Kylie Whittard
Chair and President

Kylie was appointed to the Board in 2011 and is currently an Executive Director at Plan International Australia, a humanitarian and international development organisation.  Prior to joining Plan, Kylie worked as a Director at Teach for Australia, an innovative national not-for-profit organisation.  Kylie is a brand and marketing executive, specialising in the not-for-profit and education sectors.  Previously, Kylie held Executive and Director roles in the University, Conservation and Entertainment sectors and has provided strategic consultancy across a range of sectors, including financial and government, for more than 20 years.  Kylie holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Marketing from RMIT and holds an MBA from The University of Melbourne.

James Muller
Director

James was appointed to the Board in 2012 after joining the Development Board in 2008. James has an extensive career in facility services provision and is an independent consultant specialising in facilities management services for large government institutions. James is a member of Leadership Victoria, the Venue Management Association (Australasia), and the International Association of Venue Managers. He has previous and continuing involvement at Board and Committee level in a number of not-for-profit community organisations.

Philip Hodgkinson
Finance Director

Philip was appointed to the Board in 2019 as Finance Director and Chair of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee. Philip is currently employed as the General Manager, Strategy & Investments at the Essendon Football Club having previously served as a Managing Director in the Global Corporate & Investment Banking division of Bank of America from 2010 to 2022. His career in finance has spanned Australia, Hong Kong and London, including tenures at Ernst & Young, Qantas Airways and Commonwealth Bank. Philip is a Chartered Accountant, a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds a Master of Applied Finance and a Bachelor of Business

Cara Davey
CEO

With a background in strategic branding, marketing and design working in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, following the completion of a Bachelor of Business double degree, majoring in Marketing and Management, completed at Monash University, Cara moved into the not-for-profit sector in November 2010.

Over the last thirteen years, Cara has held leadership and key strategic positions at inspiring organisations of Royal Melbourne Hospital Foundation, Make-A-Wish, Breast Cancer Network Australia, Cancer Council Victoria and Austin Health across areas of digital fundraising, major events, corporate partnerships, community and volunteer engagement, merchandise and direct marketing.

Anthony Hancy
Director

Appointed to the Board in 2008, Tony was elected Vice President and Deputy Chairman in 2012. Tony has extensive healthcare and technology experience, gained from leadership positions with Accenture in the Asia-Pacific region. Tony is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Australian Institute of Management and actively serves on the boards of a number of not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

Carmel O'Brien       Director

Carmel O’Brien was appointed to the board in 2019. As a Principal Research Scientist with specialist knowledge in human stem cell technologies, she brings over 20 years of leadership experience from working in the biotechnology, clinical and medical research sectors. In her current appointment with the CSIRO, Carmel provides direction of academic & industry research programs investigating human stem cells, neural lineages, neurotrophic viruses and bioengineered tissue regeneration systems. She also contributes to post-graduate research supervision and teaching at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute. Previously, Carmel lead the derivation of Australia’s first human embryonic stem cell lines for global research distribution. 

Elle Shepherd            Company Secretary

Kate Whitehead
Deputy Chair and         Vice President

Kate was appointed to the Board in 2014 after joining the Development Board in 2008. Kate is founder and Managing Director of Avant Group, a leading business strategy and government grant consulting firm.  Kate holds formal Engineering qualifications in addition to a Bachelor of Business, a Post Graduate Diploma of Management, and a Masters Degree in Marketing, Melbourne Business School. Kate also recently completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.

Susan Fetherston
Director

Susan was appointed to the board in 2017. Since 1991 Susan has been a Director of Mi-tec Medical Publishing and Director of Mi-tec’s philanthropic projects. Susan has an extensive social work background and was Team Leader and teacher for the CRE Primary School program for 12 years. Susan has worked in an honorary capacity with several boards and charities within Australia and overseas and is a member of AASW and AMWA.

Caroline  Mackinnon
Director

Caroline was appointed to the Board in July 2022 and is a member of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee. Caroline is currently the National Risk Management and Compliance Lawyer with Macpherson Kelley, and brings more than 18 years of advisory experience. She started her career as an energy and infrastructure lawyer and has developed a unique skill set of practising law and performing forensic investigations, business reviews, compliance audits and dispute work with both international law firms and accounting firms across Australia, the UK and the US.