CHAIR

Over a forty-year career, Jennifer has worked as a clinician, senior executive, Chief Executive Officer, and Non-Executive Director, in the health, aged care, community, and disability sectors. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Sciences (Physiotherapy), Graduate Diploma of Physiotherapy (Neurology), a Master’s in Business Administration and a Doctor of Physiotherapy.

She holds fellowships for the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Institute of Managers and Leaders and is an Associate Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne. She was awarded a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in 2021, along with being recognized as a member of the COVID-19 Honor Roll in recognition of her leadership in the response to COVID-19.

In 2016, she was the Victorian winner of the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year.  She has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2022.

DEPUTY CHAIR

Having worked for various organisational entities, Winnie brings significant strategic thinking, business development, diplomacy and leadership experience to the role.  

As CEO of PlugIn Pulse a start-up energy technology service in Kenya, her company won the Young Innovation Award – United Nations Development Program, presented at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit during President Obama’s 2015 Kenya visit as well as the World Bank’s Negawatt Challenge.  

She has a passion for empowering and enriching communities by sharing her knowledge and skills, volunteering in community and not-for-profit organisations roles with a strong focus on supporting migrant youth.  PhD in Renewable Energy (UQ).

Formative years and education in Kenya.   Speaks fluent Swahili – one of the most widely spoken languages of Africa. 

She has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2018.

TREASURER

Chartered Accountant providing consulting and training relating to financial governance and risk, sustainability, audit, ethics and financial reporting.

Carmen’s board roles include Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Baw Baw Shire Council, Board Member / Secretary at Mums Supporting Families in Need, Board Member at the Australian Accounting Standards Board and Member of SME Implementation Group at International Accounting Standards Board. 

She has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Mathematics, is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a graduate of the AICD Company Directors Course and an accredited Mental Health First Aider. She is currently studying a Diploma of Governance with the Australian Institute of Community Directors. She has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2022.

SECRETARY & PUBLIC OFFICER

Born and educated in the UK, Natasha has a wide range of experience including a period as technical and financial journalist in London and Tokyo.  She’s lived in Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong where her three children were born, and moved to Australia in 1998.

For the past 17 years she has volunteered twice weekly with Vision Australia recording talking books and presenting on Vision Australia Radio. She has always believed very strongly in the power of education to overcome disadvantage.

She has a BA Honours Degree in Metallurgy, Economics and Management, University of Oxford.

She has been an active River Nile in-class volunteer since 2015, and an RNS Inc. Member since 2017.

BOARD MEMBER

Specialist literacy educator and Integration Aide at Moorabbin Primary School, Learning Fundamentals and private tuition. Working with students P-10 who have dyslexia; spelling, reading and literacy issues.

Practising and exhibiting visual artist of portraiture in oil paint and watercolour, providing volunteer art workshops and mentoring at River Nile and Space2B with refugee and recently arrived migrant women. 

CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) and Monash University Integration Aide graduate.

Former civil, structural & architectural drafter, CAD trainer and business owner. Xavier Social Justice Network Committee Chair.

Mountaineering experience in Borneo, Tibet & Nepal to 8000m+ altitude.

She was an active River Nile in-class volunteer from 2016 – 2020 and is a periodic RNS Arts Program specialist educator and mentor, and has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2017.. 

BOARD MEMBER

Has more than 15 years’ experience in Marketing, Communications, Brand Strategy and Financial Management with varied roles in Africa, Europe and Australia. She has a Masters Degrees in International Finance and Diplomacy from Deakin University and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Currently a Strategic Communications and Engagement Advisor with the Department of Transport, she has previously worked with Insight Publications and the Brotherhood of St. Laurence.

She is a graduate of Leadership Victoria’s New & Emerging Communities Leadership Program and is involved in initiatives that promote financial literacy and empowerment of disadvantaged women, such as SisterWorks, Stepping Stones and Herconomics.

Wambui spent her formative years and education in Kenya, and speaks fluent Swahili – one of the most widely spoken languages of Africa.

BOARD MEMBER

Pro bono solicitor and migration agent, Refugee Legal, Collingwood. Visitor, International College of Hotel Management.

Principal of St Ann’s College 1985-2019, a university residential college affiliated with the three undergraduate universities in South Australia, providing accommodation to university students from rural/regional Australia and overseas.

Lecturer in charge of Art History and Theories at the University of Adelaide 1981-2010. Pro bono assistant 2008-2019 to counsel in human rights, Aboriginal legal rights and native title, with internships in Zanzibar, Cambodia and Darwin.

Experienced board director of People’s Choice Credit Union 1995-2017, Pembroke School and Wilderness School. PhD in Visual Arts (Flinders University), MBA (UniSA), MA (Cambridge University), LLB Hons (University of Adelaide); SA Winner and national finalist Telstra Business Women’s Awards. 

She has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2022.

BOARD MEMBER

Pola is an Associate Director in the education practice at Deloitte Access Economics. Her work focuses on system-wide improvement in schooling equity and quality. Pola’s experience spans strategic advisory, program monitoring and evaluation, workforce modelling, funding model design, and policy research.

In FY 2023 Pola worked as a Senior Manager of School Development and Growth for the Berry Street School. Prior to joining Deloitte in 2019, Pola worked for the Education Outcomes Fund, now hosted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on results-based financing models in education.

Pola holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management, and a Master’s degree in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford. She has been an RNS Inc. Member since 2024.

BOARD MEMBER

Amona Hassab is an experienced Community Development practitioner and group facilitator with 15 years in the non-profit and local government sectors across North and West of Melbourne. Born in Egypt, she arrived in Australia as a child on a humanitarian visa, shaping her commitment to social justice and inclusion.  

Fluent in Arabic and conversant in Tigre, Amona has led successful co-design projects with young people, refugees, and migrant communities, advocating for meaningful participation. She is the Team Leader of Social and Economic Inclusion at Spectrum and a participant in the Diversity Council of Australia’s RISE Women’s Leadership Program.  

Amona holds a Bachelor of Community Development from Victoria University and joined the board in December 2024, bringing expertise in community engagement, social equity, and policy development.

BOARD MEMBER

With a double degree in Laws (Hons.) and Economics (Distinction) from Deakin University, Milad is a partner of a boutique personal injury law firm servicing injured people across Victoria. His expertise spans across all jurisdictions in Australia and includes insurance, non-for-profits, and ancillary areas of law. He is also the General Counsel of a non-for-profit servicing the Afghan community in the South-East of Victoria, and he is on the committee of the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce.

As a Chaldean refugee from Iraq, Milad is deeply motivated to improve outcomes for refugee and asylum seeker woman who haven’t been afforded the opportunity to study in their home country. He believes that education is a vital source of closing the gap on socio-economic wealth disparity in Australia and that every human being should have the right to study.