Peter Fitzpatrick AO
Commenced January 2016
Chairperson
Peter Fitzpatrick AO is widely respected and recognised for the outstanding contributions made during his professional life at the helm of two peak bodies as the Chief Executive Officer for the legal profession and the motor industry. Prior to this Peter had a distinguished twenty year military career, including service with the elite Special Air Service (SASR) Regiment as an Australian Army Officer, taking early retirement with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1997 he was a strategic adviser to the then Prime Minister, John Howard.
For five years Peter was a coach and mentor of a group of 18 high performing CEOs committed to leading profitable and effective companies. He is currently a director on eight boards and is chair of five. The boards are a mix of for profit and not for profit organisations. He also had a four year term as the Chair of the Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention.
He is the Chair of two national boards including the Bravery Trust which provides support and financial assistance to veterans from the Afghanistan and Gulf Wars and the widows and children of deceased veterans. He is an adviser and Patron to a number of Veterans and mental health organisations and provides training for the Indigenous community.
He also chairs a Headspace Consortium of 10 agencies providing clinical support for young people at risk. Peter facilitates on the Company Directors’ Course, for local government and for not for profit organisations on Governance, Board Performance Finance, Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Risk and Leadership. He is a graduate of the Company Directors Course and has an advanced diploma in Company Directorship having completed the Mastery of the Boardroom qualification. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2018 and a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 1984. He was also a state finalist for Australian of the Year in 2008-09.
Ron Chalmers
Commenced September 2017
Dr Ron Chalmers has devoted his 40 years of public service to the cause of social justice – in the fields of education and disability services. In his academic roles and public sector leadership roles he has advanced the cause of people with disability in metropolitan, regional and remote areas of WA.
Until recently, Dr Chalmers was the Director General of the Western Australian Disability Services Commission, the State Government agency with responsibility for policy, programs and services for people with disabilities. For the past 26 years his career has been focused on social policy reform, particularly on the development of disability support systems.
Ron has a background in teaching and educational administration and has held a variety of leadership posts in disability services during the past two decades.
For the past four years Dr Chalmers has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Western Australian Centre for Social Impact and for seven years he has been a member of the Premier’s Community Sector Partnership Forum. In the latter part of his public service career he has provided leadership for the expansion and development of mission focused, not-for-profit service provider organisations in WA.
He continues to have a strong interest in building the capacity of the not-for-profit sector as a means of providing quality services for vulnerable people in the Western Australian community.
Ron holds a Masters degree in educational leadership and a PhD enquiring into the inclusion of children with severe and profound disabilities into mainstream schooling. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Executive Fellow of the Australia New Zealand School of Government.
Lisa Fini
Commenced June 2015
Lisa Fini started her first business at the age of twenty one and has owned and managed several Perth-based businesses. Lisa brings extensive experience to the UnitingCare West board in all aspects of business management including human resources, marketing, financial control, reporting and analysis, budgeting and planning.
Lisa has held board and volunteer positions for twenty-five years in the not-for-profit and educational sectors. She was treasurer of the Mark Howlett Foundation when it received the 1996 Premier’s Award for ‘Most Innovative Sponsorship for the Arts’. Lisa is a Foundation Member of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, member of the Curtin Alumni and Perth College Old Girls Association.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), a Graduate Diploma in Property from Curtin University and a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from Edith Cowan University, and she is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Chris Hunt
Commenced September 2013
Chris Hunt is the Chief Financial Officer for Scott Park Group Pty Ltd, a leading residential home builder in Western Australia. Chris has a Bachelor of Accounting (minor Law) from Curtin University, is a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA) and has completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment through the Financial Services Institute of Australia. In addition he has completed the Company Directors’ Course through the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Chris has approximately 25 years’ worth of experience primarily in the resources sector with both large and small companies at the local and international level. Chris’s skills and experience relate to accounting, finance, taxation, commercial, risk management, compliance and internal controls.
Chris’s risk management and internal controls skills were developed through his time at Cliffs Natural Resources, an SEC registrant, with significant Sarbanes Oxley ongoing requirements. Chris also recently held the role for four years of Chairperson on the Board for Excelsior Primary School, an Independent Public School. As well as being a member of the UCW Board, Chris is the Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Board Committee.
Deborah Marshall
Commenced September 2013
Deborah migrated to Australia in 1988 after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in the UK. After eight years in public practice she had time out to raise her family and at that time decided to establish her own small tax practice and is a registered tax agent. In this role Deborah specialises in small to medium size businesses. Since 1996 the Marshall family have been attending Floreat Uniting Church.
Deborah has been the congregation treasurer, and was active in the establishment of the “Creative Living Centre” (“CLC”) which runs outreach programmes, mainly with an Indigenous community in the Kimberley and students at the Ottow Giessler University in West Papua. Recently the CLC board sought and were granted deductible gift recipient status. Deborah joined the board of UnitingCare Crossroads as the treasurer.
With the transition of the Crossroads Services to UnitingCare West, the opportunity to continue an involvement in the wider service and mission of the Church via the UCW Board was offered and happily accepted. A strong commitment to a community based on equality of opportunity is a driving force behind Deborah’s involvement in various local groups and she brings that to her role as a UCW Board member.
Alison McCubbin
Appointed December 2017
Alison is a member of the Uniting Church in Australia. Originally from New South Wales, she has spent the last 11 years in Western Australia initially working in the office of the Ombudsman Western Australia, and currently in the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Alison has undertaken leadership roles in her congregation serving as the Secretary and as Chair of the Church Council of the Uniting Church in the City. She is also a congregational representative to the Synod and Presbytery of the Uniting Church in Western Australia. Her work and involvement in Church bodies has developed her skills in governance.
Alison grew up in the Church initially in the Methodist Church and then in the Uniting Church of Australia. She embraces the commitment of the Uniting Church to social justice, to wholeness of life for all people, to standing alongside people who are on the fringe of society and to advocating for positive social change. She values seeking reconciliation, justice and peace in our society.
Alison graduated from ANU with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. She also holds degrees in Music following studies in the United States.
Mark Webb
Commenced June 2015
Mark Webb has a background in research, farming and management. He studied at the University of Western Australian and Cambridge University in the UK.
In July 2017, he was appointed Director General of the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and holds concurrent appointments as the CEO of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, the Rottnest Island Authority, and the Zoological Parks Authority.
Mark sits on several national and international committees and Boards. Mark attends Riverview Church and has a long term interest in social justice.
Dr Hannah McGlade
Commenced November 2018
Dr Hannah McGlade is an experienced legal academic and practitioner with special interest in Indigenous human rights. She has focused on justice for Aboriginal people, race discrimination law and practice, Aboriginal women and children, family violence and sexual assault. Hannah has held a range of professional positions that required her legal training and specific expertise in Aboriginal women and children issues. Her Ph.D thesis received the Stanner Award for Excellence in Aboriginal research and was published by Aboriginal Studies Press in 2012: ‘Our Greatest Challenge, Aboriginal Children and Human Rights’.
An experienced tribunal member, Hannah has been appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the State Administrative Tribunal and the Mental Health Tribunal. In 2016, she was appointed the Senior Indigenous Fellow at the Office of the High Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and as Senior Indigenous Research Fellow at Curtin University.