Ben McKeown (MBA, BME (Hons), GAICD) Chair (2020) Expand Chair (2020) Ben is a Director with substantial experience on the boards of large and small listed (including ASX 200) and unlisted companies. Ben is an experienced Chairman of boards and board sub-committees. As a director, Ben brings specific skills and expertise in corporate governance in various jurisdictions globally. He also brings strong commercial, financial, strategic and technical expertise and experience across various sectors. Ben has a strong finance, investment and fundraising background, having spent many years as a Partner or senior executive in leading private equity firms. Ben has played key leadership roles, with his experience including corporate restructuring, company development, and operating in tough macro-economic environments. Having spent all his career in the commercial sector Ben was looking to contribute more broadly. Ben felt that one avenue for him to do this was to apply his experience as a company director in the Not For Profit sector. Ben accepted an invitation to join the Allevia Board in 2017. Whilst this is his first board role in the Not For Profit sector, he had previously volunteered as a governor of a primary school in the UK, and has a strong belief in the benefit of social inclusion at all levels.
Christine Macqueen (LLM, BA) Director (2022) Expand Christine joined the Allevia Board on 24 February 2022, having recently retired from her position with the Department of Social Services as the Boosting the Local Care Workforce (BLCW) Program, Lead Regional Coordinator for NSW & ACT, and Regional Coordinator Greater Sydney and Hunter. She brings to the Board a wealth of experience in clinical governance with the health, disability, training, and community services sectors. She has held positions with the government and non-government sectors, including Manager of Disability Futures at the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, various roles within the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care, Regional Manager at Sunnyfield, Operations Manager at Anglicare, Project Manager in the Records Management Program at NSW Department of Community Services, and as National Policy Officer on the Standing Committee on Indigenous Housing. Christine has been a part time lecturer at the University of Sydney and a research Fellow at the University of NSW. She has also worked as a management consultant specialising in business development, strategic planning, human resources management, training and development, and change management.
Dr. Lyndel Spence (BI.G.S. (Hons) PhD) Director (2021) Expand Lyndel joined the Board of Allevia as a Director on 17 September, 2021. She has a PhD in Sociology and a Bachelor of International Global Studies - Sociology (Honours) from the University of Sydney. Lyndel has worked as a Lecturer and researcher at the University of Sydney, a researcher and strategist in the Department of Premier and Cabinet (NSW Government), and Manager of the Amplify program at the Centre of Social Impact at UNSW. She currently has a strategic leadership role at the Australian Red Cross designing initiatives for humanitarian action and social mobilisation at scale. She is particularly dedicated to social justice and in particular working for gender equality and for the empowerment of marginalised groups within society. She has served as the secretary for the NSW Amnesty International’s Women’s Network. Lyndel brings a unique set of skills in the area of social research and social impact and has been active in the furthering of Allevia's social impact project. She has strong governance and strategic skills from her work in Government having served on a number of Government Boards and focused on strategic analysis, project management, and performance measurement.
Justin James (MBA, GCSIP, ISEP) Director (2018) Expand Director (2018) Joining the Board in 2018, Justin is currently a senior executive with Bupa A&NZ, holding the role of Director, Customer Growth for Health Insurance. He also has first line responsibilities for the regulated Health Insurance business as Director, Conduct and Risk. Prior to Bupa, Justin held several Senior Executive and Leadership roles across financial services in Australia. Justin has a keen working interest in areas of ethical customer practices and conduct reform in B2C industries, specifically working with the choices emanating from artificial intelligence and digital platforms that target customer end users. Having recently completed study focusing on social entrepreneurship, Justin is keen to work with businesses that have an important social role. He strongly believes that care for our most vulnerable are vital in building better communities. Justin has been a volunteer with the NSW Government funded SPOT Program, which targets better animal welfare and education across schools.
Karen Gray (BDipSM, BMath, DipEd, GAICD) Deputy Chair (2020) Expand Deputy Chair (2020) Karen is an engaging and results-driven business leader with an extensive background in sales and leadership, in transforming business functions and a proven ability to navigate the complexities and challenges that a business environment can present. She joined the Allevia Board in 2018 and is recognised for her ability to think, plan and work strategically, whilst driving customer-focused, commercial and operational execution. With a breadth of leadership experience and capability, and a strong people focus, Karen has a reputation for delivery on a broad and dynamic range of business requirements, linked to long-term strategies and built around positive outcomes for customers, employees and the business. She recently held a senior executive position with BUPA and is now exploring new opportunities to serve the community.
Katie Choi (BEc, LLB, LLM, GAICD, FGIA, FCIS) Director (2018) Expand Director (2018) Katie joined the Allevia Board in 2018. She brings to the Allevia Board extensive experience in the legal and financial services industry working with major corporate and government organisations across a wide range of sectors including investment bank, venture capital, social and community housing, property and infrastructure, renewable energy, oil and gas, mining resources, and insurance. She is currently the Legal Director at Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Her past roles include Division Director of Macquarie Bank and Corporate Counsel of General Electric. She has solid experience in both private and public sectors, including NFP entities, and has strong expertise in legal advisory, corporate governance, risk management, regulatory advice and compliance, project management, operations improvement and strategic planning.
Mahesh Enjeti (BSc (Hons), PGDM (MBA), MAICD, FIML, FAMI) Director (2018) Expand Director (2018) Mahesh joined the Allevia Board in 2018. As a professional senior executive, he is a high-level strategist with 25+ years’ corporate experience gained in different geographies and diverse sectors. As a consultant (Managing Director, SAI Marketing Counsel PL and Advisor to Bubblefish Creative Brand Building), he provides game-changing brand building advice to clients operating globally in virtually every sector. Mahesh is a part-time Academic associated with the AGSM, the SP Jain Global School of Management and the Sydney Graduate School of Management (Western Sydney University) as Adjunct Faculty. He has directorship experience on the Board of the Australian Marketing Institute. Mahesh brings to the Board strong skills in strategy, innovation, marketing, brand building, leadership, stakeholder management, and communication.