Board

In line with good governance practices to ensure Board renewal, Asthma Australia would like to announce some changes to the Asthma Australia Board of Directors.

We are pleased to announce that James Wright has taken up the role of Chair and that David Simmons OAM is stepping down as the inaugural Chair after leading Asthma Australia following the merger of several Asthma Foundations in October 2017.

Read Chair Announcement here

View the biographies of the Board of Directors below:

Chairman

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

Kristen has over 25 years’ experience operating at Executive levels in the Financial Services industry, ranging from Executive Management, Leadership and Sales to National lead of People Culture and Change Management.

Kristen runs her own consultancy business supporting business and individuals, through executive coaching, facilitation or leadership programs and global business mentorship. Prior to starting her own business, Kristen led Investment Banking teams as a Senior Executive for over 20 years.

She is an experienced Non-executive board director with over 10 years working in the for-profit and not-for profit sectors. Kristen is the Co-Founder of PeerThinc, managing director of High Heel Consulting, is based in South Australia and has a globally connected client base.

Find her on LinkedIn.

Board Members

Simone Carton

Simone is an experienced CEO, lawyer and governance professional. She has worked across a variety of sectors including legal, health, advertising, banking and the arts.

She is currently CEO of the ACT Law Society, the peak body for solicitors working in the ACT. Previously, Simone was CEO of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and worked as in-house counsel and company secretary for the Advertising Standards Bureau.

Simone previously served on the boards of the former Asthma Foundation ACT and the Australian Multiple Birth Association. 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 the non-government sector and held senior executive roles in both Victorian and Commonwealth health departments.

She is Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at the Mitchell Institute, an education and health policy think tank established by Victoria University.

Find her on LinkedIn.

Dr. Louise Schaper

Louise has built a career around digital innovation to drive better health. After completing her Bachelor of Science to be an Occupational Therapist, she experienced first-hand the risks and inefficiencies resulting from our reliance on paper-based healthcare systems. This led her to her passion for health informatics in shaping a new future for Australian healthcare.

Louise has a Ph.D. in Information Systems (Health Informatics), more than 20 years’ experience in healthcare, with more than 11 years’ at the executive level. She has extensive experience leading change and growth in the highly complex health sector.

She is currently the CEO of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Non-Executive Director of Daylesford and Macedon Tourism Ltd and is a Fellow of AIDH and the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics.

Louise brings to our Board strong leadership and governance experience, entrepreneurial spirit and drive and a passion for driving better health outcomes through technology – a key strategic focus for Asthma Australia over the coming years.

Find her on LinkedIn

Samantha Clark
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, media, retail, travel, sport and recreation, FMCG and not-for-profit sectors.

Samantha spent several years at QML Pathology working closely with Clinical, Medical and operational experts overhauling marketing, governance framework, and policies around integrated health.

Samantha has experienced firsthand 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 Consultant specialising in customer-centricity, brand and marketing and a Member of the QUT Alumni Board, Samantha is looking to optimise, progress and empower organisations.

Find her on LinkedIn

Christopher Pearce

Christopher 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. He was a member of the Information Management Strategy Group (the first committee to advise the federal government on GP Informatics) and the General Practice Computing Group. 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 a shared electronic health record. 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 Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University.

His extensive wealth of knowledge, experience, and passion in the health sector is evident through the 50 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. 

Find him on LinkedIn