation Plans for FAHCSIA on Mornington Island and at Doomadgee in Queensland.

He also worked with AusAID Disaster Management staff to develop performance assessment frameworks for the Disaster Management strategy and for the PNG Disaster Risk Management Program.

His expertise was also beneficial to the Victorian government departments in the natural resource sector, where he provided training and evaluation services, and with the Department of Sustainability and Environment to undertake an evaluation of that Department's and Park Victoria's 2009 bushfire recovery program.

Since joining Red Cross four years ago and prior to working back in the NT, Andy supported processes of continuous improvement for the International Programs Department and, to a lesser extent, in Australian Services.

Garry Page brings a wealth and depth of leadership expertise having worked for more than 25 years in senior roles in government and not-for-profit organisations, including CEO of the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland; Chief Operating Officer with Access Community Services; Senior Executive roles in the Queensland Government – including in Youth Justice, Multicultural Affairs, and Families and Communities; and an active member of many external forums, partnerships, external committees and his local Rotary club.

Garry has worked and led policy development in the areas of settlement services, child safety, youth justice, family and domestic violence, homelessness, youth, multicultural affairs and disability services. He led the development of Queensland’s first Multicultural Recognition legislation and major changes to youth justice and family and domestic violence legislation.

Garry is a Paul Harris Fellow – recognised for voluntary international aid work. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts Degree, a Post Graduate Diploma in Social Science, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management. Garry is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of the Australian Society of executives.

Garry has a passionate interest in the continued promotion of social inclusion, the reduction in social inequity across society and the development of positive life outcome opportunities for all though particularly for our communities most vulnerable.

Craig brings a diverse background in both the statutory and the not-for-profit sectors. He has extensive experience delivering on local, regional and national initiatives. An experienced and qualified social worker, Craig is well versed in child protection, children and families, and mental health, having trained and practiced in Britain.

In addition to his social work qualifications, Craig holds two Masters Degrees in Management and Crime Deviance and Social Policy. He is also a qualified Prince2 Project Manager and a graduate of Leadership WA.

Craig’s previous roles include Director responsible for Early Years at the WA Department of Communities and Chief Executive Officer EdConnect Australia, a national children’s charity.