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.

As Director NSW at Australian Red Cross, Kate oversees a team of 5,000 people, including 180 staff, 2,400 volunteers and 2,700 members. She is 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 leads 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.

Doris is a values driven and empathic leader, passionate about improving health outcomes for the community. She is a long standing executive in the health sector with extensive experience complemented by various board appointments.

Having led change and transformational growth, Doris has a reputation for being a visible, inclusive and authentic leader committed to a united culture and good governance.

Creating and empowering strong teams and investing in the next generation of leaders are of critical importance to Doris.

She has a Bachelor of Business Degree, Masters in Business Administration, CPA qualifications and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Clinical Governance.

Kathy Packenas oversees Asthma Australia’s national campaigns that seek to improve the lives of people with asthma.

Ms Packenas has more than 15 years experience in senior marketing and communications roles across diverse industries and the not-for-profit sector.

An award-winning strategist, Ms Packenas uses emerging technologies and traditional engagement to aim for a future without asthma.

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.

Megan leads the People and Culture effort to enable AA reach its strategic goal of being a high performance and innovative culture where our people bring their best selves to their roles. She is an experienced organisation development professional with a career spanning challenging transformation and greenfield settings across a range of sectors. Megan has a passion for supporting leaders and their people to reach their potential and loves collaborating to design and deliver fit for purpose leadership, talent, learning and performance solutions. She has a Bachelor of Art (honours) degree and A Master of Commerce from UNSW.

Anthony is the Director of Health Knowledge and Translation at Asthma Australia. In this role he 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.