Our Board Directors are committed to ending homelessness and domestic violence and they are recruited on the basis of the skills and experience they can contribute to Wayss being a well governed and strategic organisation.
Cath brings a wealth of business acumen gained from high-profile executive leadership roles in Australia and the UK, and from a portfolio of Board, Committee and Advisory roles. During a successful legal career focused on delivering legal services to consumers and the SME market, Cath has also contributed to major initiatives such as the NDIS scheme and to law reform across various jurisdictions.
Steve Peterson
Steve has a Bachelor degree in Sports Management and has held a number of senior and executive management roles. Today, he is the Managing Director of his own events management company, Sport Projects.
Steve’s passion for Wayss is an ongoing tribute to his late mother, Janice, the driving force behind the established of Wayss first refuge for women and children escaping family violence.
Nigel Neal
Nigel is an experienced strategist with a 20+ year career in senior strategy, commercial and general management roles. He has worked in New Zealand, London and Melbourne for leading financial and digital companies and currently holds a Strategy and Planning Director role at Sensis.
Nigel holds a First-Class Honours Degree in Finance and Quantitative Analysis.
Diana Brown
Diana is a business and technology strategist with deep experience in planning and delivering technology led change in a range of corporate and not-for-profit environments. Diana led the Google sponsored design and delivery of Ask Izzy, an award winning cross-sector collaborative initiative connecting people in need with services, including homelessness and family violence, across Australia.
Diana holds a Bachelor of Psychology, Diploma of Business Governance and is a member of the Community Directors Institute.
Alan Studley
Alan is Chair Finance & Audit Committee. He is also a non executive director of Access Community Health, Alexandra District Hospital and ANZGITA. Alan has worked for multi national companies in the fields of manufacturing, media and food production. His roles have included Finance Director, CEO and Executive Chairman of large acute care health facilities, public transport related services and a federal government trust responsible for national heritage assets. In the past he has been a director and trustee of Metropolitan Ambulance Service , Royal Guide Dogs for the Blind Association of Victoria and Australia, Aware Super ( Health Super ) and ASX listed Sausage Software Pty Ltd. He has acted as a Surveyor , Australian Council of Healthcare Standards and member of the Dept Human Services , Strategy steering Committee I2T2. He holds an MBA and is a Fellow of both AICD and CPA Australia
Rachael Kelly
Rachael brings depth and breadth of skills in people and change management gained over 20 years international experience in human resources. She has held executive level HR roles in publicly listed and public sector organisations, and works with leadership teams and Boards as an executive HR consultant and coach. Rachael holds accreditations and qualifications in psychometric testing, change management and coaching.
Sue Brown
Sue is an experienced marketing and communications practitioner with strong strategic business and change management experience. A member of the Executive Team at GROW Australia, Sue’s experience comes from working in diverse sectors including manufacturing, financial service and community health and services. Sue has strong ties with the multicultural community of Melbourne and a passion to activate positive change for those most vulnerable in our community. Sue holds a Bachelor of Business in Marketing and Economics and Master of Business Administration. Sue is an accredited member of AICD and ICDA.
Vijay Susarla
Vijay is an experienced company director with extensive experience in governance, strategic planning, policy development and risk management in Australia, India and Pacific region.
Vijay has a strong passion for social justice and he holds a Master’s degree in engineering and other qualifications in quality management, governance and risk management.
Sharmiah Sritharan
Sharmiah is an experienced solicitor with direct links to Wayss local community networks. She currently delivers significant social impact within the Springvale Monash Legal Centre where she often support people who also access Wayss services.
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Wayss in the 1990s
Then in September 1997 the organisation became WAYSS Limited with a Board of Directors and day to day management by the Chief Executive Officer.
Wayss underwent further transformation with the restructure of community housing and the funding of the Transitional Housing Management (THM) program. The Regional Housing Council ceased operation and transferred direct service operations to Wayss in 1997.
During this decade Wayss became responsible for the then South East Women’s Domestic Violence Outreach Service. Funding was also received to establish a Children’s Services Worker within the outreach service. SAAP funded Women’s Outreach Program was also transferred to Wayss in 1999.