Carol Schwartz is one of Australia’s leading business identities. Carol has extensive experience in business, property, the arts, community organizations and has been a director on a large number of public company and government boards.
Carol is a Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Board. She is also Chair of Our Community and Founding Chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. Carol is convenor of the Property Male Champions of Change group. Carol’s company directorships include Stockland, Qualitas Property Partners, Scale Investors and the Trawalla Group. She is also an Executive in Residence at Melbourne Business School, a council member of the Australian Innovation Research Centre, University of Tasmania, board member Centre for Advanced Journalism, University of Melbourne, member of the Enterprise Melbourne Advisory Board, member the Milken Global Advisory Council, and member Harvard Kennedy School’s Women’s Leadership Board.
Carol was recently named Change Champion of the Year at the NAB Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards. Carol was President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival between 2005-2009. Other previous roles include Deputy Chair of the Australian Women Donors Network, Chair of Industry Superannuation Property Trust (ISPT) and National President of the Property Council of Australia.
Carol was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honors list in 2006 for her achievements in business and commerce and her contribution to community and the arts; Carol also received the Centenary Medal in 2001 in recognition of her outstanding service as a leading business executive and board participant. Carol was awarded a Monash University Fellowship in 2010 in recognition of her significant contribution to the community through her professional distinction and outstanding service as a member of the alumni. In March 2011 Carol was inducted into the 2011 Victorian Women’s Honour Roll.
Together with her husband Alan and four children, Carol established the Trawalla Foundation. The Trawalla Foundation invests in social enterprises and opportunities that focus on arts, ideas, innovation and scholarship.
Amy Mullins is Executive Director of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia. She leads and manages the institute, which seeks to increase the visibility of women in leadership and catalyse system-changing solutions to achieve gender balanced representation. Amy is passionate about women and men having equal opportunity to thrive and lead in their chosen fields.
Amy is a Member of the Advisory Committee for the Pathways to Politics Program for Women at the University of Melbourne’s School of Government. The program provides hands-on training and networking opportunities for women who aspire to elected office.
Denis Moriarty is the Group Managing Director of Our Community. He has a strong background in executive management in both the public and private sectors. He was the former head of the Victorian Government’s Information Service, Managing Director of Strategic Australia Pty Ltd, a boutique management consultancy, and former Commissioner and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Tourism Commission.
Denis is a graduate of both the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Awards and the Williamson Community Leadership program, and a member of several non-profit and private boards. He is passionate for change and improving the lives of the most disadvantaged in society, not in a charitable notion but one based on communities taking charge of their own destiny.
He was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 for his work in establishing Our Community and he sees Our Community as an organisation to assist, inspire and encourage debate and improve the social fabric and soul of Australia through its 600,000 community organisations.
Vanessa is the General Manager of the Not-for-Profit Sector Banking business at the Commonwealth Bank. A banker with 20 years’ experience, Vanessa has spent the bulk of her career focused on creating and growing customer-centric businesses and service propositions.
Prior to taking up her current position at the Commonwealth Bank, Vanessa spent a decade at Westpac in a variety of roles, including founding and leading Westpac’s Social Sector Banking business and subsequently heading up a business-critical program to reward customer loyalty and build advocacy.
Vanessa grew up working on her family farm in the Riverina, giving her an appreciation of the importance of a strong community, which she demonstrates in her passion for enabling not-for-profit organisations to build and serve vibrant communities.
Kathy is Executive Director of Our Community, and a Director of the Our Community Foundation.
With a background in journalism and a long-standing passion for community, equality and social justice, Kathy contributes to strategy formulation and implementation at Our Community and GiveNow, as well as overseeing content and publications.
Kathy has a strong interest and expertise in ethical business, having joined the Our Community team in its formative years and enthusiastically embracing the challenges of charting a new course. She has played a key role in the development of GiveNow, as well as other significant Our Community initiatives such as SmartyGrants, which is now Australia’s leading grants management system.
Kathy is involved in a range of not-for-profit causes on a voluntary basis, including the RACV Community Foundation and a local Cemetery Trust.
Cathy Truong is Executive Director of GiveNow. She has worked in the third sector for the past fifteen years, with a focus on effective philanthropic practices and capacity building for non-profit organisations.
Most recently, Cathy was Executive Officer of the Trawalla Foundation. Cathy remains active on not-for-profit boards, including the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre Trust, and Social Ventures Australia’s Social Impact Fund (Investment Committee). She is a member of the Impact Investment Australia Working Group.
In the past Cathy has worked with the Social Impact and Leadership & Learning teams at Social Ventures Australia. She was responsible for the project management of numerous projects for SVA, ranging from the social enterprise reporting framework through to the introduction of the new online financial training tool designed to support non-profit CEOs and executives.
Cathy’s experience in the non-profit sector also includes roles as the Capacity Builder Manager for the Foundation for Young Australians and as an Executive Director of Our Community. Prior to this, she held senior positions in the corporate sector including Co-Founder & Product Director for Wishlist.com.au and as Senior Consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting (Telecommunications & Information) in the Melbourne, New York and Hong Kong offices.
Cathy’s past board roles include those with Urban Seed, Spina Bifida Foundation of Victoria and local education councils.