Ex Officio All Committees

With over 35 years’ experience in executive leadership of global humanitarian programs across five continents, Ian Curtis is well placed to grow the impact of International Needs Australia as our Board Chair. His last full time position was as Vice President for Governance and Accountability with World Vision International. He is vastly experienced in issues pertaining to long term development as well as dynamic experiences which include the rescue of Vietnam war-refugees, building schools and clinics in wartime Iraq and directing World Vision International’s response to the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. In 2010, his experience and leadership was recognised in the Australia Day Honours List.

Janelle is a People and Culture professional with over 30 years experience, in both international and Australian settings as well as humanitarian development and rapid response contexts. She is currently P & C Director in an INGO in Melbourne that works in over 70 countries. Janelle is passionate about creating working environments and cultures that encourage employees to reach their potential and contribute to the achievement of the organisation’s overall goals and mission.

Chair of Finance Risk and Audit Committee

Tristan is a highly experienced and credentialed chartered accountant (BA in Commerce, 2005) and a high performing finance, risk and auditing consultant. Tristan has worked extensively with not-for-profit organisations for 15 years. He has worked with International Needs for the last decade consulting to the board as a member of the Finance Risk and Audit committee (FRAC).

Member of Finance Risk and Audit Committee

A solid finance and general management background has enabled Richard to be an integral member of the International Needs Australia Board. With experience in senior financial management and operations positions with global leaders across multiple industries and church organisations such as News Limited, Elf Aquitaine, FLIR, Pall, Arrow Electronics and the Baptist Union of Victoria, Richard is perfectly placed to steer International Needs Australia along the path to a secure financial future. Richard is also a member of Rotary Australia and he additionally provides accounting and business advisory services to church organisations and small businesses through his consulting firm, Halo Advantage.

Member of Finance Risk and Audit Committee

With Bachelor degrees in Laws and Economics, Shelley has had vast and high profile experience working as Senior Associate in the Government team at Sparke Helmore Lawyers, working as major projects and procurement specialist assisting and advising on commercial contracting, probity and procurement. She has worked for over seven years in a top-tier law firm on large Commonwealth and State Government projects and procurements as well as large financial and banking transactions. Additionally, Shelley has experience working as a policy advisor for several high profile Victorian Members of Parliament. She was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia.

Member of Development Committee

Shirley is a high performing Management and Strategic Leadership consultant and coach working both in Australia and internationally. Shirley has considerable experience(over 20 years) in coaching and advising organisations in a variety of leadership and relationship management issues. She works primarily with CEOs, their Boards and Senior teams in the provision and facilitation of strategic advice and coaching through times of change.

Kylie has more than 15 years’ experience in international development and humanitarian program management, including 10 years as the International Programs Manager at INA. With extensive development contract management experience, Kylie has a strong understanding of systemic approaches to professional program delivery, having played a pivotal role in three successful Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade agency re-accreditations. Across her time as a development practitioner, Kylie has and continues to work closely with a range of remarkable local faith-based development partner organisations, and places considerable emphasis on the importance of relationship building and capacity strengthening in order to bring about sustainable and impactful change. Kylie is dedicated to seeing communities transformed and restored through applying the principals of equity and justice in culturally and contextually appropriate ways, while also recognising the increased vulnerabilities for people living with disabilities. Kylie is currently the International Programs Manager at Anglican Overseas Aid where she chairs the Church Agencies’ Network Accreditation Working Group, is a member of the ACT Alliance Disability Community of Practice and a member of the Australian Disability Development Consortium. Kylie also has more that 10 years of corporate experience at National Australia Bank in the areas of financial services, people and culture and adult learning methodologies and practice.

Member of Finance Risk and Audit Committee

Jonathan has worked in the banking industry for over a decade (BA in Commerce, 2010), predominantly within Risk and Compliance, with an emphasis on generating insights based on data. This is his first foray into charities as a member of the Finance Risk and Audit committee (FRAC).

Member of Development Committee

A reflective practitioner and independent consultant deeply committed to gender equality and the leave-no-one-behind agenda, Teresa brings 14 years’ experience leading gender and social inclusion change. She specialises in translating evidence-based frameworks into practical tools for transformative change. With a background in law, anthropology and evaluation, Teresa’s recent experience includes leading a desk review and co-design process for development of UN Women’s Intersectionality Toolkit, in partnership with the International Disability Alliance, development, validation and rollout of CBM International’s Disability and Gender Analysis Toolkit, and development of a cross-organisation gender and COVID-19 pandemic response tool addressing family violence, sexual and reproductive health and care work for local government.

Member of Development Committee

Dr. Max Kelly is an Associate Professor and Course Director of Masters of International and Community Development, Deakin University. She holds a PhD in International Development from Kingston University, London, a Masters in Rural and Regional Resource Planning, University of Aberdeen, and a Bachelors in Agricultural Science, University College Dublin. Her recent research has focused on Political Economy Analysis, Impact Assessment in development policy and practice, and research methods in an African context, as well as a focus on livestock development and animal welfare. She has consulted and volunteered with a wide range of organisations, including international NGOs, multilateral organisations and government departments.

Member of Development Committee

Khulekani Mathe is currently the head of financial inclusion in the Banking Association South Africa. Previously, he was head of planning and a member of the executive team in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) in the South African Presidency. He served as acting Head of the National Planning Secretariat of the National Planning Commission in the Presidency from September 2012 to September 2015. During this period, he was part of the top management team in the Presidency. In this role, he led a team of planners who worked with various government departments and other sectors of society to put in place processes to facilitate the implementation of the National Development Plan. He represented the Presidency in the Territorial Development Policy Committee (TDPC) of the OECD (2009 – 2013); an Alternate Board Member of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning representing South Africa (2009 – 2012); served on the Advisory Board of the Education Policy Unit in the University of Witwatersrand; External Advisory Board member: DataFirst, University of Cape Town; and member of the National Education Council of the National Education Collaboration Trust. He is director of the Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme (ISFAP) Foundation; SADC Banking Association Board, and BMIG (Pty) Ltd. Khulekani holds two masters’ degrees in Development Finance (University of Manchester), and in Education (University of Natal).