Denis Moriarty (Chair)
Denis Moriarty is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of www.ourcommunity.com.au – the national gateway for Australia’s 700,000 community groups. Denis has a strong background in executive management in both the public and private sectors. He was the former Managing Director of Strategic Australia Pty Ltd and former Commissioner and Deputy CEO of the Victorian Tourism Commission and head of the Victorian Government’s Information Services. He sits on a number of community and business boards and is Deputy Chair of the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Victorian Communities.

Denis is a graduate of the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Awards and a graduate of the Williamson Community Leadership program. He was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 for his work in establishing OurCommunity. Denis is passionate for change, challenge and diversity in society.

Kim Windsor
Kim has over 20 years experience working with industry and government in the areas of work design, workforce development and reward and recognition. Her work spans across manufacturing, community and service industries and combines research and policy development with practical application and facilitation of sustainable workplace solutions.

Kim has had a longstanding interest in the intersection of work, learning and recognition. A key focus of her work addresses issues of pay equity, social inclusion and the redesign of low skilled work roles to extend both life and work opportunities. She has been instrumental in shaping federal and state government policies around workplace development to promote improved opportunities for those in workplaces, extend access to work opportunities to those not in work and support more prosperous, sustainable communities.

Sister Nicole Rotaru RSM
Nicole Rotaru is a Sister of Mercy based in the Melbourne Congregation. Nicole has worked with people across the life span for over 40 years. She has a background in education, social work and creative arts therapy and has worked in a range of settings: schools, tertiary education, hospital and palliative care facilities, refugee camps (Philippines and Hong Kong) support groups and welfare agencies.She is currently a member of the Sisters of Mercy Melbourne Congregation Leadership Team.

Sister Anne Ryan RSM
Anne’s passion to alleviate the societal injustice that contributes to women’s suffering especially as experienced in homelessness and family violence has involved her in community work over the past thirty years. She was a member of the Board of Regina Coeli, 2000-2005 and Chair 2006-2008, also a member of the Advisory Committee of Mercy Care from 2002 - 2005.

Anne’s commitment to support and encourage people to live life to the full has taken her into the ministry of pastoral work in Catholic parishes around the city of Melbourne over a period of twelve years. She is the cofounder of The Grove, a women’s wholistic spirituality centre in East Brunswick and currently works as a Transpersonal Art Therapist and as a Spiritual Companion in Essendon. Anne is the Initial Formation Coordinator for the Sisters of Mercy Melbourne.

David Stephenson (Treasurer)
Born in Yorkshire, England a long time ago, my family moved to London when I was seven years old. I then migrated to Australia in 1977. I am one of four children. The oldest was John who died when I was thirteen. I also have an older sister and a younger twin brother (a whole twenty minutes difference). Never quite knowing what I wanted to do with my life I didn’t take a career seriously until I married when I realised a wife likes to be spoilt from time to time (to time to time to time etc) and to do that I needed access to some serious financial fodder. So, I took up accounting. I figured when times were bad, accountants were needed and when times were good, accountants were still needed. I’ve worked in a multitude of industries ranging from retail to engineering, manufacturing to financial services, travel, transport and so on. However, I have been with Mercy Health for the past eight years where I currently have the title of Director Financial Services. Mercy is more than an employer to me, it is a passion where I can work and feel I am contributing back to society for the very fortunate life I have been afforded.

Paul Robinson
I am currently employed as a communications advisor at Workforce Victoria, a division of the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development where I write publications, speeches and media releases for two Ministers. Prior to joining the public service I was employed at The Age newspaper as a journalist for more than 27 years. After winning a Walkley Award in 1993 for an expose on child sex tourism in Asia I served as a member of the End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (now ChildWise) board for three years.
I was chairman of The Age’s house committee for six years, vice president of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance for four years and currently a member of the union’s federal media section committee. I was elected as the first Age journalist to represent staff on the Fairfax Foundation, a benevolent trust designed to distribute benefits to eligible staff and their families experiencing hardship. I have been a committee member of both the Ivanhoe Junior Football Club and the East Ivanhoe Cricket Club where I currently coach an underage cricket team.

Jeanine Froomes [Qualifications: BA, Masters of Public Health, ND (Naturopathy).]
Jeanine practised as a naturopath and counsellor in private practice for many years including the establishment of a naturopathic clinic within a private maternity hospital in Melbourne, an innovation in health care. Jeanine became interested in public health as a result of her experience in private practice and so completed a Masters of Public Health degree.

Jeanine's keen interest in the social, psychological, physical and financial costs of family violence grew out of this and she began her involvement at MCSW as a volunteer duty worker at the Mercy Care specialised family violence crisis centre.Jeanine created and ran a fundraising program at Mercy Care by collecting a team of volunteers which she is still working closely with and became a member of the Mercy Care Advisory Committee for five years. On the formation of MCSW, Jeanine became a board member and is Chair of the Fundraising and Marketing Sub Committee.

Netty Horton [Qualifications: B A (Hons) Exeter University UK MA Public Policy (Melbourne)]

Netty Horton is the General Manager of Community Services with St Vincent de Paul Aged Care and Community Services. Netty has a long history of working in the area of homelessness, beginning as an outreach worker working with people sleeping rough in 1988. Netty was the CEO of the Council to Homeless Persons for more than 12 years during which time she established and ran the first and second national conferences on homelessness in Australia and chaired the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the development of the Victorian Homelessness Strategy. Netty founded and is a former President of the Council for Homeless Persons Australia, a founding member of the Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations and Foodbank Australia. In 2001, she undertook a Churchill Fellowship examining Foodbanking and homelessness in the US Canada, Europe and the UK. On a personal note, Netty is married with three children and has lived in Australia since 1987.  

Polly Caldow
Polly Caldow joined the board of McAuley Community Services from Women in March 2010. Semi retired, she works as a consultant across a number of sectors with a passion for social justice and the rights of the aged. Her last full time role was as the Chief Executive of The Body Shop Australia, a dynamic retail company that continues to actively campaign for positive social and environmental change. During the late nighties she worked on secondment to The Big Issue Maagzine as their General Manager. She has direct experience in sales, marketing, brand positioning, strategic and business planning, policy development and leading business through change. As well as her commitment to McAuley Commnity Serives for Women, she currently sits on the Boards of Mercy Health, Mercy Health foundation and the Wise Foundation.

Jocelyn Bignold
Chief Executive Officer
Email: jbignold@mcauleycsw.org.au

Jocelyn Bignold is the inaugural CEO of McAuley Community Services for Women.With 25 years in Community Development, Policy and Management Jocelyn was Community Services Manager at Melbourne City Mission for five years and has contributed to conference papers and is a passionate and engaging public speaker.Her extensive work has encompassed aged care, children and adults with chronic illness, adults with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities, children in residential care, adults and families experiencing homelessness, imprisonment and family violence. Her work has led to an extensive collaborative involvement with Government and other NGO’s in an effort to improve the policy response and service systems designed to support those in need.In 2009 Jocelyn was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in recognition of the work undertaken on behalf of women in prison.

“I commend you for your dedicated support of women, particularly in the area of housing, through your work as Community Services manager, Melbourne City Mission, in particular your involvement with the Women’s Integrated Support Program (WISP) and in your current role as CEO at McAuley Community Services for Women.”
Bronwyn Pike
Minister for Education
State Member for Melbourne
10th March 2009