Our Board

 

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Jasmine Sesso, Board Chair  

Jasmine has worked across a range of industries in her professional career, including Cyber Security, Insurance, Banking and Telecommunications. Currently working for a global SaaS company supporting clients from a range of industries, providing professional consulting on governance and strategy for large scale digital transformation programs supported by digital adoption technology. 

Jasmine joined the BDS Board in 2021, and has held the position of Deputy Chari since December 2022. Prior to this, Jasmine served on the Board at Coburg Children’s Centre for five and a half years, holding the position of Chair for over four years.

Claire Young

As an insurance and risk executive with over 20 years industry experience, Claire leads teams to devise and deliver well governed programs of work. Her approach is to take a holistic risk 'system' perspective to strengthen business decision making and uplift risk and business maturity.

Claire has served on a number of key advisory boards with ANZIIF (Australia & New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance), and is currently Chair of the Risk Management Faculty Advisory Board.  More broadly, her key motivation is to add value to the business, support and develop talent and drive a positive, values-based inclusive culture.

Claire joined the BDS board in 2019 and is passionate about determining how BDS can continue to grow through the key role BDS plays within the community – to ensure everyone can ‘Belong-Develop-Succeed’.

Ginger (Lan) Jiang

Ginger is a CPA-qualified financial expert with a Master's Degree in Business Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Tax Law. She is also a registered Tax Agent, bringing a wealth of qualifications and expertise to our board.

As an accomplished financial and accounting professional with extensive experience in leading high-performing finance teams Ginger has a proven track record in delivering accurate financial insights to drive strategic decision-making while implementing cost-effective and quality-enhancing initiatives. Ginger has over two decades of experience spanning Finance, Business Development and Business Management in diverse setting, she has been worked as a General Manager, Financial Controller and is currently working at an ASX listed company as Divisional Head of Finance for Manufacturing.

Ginger also serves as a committee member of the Multicultural Committee of Banyule City Council. She’s wholeheartedly committed to supporting the council's initiatives aimed at making the community a better and more inclusive place for all.

Muhammad Murtaza 

Muhammad has worked in the education and training industry for more than 15 years in different leadership roles. Muhammad has experience working with multi-national training organizations and has managed different foreign funded community capacity building projects. Muhammad has experience in conducting Training Needs Analysis (TNA), competency-based curriculum development, and training delivery. 

Muhammad has also worked in the disability sector with Brotherhood of St Laurence as the Local Areas Coordinator, and possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of navigating through the NDIS scheme. 

For the last ten years Muhammad has been working in the logistics industry in different leadership roles and possesses a wide range of skills such as people management, stakeholder management, recruitment, onboarding, customer service and handling difficult conversations. 

Muhammad has completed leadership and community development courses, and has been an active community member for more than 10 years. Muhammad has also served on several committees in the local community including on a Human Rights Committee, and as Chairperson at Fawkner Neighborhood House.

Natasha Shirvill

Natasha is a public servant who manages a small team and has more than 15 years' experience in regulatory decisions, compliance work and policy analysis.

Natasha has a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts. More recently, Natasha completed a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons.)

Natasha joined the BDS board in 2022 and is passionate about contributing to BDS' strategic direction to ensure that it is sustainable and can continue to provide support to people of all abilities long into the future. 

 

Philip Brookes, CEO

Philip comes to BDS with substantial experience gained leading other disability support organisations and serving on the South Australia State Committee of NDS (National Disability Services), the peak body for disability support providers in Australia. He has a great passion for people and supporting everyone to realise their full potential, and is thrilled to join the team at BDS, and learn about the aspirations of our clients and their families.

In addition to sector-specific knowledge, Philip brings a broad array of business experience encompassing Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Information Technology, and more. Philip spent many years consulting to non-profit organisations and is deeply committed to fostering strong and inclusive communities.

Although born in Victoria, Philip grew up in Nepal and India, has worked in Cambodia and Philippines, and has a multi-cultural family. In Brisbane he enjoyed greatly being able to support refugees and newly-arrived migrants through a number of his organisation’s initiatives, including a community farm, multicultural arts program, and other support services. He is looking forward to continue the work BDS is doing to provide culturally-aware and inclusive services that meet the needs of our diverse community.

Philip is a champion of collaboration, innovation, kindness, and values-driven teams, and is excited to work with the BDS team to ensure we provide the best possible opportunities for all our current and future participants. Although the disability support sector is facing considerable change and uncertainty, Philip believes that a positive, innovative mindset that anticipates and leads the way in creating the future we hope to see is the surest path to success. While it certainly isn’t easy, and he will continue to advocate and fight for legislative and procedural improvements to the NDIS, we should look forward to BDS making an ever-increasing contribution to people with disabilities in the City of Hume and beyond.