FINANCIAL BASICS FOUNDATION: GOVERNANCE
Financial Basics Foundation (ABN 90 114 612 270) is an Australian Public Company, Limited by Guarantee, with a license to omit the word "limited" from its name.
Financial Basics Foundation is a registered Charitable Institution.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Directors on the board of the Financial Basics Foundation provide their time and expertise on a voluntary basis.
Philip Cullum - Chairperson
Philip is an experienced regulator and consumer advocate, based in Melbourne. He recently set up Consumer-wise Consulting, working on strategy, policy, engagement and governance. He is a member of the Boards of the Clean Energy Council, Consumer Action and Consumers’ Federation of Australia, the code committee for customer-owned banks, and the expert panel at the financial ombudsman AFCA. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
He was a senior advisor to the Australian Energy Regulator in 2017–2020, focused on strategy, governance and change. Before that, Philip was at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, on secondment from the UK energy regulator Ofgem, where he was the Consumers and Sustainability Partner. In the UK he also held senior roles at three consumer organisations, worked as an associate partner at Accenture, and was a member of advisory committees in financial services, food safety, aviation and water.
Katrina Samios - CEO and Director
Katrina has been a consultant to Financial Basics Foundation since 2004 and was appointed as CEO and Director in 2011.
Katrina has worked in the youth sector for 20 years with experience in government and not-for-profit organisations. A strong advocate for young people, Katrina was involved in the deinstitutionalisation of disabled clients from residential institutions in Queensland.
Prior to commencing with the Financial Basics Foundation, Katrina was the State Manager of CanTeen Queensland (the organisation supporting young people living with cancer).
Kelly Evans CA - Director/ Treasurer
Kelly is a Chartered Accountant with over fifteen years' experience in external audit and financial reporting and is currently the Financial Reporting Manager for an ASX-200 company.
Kelly was appointed as a member and Director of the Foundation on 28 September 2018.
Nicole Pedwell - Secretary
B.IntBus., FGIA, FCIS, GAICD
Nicole joined the Boards of Financial Basics Foundation and Financial Basics Community Foundation in March 2020.
Nicole is a qualified Company Secretary, corporate governance and communications professional. Nicole has over 20 years' investor and stakeholder relations experience in both global and domestic financial services entities. Nicole holds a Bachelor of International Business from Griffith University, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute of Australia and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Nicole is Company Secretary to Credit Union Australia Ltd, CUA Health Limited, Credicorp Insurance Pty Ltd, CUA Management Pty Ltd and Credicorp Finance Pty Ltd.
Tim Devine - Director
Tim is an experienced lawyer who has provided legal advice on corporate and commercial matters in private practice and as in-house counsel.
Joel White - Director
Joel is an experienced digital leader, with a background in highly awarded digital agencies, and a current focus on digital transformation within enterprise.
Joel is passionate about privacy and the ethical use of customer data, and works with customer, digital and marketing teams to make informed consent, privacy preferences and ethical data usage part of the customer experience.
Joel also leads the Blockchain and DLT community of practice in Queensland for Deloitte, and is passionate about advocacy and adoption of DLT.
Stefanie Wilson - Director
Stefanie is a mindful innovator, experienced entrepreneur and strategic leader, with over 20 years industry.
As the founder of Luminair (a company which has created over $900m in economic impact for the Australian economy), Stefanie specialises in ‘agenda to action’ strategy.
She is dedicated to the ethos of ‘doing good, while doing well’, contributes to a number of boards, is a Federal Government appointed ‘expert mentor’, consulting strategist, executive advisor and a mentor for both the Minerva Sports Network and also Women In Technology.
Passionate about start-ups/scale-ups, financial literacy and changing the game; Stefanie cultivates mindful collaborations and impactful outcomes.
Melissa Witheriff
Melissa is a non-executive director specialising in Organisational Strategy, Digital Innovation and Enterprise culture. She is currently a board member of the Service Innovation Alliance (SIA) Advisory Board for the University of Queensland. She has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience across non-for-profit, government and corporate environments. Her experience spans sectors such as Finance, Insurance, Mobility (Transport and Road infrastructure), Public Works, ICT, Education and Retail. She is currently employed as the Head of Digital Innovation at CUA. Melissa is a highly experienced digital innovator, transforming ideas from concept to commercialisation within corporate environments.
Norm Hunter OAM - Director
Norm Hunter is the principal consultant of Thinkit Through, an educational consultancy with a particular focus on leadership, strategic thinking, mentoring and writing. He has a special interest in organisational and school culture, believing that it is the key to a successful system and school.
Norm has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland, and a Master of Education (Leadership and Management) from the University of Southern Queensland.
Norm was a founding Co-Principal, then Principal of Hillbrook Anglican School, serving for a period of 21 years. In 2010 Norm was awarded the ACEL Queensland Excellence in Educational Leadership Award.
Norm has been widely involved in education committees and other bodies at state and national levels, including Independent Schools Queensland's Education Committee. He served as a principal representative on the Queensland Anglican Schools Commission for several years, and chaired the Queensland Board of Secondary School Studies Social Sciences Syllabus Advisory Committee for six years.
Norm has authored a book – If We Build It They Will Come – which describes the ideas behind the founding of Hillbrook Anglican School, and the principles that underpinned it during his leadership.
He has led a research forum for the Strategic Research Division of the Queensland Education Department based on Schools Speaking for Themselves, and his recent work has included a review and a report for a Queensland independent school which has introduced a new learning management model.