Leadership Team

Kate is a contemporary leader with extensive senior management and operational experience in the For Purpose sector and federal government, spanning health, education, humanitarian diplomacy, foreign affairs and media.In her previous role as Director NSW at Australian Red Cross, Kate oversaw a team of 5,000 people, including 180 staff, 2,400 volunteers and 2,700 members. Kate was responsible for operational performance, ensuring robust governance, developing and executing strategy, managing finances and contracts, overseeing human resources, fostering stakeholder and government relations, and leading advocacy efforts. Kate led a highly skilled NSW Leadership team to spearhead Red Cross’ humanitarian initiatives, including disaster response, refugee settlement, migration support, and community resilience programs.Kate brings a wealth of experience in leading large, diverse and geographically dispersed teams with a focus on identifying growth opportunities and enhancing capability. She has previously worked as a senior adviser to an Australian Health Ministers, for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Dental Association and the ABC as a journalist.

Kate holds a Master of Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise Management from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and a Bachelor of Communication from Charles Sturt University (CSU). She serves as a Non-Executive Director, and an Adjunct Fellow at both Macquarie University and UTS Business Schools.

Nigel has a health care professional background as a Registered Nurse, and has worked in the not for profit sector in leadership roles for nearly 25 years. His experience covers a number of diverse roles from working in organisations with a focus on disability and chronic health conditions such as MS,  to working with asylum seekers and refugees newly arrived to Australia . Nigel is driven by a strong ethic of fairness, equity, equal access and social justice. This is Nigel’s second time working in the asthma field having worked for Asthma South Australia in the early 2000’s.Nigel combines a collaborative working style with a focus on creativity and person centredness, to drive program delivery that is focused on improving the lives of people with asthma.Nigel has a Bachelor of Nursing and post graduate qualifications in health service management and leadership.

As the Head of Health Knowledge and Translation, Anthony oversees Asthma Australia’s research program, strategic evaluation plans and supervises the quality development of consumer information and education resources. Anthony has a Masters Degree in Social Sciences and is a registered nurse who specialised in critical care nursing. He is responsible for connecting the need of the person with asthma with strategic research and evaluation decisions and the translation of these into consumer benefit.

Director of Corporate Services – Interim

Director of Development – Interim

Arnie Thomas is an ambitious and dedicated marketing professional who brings a proactive approach to marketing planning, strategic thinking, process development, revenue generation and sales performance. Arnie’s major strengths include brand and project management, working within fast paced environments and managing large scale, complex campaigns.

As a senior marketer, Arnie has led marketing communications for some of Queensland’s most prominent brands including Bank of Queensland, Virgin Airlines and Tourism Queensland.

Arnie is a passionate, fun loving and team-oriented person who thrives on relationship building and interpersonal communication. She is an Associate of the Australian Marketing Institute, holds a Bachelor of Business – Marketing and Tourism and Diploma of Digital Marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing.