Tassia Michaleas
Chief Executive Officer
BEC, BSW, MBA, AFCHSM, GAICD
Tassia has extensive experience in the not-for profit and community sector and commenced her career in community health in 1996. Tassia has experience working across leaderships and operational areas and takes a pro-active approach in developing and delivering innovative services and programs, to identified and emerging community needs. Tassia has strong skills in advocacy, streamlining of systems and processes, effective engagement of stakeholders and developing partnerships. Tassia is committed to and has an in-depth understanding of the values and philosophy of community health, including issues related to access, diversity and the social model of health.
Tassia holds Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master of Business Administration. She is an Associate Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Management and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Heleni Bagiartakis
General Manager, Carers
MBA, MAP
Driven by values and a strong sense of social justice, Heleni is passionate about driving social impact. With more than 20 years' experience in leadership and operational roles across the health, aged care, education and training sectors; Heleni has a strong focus on shaping and influencing the policy, design and delivery of services to the vulnerable in communities.
Heleni is experienced in leading high performing, cross-functional teams; and brings metrics-based best practices and contemporary organisational psychology science to lead transformational change that delivers exceptional outcomes for business, consumers and stakeholders.
Heleni holds a Master of Business Administration, a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology, a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education.
Gavin Thompson
Chief Financial Officer
B.Bus (Acc), GAICD, CPA
Gavin has held a range of senior finance positions across not for profit, corporate and international sectors. He has worked in financial management in the homelessness and community service sector as well as roles in a variety of industries such as Aerospace, Investment Banking, Software Development, Retail Banking, Hotels and Trustee services.
Gavin has skills in providing strong financial stewardship to organisations while maintaining a co-operative and helpful approach to aid service delivery programs.
Gavin holds a Bachelor of Business, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA).
Nessá Wright
Chief Operating Officer (currently on maternity leave)
BCCJ, MER, EMBA
Nessá is a values-driven and collaborative leader who utilises her creative flair to enhance business operations and strengthen governance across varied settings in the not-for-profit sector. With vast experience in change management, governance, brand and communications, successful project delivery and organisational capacity building.
Nessá is known for her ability to lead both small and large initiatives across the organisation that impact on relationships and create a culture where outcomes are achieved in the right way. The experience of the end-user is always front of mind in how Nessá leads her team to design, deliver and evaluate their impact.
Nessá holds a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Masters of Employment Relations, and an Executive Masters of Business Administration. Nessá is a certified member of the Australian Human Resources Institute and Australia College of Health Service Management and is an Accredited Lean Yellow Belt through the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association.
Amy Jackman
Acting Chief Operations Officer
Amy is an experienced, values-driven leader with more than 20 years’ experience working in the community health, not-for-profit, legal and professional services industries. She brings exceptional knowledge and demonstrated practice in risk compliance and management, commercial facilities management, developing high performing teams, and delivering projects that affect multiple stakeholder groups.
Jillian Dent
Acting General Manager, Family and Community
Jillian has led health promotion and population health teams at Merri Health for the last 7 years. She has extensive experience designing and delivering programs that meet the needs of diverse communities, and currently chairs Merri Health’s Reconciliation Action Plan Committee.
Prior to working with Merri Health, Jillian worked for local, state and federal government across health, housing, education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy. Jillian holds a Masters in Social Policy and a Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations).
Shadi Hanna
General Manager, Aged and Primary Care
MBA, GAICD
Shadi has extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary teams and a broad range of programs and services in the community health and community care sectors. He has held senior and executive management roles across a range of health, primary care and local government organisations.
Committed to providing quality services that are responsive to local needs, Shadi is a registered physiotherapist and has a Graduate Diploma in Health Service Management, a Master of Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.