Board

Board Chair

James Wright
Board Chair
Finance and Risk Committee member

James is a founding partner at Sayers, an advisory and investment firm launched in 2020.

He has over 30 years’ experience in economics and investment markets working in senior roles in both the public and private sector. James has previously been the Chief Investment Officer of JBWere Ltd and ING Investment Management, where he led teams that managed considerable amounts of capital for clients. His previous roles include Treasury Corporation of Victoria and the Commonwealth Treasury in Canberra.

He has been active in Asthma Foundation New South Wales and Asthma Australia roles since 2014. He has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from Monash University.

Find him on LinkedIn

Treasurer

Kristen Raison

Managing Director – Symmetri

Kristen brings over 28 years of experience in the Financial Services industry, holding Senior Executive roles encompassing Executive Management, Strategic Human Resources, Change Management, Leadership, Sales, and serving as the National Lead for People Culture.  

Her expertise includes strategic and business planning, design, facilitation, and implementation for a wide array of clients from SME’s to ASX listed organisations along with state and federal government agencies.  

Kristen founded Symmetri, a management consultancy firm, in 2016. As the Managing Director, she collaborates with government agencies, organisations, teams and individuals to foster thought leadership and build future-ready organisations. Her commitment to building sustainable teams is evident in her executive coaching, leadership program design, and global business mentorship. She is dedicated to helping organisations and leaders create financially successful, resilient, and inclusive teams, with experience ranging from C-suite executives in government and large corporations to entrepreneurs at the startup stage. 

Before founding Symmetri, Kristen led Investment and Private Banking teams as a Senior Executive for over two decades, managing extensive portfolios. She is a seasoned non-executive board director with over 15 years of experience in both for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Kristen’s leadership at Symmetri (www.symmetri.com.au) is based in South Australia, where she serves a globally connected client base. 

Kristen is currently a Board Member and Treasurer of Asthma Australia, Balco Australia, and St Andrews Hospital Foundation. Her previous board and committee memberships include the Investment Committee of Catherine House and Non-Executive Director of the State Theatre Company South Australia. 

Find her on LinkedIn.

Board Members

Simone Carton

Simone is an experienced CEO, lawyer and governance professional.  

She is currently CEO of the ACT Law Society, the peak body for solicitors working in the ACT, and has worked across a variety of sectors including legal, health, media, banking and the arts.

Simone is currently a board member of the Tax Practitioners Board and has served on a number of boards as both a director and company secretary, including as a director of the former Asthma Foundation ACT. As a parent to children with asthma, Simone also has personal experience with the challenges facing people with asthma. 

Find her on LinkedIn.

Rosemary Calder

Rosemary has worked in health, aged care and social policy and services in senior executive roles in both Victorian and Commonwealth health departments and in the non-government sector.

She is Professor of Health Policy at Victoria University and Director of the Australian Health Policy Collaboration, a national network of leading population health and chronic disease experts that works to translate research to policy information and influence to drive progress in preventing and reducing chronic diseases 

Find her on LinkedIn.

Dr. Louise Schaper

Dr Louise Schaper is on a mission to fix healthcare and to enhance human healthspan. As an internationally renowned digital health leader with 15 years of executive experience, Louise is a passionate advocate leveraging technology to achieve better health outcomes and innovating the health ecosystem at scale.

With a background as an occupational therapist, a PhD in health informatics, and recognition as a Fellow of both the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health, Louise brings a wealth of expertise to the field. Through her company, the Health Intelligence Agency, she advises companies, start-ups, boards and governments on health innovation, strategy, policy, commercialisation, product development, global expansion, and market positioning.

Louise is also the host of the popular Pulse💗 podcast, where she explores the latest in digital health and innovation. Deeply engaged with the digital health community, she is always online, and yes, she does have the coolest job!

In her role on our Board, Louise offers strong leadership and governance experience, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a relentless drive to improve health outcomes through technology—aligning perfectly with Asthma Australia’s strategic focus for the coming years.

Find her on LinkedIn

Samantha Saunders (nee Clark) 

Non-Executive Director and Finance and Risk Committee member 

Samantha is a passionate, commercially minded and skilled strategic executive with more than 20 years’ experience across management consulting, medical, tertiary eduction, professional services, media, retail, travel, sport and recreation, FMCG and not-for-profit sectors. 

Samantha has experienced firsthand via family members the consequences of severe asthma and the impact it has on wellbeing. .Her personal connections to asthma, coupled with an MBA, Industry Fellow and Certified qualifications, allows her to demonstrate strong leadership, diverse skills, and passion in data-led customer-centric transformations, which is the heart of Asthma Australia. 

Currently a freelance executive Consultant specialising in customer-centricity, brand and marketing as well as a Member of the Heart Foundation Queensland Advisory Board and a Risk and Audit committee member for Healthy Land and Water  Samantha is motivated by assisting to optimise, progress and empower organisations. 

Find her on LinkedIn

Christopher Pearce

Chris has been involved in Health Informatics for over 20 years. Trained in Rural and Remote Medicine and General Practice, he worked for 13 years in rural Victoria. He assisted with the early adoption of GP desktop systems in the area, and in developing distance education programs. Since moving to Melbourne in the year 2000, he remains a practicing clinician in emergency, anaesthetics and general practice. 

He completed a PhD on ‘Doctors, Patients and Computers, the New Consultation’ in 2008, and has written extensively on the adoption and use of computers in the consultation environment. As Clinical Adviser (research) to Outcome Health, he is working with data management and quality assurance activities. He advises national bodies on policy issues pertaining to informatics and change management. He was the clinical design lead for the first three releases of Australia’s national health record (myHR) and has adjunct academic appointments at Monash, Melboure and Macquarie universities.  

His extensive wealth of knowledge, experience, and passion in the health sector is evident through the 100 plus refereed journals and books that have been published. 

Find him on LinkedIn

Carol Davy

Carol is an accomplished senior director with a track record of successful strategic and tactical leadership backed by over 30 years of combined experience in management, evaluation and research. 

Currently, Carol is a senior research fellow within the Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation program at Flinders University. However, she also has significant management and research expertise within the primary, tertiary and aged care sectors. Notably, her experience extends to collaborating with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and within culturally and linguistically diverse communities. 

Steve Morris

BPharm, MSc, DiplomaPresScience, MBA

Steve Morris is currently CEO of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA). His previous roles include those of CEO Arthritis South Australia and CEO NPS Medicinewise. Prior to that he was Executive Director SA Pharmacy and Chief Pharmacist, SA Health, having responsibility for the delivery of statewide pharmacy services to the public sector within South Australia. He has worked in numerous clinical and managerial roles within health spanning pharmacy practice, including community, hospital, primary care, industry and NGO sectors. Prior to moving to Australia, he was the Deputy Chief Executive of the National Prescribing Centre in the UK. He has a keen interest in medicines safety, health literacy and workforce strategies which enhance the impact of pharmacists on patient outcomes. 

Recently appointed to the following: 

Director of the Self Care Alliance, ADHA Connected Care Council and the Australian Government Climate and Health Expert Advisory Group

Find him on LinkedIn