Message from AWSN founder - Changes in Leadership

Over the past couple of years, AWSN has grown and developed in more ways than I could ever have imagined. This is thanks to all the volunteers who generously give their time to AWSN, our sponsors, other supporters and most especially, our members.

In creating AWSN, our initial aims were to connect women working in security across Australia and provide them with a supportive platform and community. We hoped that by doing this we could help inspire women from diverse backgrounds and career stages to pursue and stay in security. These aims remains unchanged today, and I am really proud to see how we have been able to progressively bring like minded people together.

Over the past 6 months Michelle Weatherhead, Chris Miller and I have been reviewing how we can best set AWSN up for success into the future and I am really pleased to announce AWSN’s new National Leadership team comprised of a Board and key National Leadership roles.

The Board of Directors are:

·        Chair - Tamsyn Harris

·        Vice Chair - Michelle Mosey

·        Secretary - Marilena Salvo

·        Board member - Thomas Hanbury 

We are still exploring additional capabilities we may need in the Board and will look to appoint further director/s once we have identified the right candidate/s.

The Board will be supported by several key National Leadership roles including: 

·        Special projects manager - Jacqui Loustau

·        National events manager - Tory Lane

In addition we will have two National Communications roles who will continue to help connect and support our members: 

·        Social media manager - Chris Miller

·        National blog manager - Mandy Turner

Over the past couple of months we have also had a number of changes in our state based chapters and I would like to summarise our current Chapter Leads:

·        Sydney - Mairead Bourke, Johanna Williamson, Alexandra Venardos, Heather Hoddinott

·        Melbourne - Linda Li, Emma Neville, Renee Gaspar

·        Canberra - Chris Miller, Christina (Tina) Rose, Amy Roberts

·        Perth - Sam Moody, Georgie Cooke, Cairo Malet

·        Brisbane - Sheena Downey, Mandy Turner, Sarah Hufnagel 

I would like to thank and acknowledge a number of the people who have made significant contributions over the years to getting us to where we are today. A number of these people will continue to be actively involved in AWSN but in different capacities in future.

- Helaine Leggat

- Yvonne Sears

- Yvette Lejins

- Claire Pales

- Heide Young

- Jodie Siganto 

- Fatemah Beydoun 

Finally, a big thank you must go to Michelle Weatherhead and Chris Miller who have worked tirelessly over the past few years to help us make the AWSN what it is today.

This is a really exciting time for AWSN and I know a number of you may have questions and want to get to know the new leadership team. We plan on sharing further information on the Board’s priorities and how everyone can get involved in the coming weeks, but in the meantime please join me in welcoming our new national and chapter leaders. 

Kind Regards,

Jacqui Loustau

(Founder AWSN)

(c) AWSN 2018

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, organisation or association.