Our People
Our People
Board Members
Executive
David Keay – Chairperson
David Keay, is a retail executive with over 20 years of experience and believes that a focus on people, genuine and committed leadership, and consistent coaching are the critical elements in creating a successful business unit.
David has performed many roles and has been responsible for leading broad and diverse teams including buying, planning, product development, marketing, creative design, finance, retail sales and operations, visual merchandising and Ecommerce, consistently focused on aligning them to brand goals.
David is experienced in developing and implementing product and commercial marketing strategies that drive sales and gross margin in the retail space. He has a passion for speed to market production, responding to customer demand, and maintaining nimble inventory, have been key to driving strong profit outcomes.
He also has a strong financial acumen, which includes detailed P&L and open to buy management.
Rossi Lyons
Rossi has been a member of The Family Centre Board since 2011. She holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Psychology from The University of Melbourne and is a member of the Australian Psychological Society.
She comes with wide ranging experience from a diverse career spanning more than 40 years in health and the community services sector. She has worked for a number of NSW government departments including Health, Family & Community Services, The Cabinet Office and the Attorney-General’s Department. She has more than 20 years’ experience in public sector management as well as nine years as the Project Leader for Families First (now Families NSW) across the Northern region. This position involved integrating child and family service delivery at a local and state-wide level. The role included strategic planning, facilitating inter-agency groups, development of new service models and measurement of outcomes.
Other past roles include project management, policy development, strategic planning, change management, service development and review, service system development, primary health care management, training and development, evaluation and quality, and clinical work. Rossi was a founding member of the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre and the Lismore Family Support Service. Throughout her career, Rossi has worked closely with local Aboriginal communities.
Rossi currently works as a clinical psychologist in private practice with a strong focus on child protection and out of home care. She has been a clinician with the NSW Children’s Court Clinic for the past 14 years and conducts carer reviews for a number of Out of Home Care agencies. She has been involved in a large number of reviews and service evaluations both in NSW and nationally. These reviews include work with mental health services, psycho-social responses to disaster, Aboriginal Justice and Aged Care services, child protection services and drug and alcohol service delivery.
Erica Russ
Erica is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Field Education in Social Work and Community Welfare at Southern Cross University having previously worked at the University of New England. Erica holds a PhD in Social Work.
Erica has over 30 years of industry experience in government as a social worker in child protection, youth, and family services including work in rural and regional areas. She brings extensive strategic management experience including being responsible for the rollout of state-wide policy and programs and having been a Regional Director with the child protection department in Queensland where she was responsible for service delivery and working with partner agencies on regional community initiatives.
In her academic roles, Erica has taught multiple subjects in addition to leading the field education programs where she has work with partner agencies to development innovative placements for social work and community welfare students. Erica is an active researcher with research interests including child and family welfare, social work education, rural social work, and welfare workforce.
David Boutkan – Executive Director
David has worked with The Family Centre since 2004, and has over 30 years’ experience in the community services sector. He has worked for a number of NSW and Australian government departments including Family & Community Services, Health and Juvenile Justice, in child protection, out of home care and youth and family work positions. He has also managed community organisations including ground breaking youth accommodation and support service, The Burdekin Association in Sydney.
David has a special interest and experience in community led co-design, integrated service delivery and collective impact approaches. The Family Centre has a demonstrated commitment to program outcome and social impact measurement using a Results Based Accountability framework.
David holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree and a Graduate Certificate in Social Impact from The University of New South Wales.
Colleen Dowd
Director Community Relations and Accountability
Claire Summerer
Director People & Quality
Gerina Appo
Senior Manager Community Services
Brett Carn
Senior Manager Business Systems
Jonathan Taylor
Senior Manager Finance
Steve Simmons
Senior Manager Disability Services