Our Board
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 Evans
Chair
Joined Board: 2020
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
Director
Joined Board: 2015
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
Director
Joined Board: 2016
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
Director
Joined Board: 2019
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
Director
Joined Board: 2020
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 multinational 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
Director
Joined Board: 2021
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.
Elysa Anderson
Director
Joined Board: 2023
With 25 years of experience spanning the full spectrum of residential property, from planning and acquisition through sales and marketing, to delivery and community building, Elysa brings a strong understanding of the complexities of the housing market and is committed to working in the best interests of the community and society. An experienced property professional, Elysa has extensive sector specific expertise in strategy, innovation, sustainability, planning and stakeholder engagement. She has served on various industry boards and councils at both national and state level, including the Property Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Business in Property and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Brendan Pihan
Director
Joined Board: 2023
Brendan brings more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in the property sector across a broad range of asset classes, many in highly regulated segments such as aviation, aged care and retirement living. He has, during his extensive end-to-end property career delivered mixed use multi-unit developments, overseen the turnaround of master planned communities, and led businesses managing thousands of dwellings for even greater numbers of residents. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business, and Master of Marketing and has served on the executive committee of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (South Australia), and various committees of the Retirement Villages Association and Property Council of Australia. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
