The Alfred Health Board Members

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The Alfred Health Board was established in July 2000 and has 9 members:

Ms Helen Shardey (Chairman)

Ms Shardey was a Member of the Victorian Parliament for 14 years until her retirement in 2010, including five years as the Shadow Minister for Health, and at various times she also served as the Shadow Minister for Aged Care; Community Services; Housing; and Multicultural Affairs. Ms Shardey has an in-depth understanding of the health portfolio, a strong understanding of the structure and governance of the health system, both State and Federal, and expertise in strategy and policy development with a focus on health and social policy. She has previously worked as a corporate consultant, senior policy adviser (Federal Parliament), medical practice manager and secondary teacher, and was recently appointed Ambassador at Large for the Jewish National Fund of Australia. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a board member of the Victorian Reproductive Treatment Authority. Ms Shardey is Chairman of the Alfred Health Board and a member of the Audit, Finance, Quality and Remuneration Committees and the Primary Care & Population Health Advisory Committee.

Ms Fiona Bennett (Deputy Chair)

Ms Bennett is a business consultant and a director of a number of boards including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, WPC Group Limited and the Legal Services Board.  She is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in commercial and financial management, governance, risk management and audit.  She has held senior executive positions at BHP Billiton Limited and Coles Group Limited, and has been Chief Financial Officer at several organisations in the health sector. Ms Bennett is Chair of the Alfred Health Audit Committee and a member of the Finance Committee and the Remuneration Committee.

Ms Hannah Crawford

Ms Crawford is a Director of Grant Samuel. She is a chartered accountant and has expertise in corporate strategy, the preparation of independent expert’s reports, business valuations, and mergers and acquisitions. She has provided independent corporate advice in respect to capital market transactions to a wide range of public and private companies. She has considerable experience in transactions in the healthcare sector. Ms Crawford previously worked in the corporate finance division of Arthur Andersen and the taxation division of Ernst & Young. She was Deputy Chair of the Queen Elizabeth Centre from 2007 to 2012. Ms Crawford is Chair of the Alfred Health Finance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Remuneration Committee.

Mr Julian Gardner

Mr Gardner is a lawyer whose consultancy has included law reform, advance care planning and public administration. He is the Chair of the Board of Mind Australia Ltd, an NGO providing community mental health services, Chair of the National Reference Group of the Respecting Patient Choices program, and Deputy Chair, Child Protection Practice Standards and Compliance Committee. He has previously held positions as Victoria's Public Advocate, President of the Mental Health Review Board, National Convenor of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, Chairperson of the WorkCare Appeals Board and Director of the Victorian Legal Aid Commission. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) and a Fellow of International House, University of Melbourne where he was the Council Chair. Mr Gardner is chair of the Primary Care and Population Health Advisory Committee and a member of both the Quality Committee and the Community Advisory Committee.

Mr Damien Kenny

Mr Kenny is a commercialisation specialist in IT and digital communications.  His experience includes launching and managing the Australian businesses of a number of UK and US software and internet-based companies addressing sectors as diverse as social housing, Allied Health Practice Management and industry-wide data collection and analysis in the performing arts.  He has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Business Systems from Monash University, where he participated in the Commerce Faculty Board as an undergraduate student representative.  Mr Kenny is a member of the Alfred Health Quality Committee.

Mr David Menadue OAM

Mr Menadue is a former teacher and editor, who was a founding member of People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria, and held positions as President, Vice President and other executive roles with the organisation between 1989 and 2008. He was also a founding member of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS and has held numerous Executive positions with the organisation since 1990. He has held Board positions with the Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men's Health Centre, including Vice President between 1990 and 2001. He is their current Vice-President. He was a Director of the AIDS Trust of Australia from 2002 -2008. From 1992-1995 he was a Director with the Board of Management of Fairfield Hospital. He was a member of the Disability Caucus of Australia from 1998-2002 and a Board Member of the Consumer Health Forum between 2001 and 2003. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 1995 for services to community health. Mr Menadue is Chair of the Community Advisory Committee and a member of the Quality Committee.

Associate Professor Jill Sewell AM

Associate Professor Sewell is a consultant paediatrician and is Deputy Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children's Hospital.  She is responsible for clinical services in developmental/behavioural paediatrics and runs the Victorian Training Program in Community Child Health for advanced paediatric trainees.  Her special interests are in learning difficulties, language delay, attention deficit disorder and other behavioural problems. She is a past President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and was previously President of the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the College.  She has long term interests in medical workforce, training, continuing professional development, women in medicine and health policy at state, national and international settings. She was an inaugural member of the board of the National Institute of Clinical Studies, and its Chair from 2001 to 2004. She has also served on the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care, the Victorian Quality Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Assoc Prof Sewell was made a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2005, for services to child health. Assoc Prof Sewell is Chair of the Alfred Health Quality Committee.

Mr Anthony Starkins

Mr Starkins is the Founder and Executive Director of First Samuel Limited, a boutique wealth management company. He has over 30 years' experience in the investment and finance industry. His previous experience includes working with J.P. Morgan Investment for 9 years, where his last role was as Regional Head of Marketing Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. He also spent 10 years with Schroders PLC in a variety of capital markets and treasury related capacities in Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo and London. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds Bachelors' degrees in both Laws and Economics from Monash University, has completed the University of Oxford Advanced Management Program and also the University of Michigan Business School Strategic Marketing Program; is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the CFA Institute. He is an executive director of First Samuel Limited and a director Alfred Health.  He was, until recently, a Director of the Melbourne Football Club and Ruyton Girls' School. He is also a trustee of a number of charitable foundations.

Mr Tim Wilson

Mr Wilson is an international public policy analyst specialising in trade, public health, intellectual property and climate change policy and has a particular interest in policy implementation and delivery. He's currently Director of Climate Change Policy and the IP and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs and regularly contributes to public debate. Tim is also a Senior Fellow at New York's Centre for Medicine in the Public Interest and has completed specialist executive education on global public health policy and diplomacy at Geneva's Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développment. He is also a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's IP industry consultative group. He previously worked in international aid and development across South East Asia, including delivering the Commonwealth government's program to build the logistical and policy capacity of the Vietnamese government to host APEC. Tim has a Masters of Diplomacy and Trade and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in public policy. He has previously served on the Council of Monash University and the Board of a commercial retail and food services company.