Staff and Directors

• MND Australia board - from left to right: Bob Howe, Bill O'Reilly, Dom Rowe, Carol Birks, Peter Whitehouse (for MNDSA), Ralph Warren,Roy Colquorn (for MNDQ), David Ali, Ian Rodwell, David Whiteman, Tim Hynes
• Carol Birks and Janet Nash

Staff

Carol Birks - National Executive Director

Janet Nash - Executive Officer Research

Rachel Rizk - Communications and Information Manager

Susan Falon - Administration Coordinator

Directors

The board of MND Australia consists of an independent elected President and a nominated representative from each member Association board and up to three Special Tenure Directors.

The current board is as follows:

President - Ralph Warren

Ralph studied law at Macquarie University and was admitted to the Bar in NSW in 1985. He is a member of chambers in Newcastle and Sydney. He has been on the Board of MND NSW for ten years and on the MND Australia Board since 2005 

Vice President - David Ali

David was invited to join the MND Victoria State Council in 2000 through his Fellowship of Leadership Victoria and is currently State President.  David is a senior executive in the Victorian public service and has a broad mix of skills.

Treasurer - Bob Howe

Bob has been on the NSW Board since 1999 and on the MND Australia Board since 2005. He  is a Director of a consulting firm specialising in planning and organisation. He is a qualified accountant and also has many outside community interests including soccer, learn to swim, Australian Maths Olympiad and Rotary.

Secretary - Tim Hynes     

Tim was elected President of the MND Tasmania association in March 2007. Tim studied Health Information Management at the Queensland University of Technology and currently works in the Department of Health and Human Services as a project manager.

Anne Collett

Anne has been involved with MND Queensland since 2007. Anne joined the MND Australia board in 2012. Anne has a Bachelor of Arts degree (Political Science), a Graduate Certificate of Business Management and a Graduate Diploma in Media and Communications. Additionally, Anne is a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and a Member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia. Her experience spans 15 years in the non-profit sector in education, community services and trusts and foundation.  Currently, Anne is Business Development Manager at Queensland Community Foundation.

Stephen Warren

Stephen joined the South Australian Committee of Management in 2000 and was appointed Chairperson in May 2004. Stephen has a Bachelor of Arts in Accountancy and an MBA. Stephen is the Chief Financial Officer at Michell Pty Ltd. and is a fellow of CPA Australia.

David Whiteman

David has been involved in the family Real Estate business since leaving school in 1989. He is currently the Managing Director of his family's real estate practice. Ann Whiteman, David's mother, passed away from MND on the 31st of May 2002 and since this time David's family have taken an active interest in the disease and more particularly the Associations that assist those living with MND. David joined the MNDWA board in 2009.

Professor Dominic Rowe AM

Dom is Chairman of the Research Committee of the MND Research Institute of Australia. Dom is the Professor of Neurology at the Australian School of Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University and runs an MND multidisciplinary clinic.

Special Tenure Directors

Bill O'Reilly

On 29/4/09 the MND Australia board unanimously agreed to appoint Bill O'Reilly as a special tenure board director as per clauses 5 and 7 of the MND Australia constitution. Bill accepted this appointment and took on the role of special tenure director as of 14 May 2009.  

Bill is an experienced Board Director with a strong track record in general management, change management, strategy, government bodies, member-based services and mutual organisations. Bill's wife was diagnosed with MND in 2009 and Bill is very keen to become involved at a national level and to use his skills effectively to benefit MND Australia and people living with MND now and in the future.

Ian Rodwell

At the board meeting on 4 November 2009 MND Australia appointed Ian Rodwell as a special tenure director.The board agreed that Ian's credentials and his commitment to MND research will augment and strengthen the depth and breadth of the amalgamated national board.

Ian Rodwell is the founder of the Adcorp Group and held the position of Managing Director from Adcorp's inception until his retirement in January 2004.

He is a Director of Diabetes Australia Research Trust (DART), an organisation responsible for the raising of funds for diabetes research and awarding of grants to medical researchers in Australia. Ian is also Chairman of Denarau Villas Limited (Fiji) in conjunction with Sheraton Hotels in Fiji.

He has also been appointed Chairman of Sleep Diagnostics Pty Ltd, a company developing an innovative technology product, Optalert, to measure and identify drowsiness, as an aid to the transport industry globally.

Kevin Russo

In May 2012 the MND Australia board unanimously agreed to appoint Kevin Russo as a special tenure board director as per clauses 5 and 7 of the MND Australia constitution. Kevin accepted this appointment and took on the role of special tenure director as of 7 May 2012.

Kevin is a Partner in Deloitte's Technology Consulting Practice, with leadership responsibility in Information Management consulting. Kevin has over 17 years of development and delivery experience in the technology industry, including consulting, corporate, and software start-up environments. His core focus is the management of large-scale technology programs of work, including systems integration, information, and web-based enterprise solutions.

Kevin has worked with large multi-national companies to deliver emerging technology solutions based on Web 2.0, Enterprise Social Media, SOA, Open Source, BPM, EAI, and Cloud Computing technologies. Kevin is a member of Deloitte's innovation council, responsible for reviewing and mentoring fresh ideas from Deloitte employees. He is passionate about emerging technologies and the impact it has on each of us and our business strategies.