VISION AUSTRALIA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant
Alison is passionate about universal design, social inclusion, and accessible usability. She actively champions accessibility; presenting and educating to raise awareness. With a particular interest in mobile app accessibility, she has worked closely with project teams from design to delivery, developing inclusive processes within standard development practice to help ensure that Accessibility is regarded as a non-negotiable part of business as usual and that the conversation continues to evolve to deliver an inclusive user experience for all.
Amber has held senior marketing roles internationally for over 30 years and has a strong track record of strategic and operational capability across multiple disciplines. She has lived experience of vision loss as the parent of a blind son.
Amber has held senior marketing roles internationally for over 30 years and has a strong track record of strategic and operational capability across multiple disciplines.
She started her career at Saatchi and Saatchi London followed by five years in brand consultancy in the UK and USA. Since returning to Australia Amber has worked at Coles, Target and Australia Post. Her articles on improving diversity in the workplace have been published in the National and Industry media and she is most recently a recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to investigate increasing accessibility of digital communications. Amber has lived experience of vision loss as the parent of a blind son.
A registered Occupational Therapist, Amelia is an experienced practitioner, operational, strategic and quality manager passionate about supporting clients to achieve their goals.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Digital Accessibility Consultant
Annabeth is a digital accessibility consultant with three years of experience in website and app auditing. She has worked in accessibility both in Australia and abroad and brings a broad perspective to accessibility auditing. She has a particular passion for the accessible design of custom components.
Bill is a former public servant specialising in telecommunications regulation as well as a blindness service manager including consumer advocacy through leadership of Blind Citizens Australia. He led the integration of Seeing Eye Dogs Australia into Vision Australia in 2008, and he then served on Vision Australia's Client Representative council and the two service-specific advisory committees.
He is an Executive member of the World Blind Union representing the East Asia Pacific region, and served for eight years as treasurer of the International Council on English Braille.
Bill was first appointed to the Board in July 2014, was appointed Deputy Chair in October 2017 and appointed Chair in October 2023.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant
Charissa is a senior accessibility consultant who advocates and designs for accessibility and inclusion. She has held various roles in digital channels, strategic communications, and policy teams in federal and NSW Government departments. She initiated accessibility programs and performed accessibility user research, auditing, document remediation, and training.
Charissa has been running accessibility empathy labs since 2019 to start conversations about accessibility and showcase the impact of inaccessible products due to a mismatch between user needs, design, and technology.
Job Titles:
- Assistive Technology Consultant
- Manager Government Relations and Advocacy
Chris Edwards has over 20 years' experience working in the blindness and low vision sector holding leadership roles in employment, assistive technology and service delivery.
Joining Vision Australia in 1996 as an Assistive Technology Consultant, Chris has performed various service delivery and management roles across Client Services. He is now loving working in the Government Relations and Advocacy field helping Vision Australia shape Government Policy for the better.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
- in 2001 As an Access Technology Consultant
Damien joined Vision Australia in 2001 as an access technology consultant, specialising in workplace assessments after earlier working in IT roles with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry and Melbourne Business School.
Darren Fittler grew up in regional NSW before moving to Sydney to complete a social work degree and later a law degree. He is committed to the rights of people with disability and, in addition to working as a disability advocate in the late 90s, has fought for Braille election ballot forms and had the privilege of participating in meetings at the United Nations in New York, helping in the development of an international convention on the rights of persons with disability.
Darren joined the law firm Gilbert + Tobin in June 2004 and is now the lead partner in the firm's Charities and Social Sector Advisory Group, specialising in the provision of legal assistance to philanthropists, charities and not-for-profit organisations
Darren was named in the 2015 Australasian Lawyer Hot List as a "Pillar of the Community" and was the recipient of the 2014 Human Rights Commission Law Award in recognition of his long term commitment to assisting not-for-profit and charitable organisations. Darren is widely published on matters relating to charities and NFPs and has spent many years volunteering on a number of not-for-profit boards.
Job Titles:
- Senior Adaptive Technology Consultant, Technology Services
David lost his sight when he was eight years old and had to learn braille. Since then, he completed high school and went to Sydney University receiving a Social Work degree.
Job Titles:
- General Manager National Programs and Client Insights
Graeme joined Vision Australia in 1995 and the leadership team in April 2013.
Job Titles:
- Web Accessibility Specialist ( WAS )
Job Titles:
- General Manager Fundraising, Marketing and Communications
Ian joined Vision Australia in August 2019, having held a variety of senior executive fundraising, marketing and corporate affairs roles across the not-for-profit, government and health and hospital sectors throughout a 30 year professional career.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Digital Accessibility Officer
Jonathan is a digital accessibility consultant, enthusiastic about improving websites and other digital content for all people with disabilities. He is highly experienced in digital testing, providing a capable background for his work as a Digital Accessibility Officer at Vision Australia. Jonathan assists senior consultants in providing technical and remediation advice to clients to ensure their websites are accessible for all.
Job Titles:
- National Manager Digital Access
A passionate design and customer advocate, Josh has over 10 years' commercial experience working in digital accessibility, user experience design and product development. As the manager of the Digital Access team, he works with clients to assist them in achieving their digital accessibility goals.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Company Secretary
Justine Heath is the Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of Vision Australia. She joined Vision Australia in December 2019.
Job Titles:
- General Manager QLD, NT, Government Relations and Advocacy
Karen has been blind since birth. She is a registered psychologist with previous experience in mental health, youth suicide prevention and mental health promotion.
Job Titles:
- Digital Accessibility Consultant
Karla is a Digital Accessibility Consultant, providing technical and remediation advice to clients to improve website and mobile app accessibility for all users. Starting out as a biomedical engineer in the UK, Karla has been involved in the design and development of many types of medical devices and assistive technologies. She has extensive experience in working directly with people who have various disabilities, conducting assessments and providing individual and group training. Accessibility and inclusivity have been key focuses of Karla's work across different industries and this led her to become more involved in web and mobile app accessibility. She is passionate about improving access to online content for all users and she continues to advocate that technology can help lower barriers that those with disabilities encounter in their daily lives.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant
Liz is an experienced accessibility consultant who is passionate about creating accessible components and improving cognitive accessibility. She has worked as a digital advisor in various departments of the Victorian Government, where she has focused on performing accessibility audits and assessments, providing accessibility advice to teams in design, communications, marketing, and development. Additionally, she has conducted accessibility training for departmental staff and created bespoke training programs for individual teams.
In her spare time, Liz volunteers with Accessible Community to help up-and-coming accessibility champions in grassroots organisations and is completing training as a guide runner for Achilles Melbourne.
Job Titles:
- General Manager Commercial Services
Michael joined Vision Australia in November 2020. He is a qualified accountant and spent 15 years early in his career with the Australian Taxation Office before moving into the for-purpose sector, spending time at Royal Blind Society as an area manager and then RSPCA ACT as CEO, and most recently at Recreational Aviation Australia as CEO.
Job Titles:
- Director Business Transformation
Since joining Vision Australia in 2010, Mike has held several positions within People and Culture, supporting organisational change. Mike joined the Leadership Team in 2019 in a broader leadership position. Mike is a supportive and empowering leader who encourages people to think outside the box to develop and implement the best solutions to problems or challenges.
Job Titles:
- Media and Corporate Communications Manager
Throughout his career Ron has worked extensively in the primary health care sector and not-for-profit sector.
Vision Australia CEO Ron Hooton has led Vision Australia through a remarkable period of change, achieving significant outcomes for the blind and low vision communities of Australia.
Job Titles:
- Product Manager, Digital Access Training
Shimona is an experienced Educator, User Experience Designer and Musician passionate about helping clients create accessible products. She is a burgeoning advocate for inclusion and accessibility in design and learning.
Joining Vision Australia in July 2021, Simone has 25 years' experience leading cultural transformation, organisational development, employee engagement and change management in the not-for-profit, finance, technology and communications sectors.
Job Titles:
- Senior Media and Public Relations Advisor
Stephen O'Brien has specialised in strategy and business change for service sector organisations. He is an Australian who has spent most of his working life in the UK and Europe, and his corporate experience includes retail, e-commerce, hotels, leisure, and energy. Stephen was a Director of The Good Guys, the Melbourne-based retail group, from 2013 until its sale to JB Hi-Fi in November 2016.
He has also worked for the UK government and National Health Service, as Director of Strategy of the Department of Health and a member of its management board, with a focus on developing policy for primary and community care.
His early career was with BP and the Boston Consulting Group. He has an MA in Greats from Oxford and an MBA from INSEAD. He has lived in Brisbane since 2013.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Non - Executive Director
- Senior Executive
- Board of Directors
Sue Banks was first appointed to the Vision Australia Board in October 2020. Sue is a non-executive director, senior executive and accountant with over 30 years' experience across a wide range of service sectors (insurance, financial services, marketing, franchising, disability and health). She has a track record in business operations, strategy development, governance and assurance, risk management and performance growth across sectors with differing and changing regulatory requirements.
Job Titles:
- General Manager Client Services
- General Manager of Client Services and Transformation
Tania joined Vision Australia as General Manager of Client Services and Transformation in March 2023. She is passionate about health management, staff, consumer, and community engagement, innovative programs of service delivery, and building the capability of the workforce.