Board and Governance
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AMES Australia is an autonomous Adult Education Institution, accountable to the Victorian Minister for Skills and Training under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. The Board is established by the Constitution of the Adult Multicultural Education Services Order 2013 and comprises between nine and eleven members appointed by the Minister. The Board members bring a broad range of experience and skills to AMES Australia in areas such as Management, Finance, Commerce, Law, Corporate Governance, Community, Education, Employment and Settlement and Asylum Seeker Programs, as well as an understanding of AMES Australia client communities. Board members
Stuart Crosby (Chair) Stuart Crosby has had a distinguished corporate career culminating as President and CEO of Computershare, an S&P/ASX 50 company with over $2 billion in revenue and over 14,000 employees worldwide. |
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Vedran arrived in Australia in 1995 under the Australian Government’s refugee resettlement humanitarian program. He brings with him significant experience in the humanitarian sector through his work for Australian Red Cross, International Red Cross and Oxfam, especially in marketing, fundraising and communications. These roles gave him a strong and deep understanding of the refugee and migrant settlement sectors and the issues related to CALD communities.
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Dr Michelle Foster is Professor, Associate Dean (Research), and Director of the International Refugee Law Research Programme with the Institute for International Law and the Humanities at Melbourne Law School.
Dr Foster’s career has included teaching in the university sector and she has published widely in the field of international refugee law, including her first book International Refugee Law and Socio-Economic Rights: Refuge from Deprivation (CUP, 2007). She is the co-author (with James Hathaway) of the second edition of the seminal Law of Refugee Status, (Second Edition, CUP, 2014).
Dr Foster’s experience includes conducting training workshops for the New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority and the Australian Refugee Review Tribunal. She has been engaged as a consultant by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Michelle is an Advisory Board Member of the Melbourne Journal of International Law, and an Associate Member of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges.
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Stuart Alford is a chartered accountant with over 40 years’ experience in corporate governance, risk management, auditing and accounting. He was a partner at Ernst & Young until retiring in 2008 and is now Non-Executive Director.
Mr Alford is Chair of the Centre of Excellence for Intervention and Prevention Science and is on the boards of Eastern Health, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (the MFB) and Kilvington Grammar School. He also has Audit and Finance Committee roles with the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, the Office of the Australian Accounting Standards Board, and the Office of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.
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Tracy is an experienced investment and finance professional with over 11 years of corporate finance and private equity experience following six years as a Chartered Accountant. She has spent the past three years working at Canaccord Genuity as a Director in the investment banking team with a particular focus on mid-market mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to Canaccord, Tracy spent six years working in principle investments with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - World Bank Group, covering the Asia-Pacific region, including PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji. IFC allowed Tracy to combine her passions for travel, investments and international development where all investments had commercial and development objectives.
Prior to IFC, Tracy lived in Vietnam for three years and worked for an international investment fund focusing on private equity investments in Vietnam. Tracy started her career as a chartered accountant, where she spent six years with Ernst & Young Melbourne. Tracy is a chartered accountant, holds a Bachelor of Business from RMIT and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney.
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Florence Mauwa Florence is a human resources and finance leader with extensive professional and board experience. Her experience has been gained in Australia and several emerging markets in a variety of sectors including professional and financial services and communications. Florence is passionate about community diversity and empowering marginalised groups and as a result, actively participates on various community boards. She currently serves as a Trustee for the Queen Victoria Women's Centre Trust and is a member of the Finance, Audit, Risk & Governance Committee. She also serves as Treasurer on the board of African Music and Cultural Festival (AMCF), the largest African festival in Australia. She is a past board member and Finance Committee Chair for Safe Futures Foundation, a specialist family violence organisation which is the largest Refuge Provider in Victoria. She is a qualified accountant (FCCA) and has served as a panel member representing Victoria and Tasmania on the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Australia and New Zealand. She is also a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD) and has a Masters of Business Administration from Murdoch University, Western Australia. |
Molina Asthana Molina is a commercial lawyer with her own practice. Her previous experience includes working in top tier firms Minter Ellison and Clayton Utz and the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office. She has significant experience in the Indian jurisdiction and several of Molina’s Public Interest Litigations were reported in the national newspapers. Molina is the Vice President of the Law Institute of Victoria and sits on the boards of Good Shephard ANZ, Gymnastics Victoria and the Graduate House of the University of Melbourne. She is also the National Vice President of the Asian Australian Lawyer’s Association and was the Chair of the Women in Business Chapter of the Australia India Business Council. She is on the AFL South East Commission Advisory Board and has been a Cricket Australia Ambassador, Commonwealth Games 2018 Ambassador and Jean Hailes women’s Health week Ambassador. Molina is a member of the Football Federation of Victoria’s Tribunal. Molina is the founder of the organisation Multicultural Women in Sport which aims to empower women from multicultural backgrounds through sport. Molina has received numerous awards including the Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence for 2014 and for 2016. |
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Miriam Silva has more than 20 years’ experience managing large and geographically diverse teams, across multiple industries including pharmaceuticals, banking and agribusiness and is currently Managing Director for Crescent Finance. Miriam has extensive Board and committee experience including: Chair inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence, Chair Contemporary ArtsPrecincts, Director of Crescent Institute, Crescent Finance, SA Film Corporation and Malek Fahd Islamic School (NSW). She is Patron for the International Women’s Day Committee (SA) and is the Multicultural Patron for The SA Police Training Academy. Miriam has received numerous awards and in 2022, Miriam was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to multiculturalcommunities in SA and women. |
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Grace Liang is an experienced finance and strategy professional who has over 12 years of leading industry experience. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CAANZ), Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Marketing) from the University of Melbourne and has completed further studies in Agile Project Management (SCRUM). Grace currently works at Evolution Trustees as Director of Development & Operations. In her previous role, Grace was a Senior Manager (Performance and Reporting) at the Primary Health Network (a not-For-profit government initiative), where she established the Performance and Reporting team to drive strategic planning, value-add analysis and process improvement. She commenced her career at EY focusing on due diligence, corporate restructuring and real estate engagements across a broad range of sectors. Grace also has extensive experience in governance and stakeholder management and is also currently a board member of Haileybury College, a leading independent school in the Asia-Pacific (based in Melbourne) and board member of the Australian Dental Health Foundation. |
Vedran Drakulic OAM
Catherina Toh
Michelle Foster
Stuart Alford
Tracy Le 
Miriam Silva AM
Grace Liang