WHITE BOX ENTERPRISES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing and Communications
Amy joined White Box in April 2022 after eight years with Westpac Scholars Trust and Westpac Foundation, where she discovered the incredible world of jobs-focused social enterprise.
With almost 20 years' experience in marketing and communications, she loves raising awareness of social enterprises and individuals who are driving change in Australia. Prior to Westpac, she worked in communications and project management in the finance and film sectors in Sydney, The Netherlands and the USA.
When Amy is not building brands, she's fantasizing about her next family holiday with her husband and two delightful (sometimes not so delightful!) young girls.
Antonio joined White Box in June 2021. After 10 years in law and accounting practices, and after completing a Post Grad degree in Law, Antonio realised accounting was his passion.
Responsible for Payroll management and other accounting compliance requirements at White Box he found an inclusive team aimed to embrace multiculture and diversity across their group of entities.
When at home he enjoys spending time with his two kids (dinosaurs are popular right now!) and love reading them a good story.
Job Titles:
- Community Leader
- Social Worker
- Support Coordinator
Asma is an experienced social worker and community leader. She has diverse experience across a range of sectors and is our People and Pathways Coordinator.
Starting as the Head of People & Culture in July 2022, Claudia gets to use her creativity, HR experience, and curiosity about people to contribute to social progress with a strengths-based lens.
Claudia has worked in the HR field for over 15 years and is a recent Social Enterprise convert while leading the People & Culture team at Community Resources. The rest of Claudia's career has been in Financial Services and Health industries within generalist, organisational development, business partnership and leadership roles. She holds an Arts (Sociology) and Commerce (HR) double degree from the University of Wollongong, Graduate Certificate in Training & Development, and Diploma of Positive Psychology.
Claudia is a huge foodie, buys iCloud storage to fill with photos and videos of family memories, and loves listening to music, including curating a playlist for the birth of her son.
Dominiqe Bird General Manager, Innovation & Business Development Dominiqe is a self-starter with a wealth of experience in project management, entrepreneurship, strategic thinking, and leadership. He previously served as the General Manager of the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum at White Box and is now the Innovation and Development Lead. Before his stint at White Box, Dominiqe co-founded a thriving food business and founded a large-scale festival at Brisbane's renowned showgrounds. He has also resided and worked in New York City, where he taught alongside a multidisciplinary team at one of the most innovative schools in the world. Dominiqe holds a Bachelor of Education and is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of Queensland. Apart from his professional achievements, Dominiqe is a devoted father who enjoys playing soccer, surfing, and gardening in his free time.
Job Titles:
- People and Pathways Co - Ordinator
Jess is passionate and genuinely curious about people and helping them to achieve their personal and career goals. With a background in Workplace Culture and Recruitment that spans 20 years in Contact Centre Recruitment for Australian brands such as Medibank, Transurban, Jetstar and Flybuys before more
Jo is an energetic and driven finance leader. A Chartered Accountant with more than 20 years experience including 11 years at Grant Thornton working within Litigation Consulting and Business Services. More recently at Domino's Pizza, Jo led a global business unit providing franchisees with exceptional reporting through their bookkeeping services teams. She recently moved onto a small acreage block near Mt Crosby with her husband and two young girls and they're all loving the country life!
Job Titles:
- Program Manager, Payment by Outcomes Trial
John joined White Box in June 2021 to help develop the operational workings of the Payment by Outcomes Trial including financial modelling, scenario analysis and development of systems and reporting. Today he is the Project Manager for the PBO Trial overseeing day-to-day operations and ensuring the Trial runs smoothly.
Prior to White Box, John spent 10 years in operations management in the manufacturing industry.
Job Titles:
- CEO / CIO White Box Finance
Over the past 27 years, Josh has worked globally in London, Tokyo, New York and Australia, investing capital and managing funds on behalf of various institutions including foundations, family offices and high net worth individuals, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, River Capital, and some of Australia's largest family offices.
Most recently Josh, in his capacity as Head of Credit and Principal at River Capital, established and managed nine discrete funds totalling in excess of $500M. Josh also Chairs the Credit Fund Investment Committee at River Capital, sits on the Board of the Impact Investment Club, and works with several family offices to help them manage their investments.
Josh holds a MSc. Accounting & Finance from The London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Business (Finance) from Monash University and is married and the proud dad of three teenage kids.
Keith is a partner in MinterEllison's Corporate & Capital Markets team and possesses valuable experience across a range of projects and corporate and finance transactions. He acts for sponsors and funders in many industry sectors, including real estate, infrastructure and technology.
Keith is also the firm's Pro Bono & Community Investment partner and his commercial experience and interest in responsible business and sustainability help inform his current work with not for profit, emerging social enterprise and social procurement clients. He strives to create shared value, collaborating across the corporate, government, not for profit and education sectors to develop innovative approaches to social issues.
Job Titles:
- National Programs Manager
Kelly is excited to be working on a three-year financial wellbeing project which will strengthen the wrap around support participant models within job-focused social enterprises participating in the PBO, and beyond.
Kelly has over 20 years' experience working across community and government sectors both in Australia and the U.K. Kelly's approach is deeply underpinned by community development principles of practice. Her diverse skill set includes co-design with communities, cross-sector collaborative projects and partnerships, sector innovation and leadership.
In her spare time Kelly loves to sing in a band, cycle both recreationally and competitively, and spend time on adventures with her family.
Louie O'Riordan BDM, Beacon Laundry Louie embarked on his White Box journey with an extensive background in operations, business development, and leadership, following his role as Regional Operations Manager for a nationwide not-for-profit youth accommodation provider. His passion for social and environmental sustainability drives his endeavours to foster connections within the community. Having actively contributed to tackling homelessness in the region, Louie's dedication to meaningful change shines brightly. Based in the Northern Rivers, Louie is closely woven into the community, and his positive and sociable personality radiates through his love for outdoor adventures, surfing, and music. His commitment to professional growth and community involvement aligns perfectly with White Box's mission.
Luke established White Box Enterprises in 2019 to systematically address the constraints that he routinely confronted when launching enterprises: access to affordable space, access to capital, and to partnerships that would help bring social enterprise into the mainstream fabric of employment in Australia. In just three years, White Box has helped to create more than 400 jobs for vulnerable people, attracted over $21M in capital, supported 34 social enterprises, and has the backing of 23 corporate and philanthropic organisations.
With more than 15 years' experience in the social enterprise and not-for-profit sectors, prior to launching White Box Luke founded Vanguard Laundry and had been integral in the start-up of several large-scale employment-focused social enterprise projects that have created meaningful work pathways for people facing barriers to employment here and in the UK.
Mark is a leading figure in the social enterprise sector in Australia for a period spanning 20 years.
Mark was a co-founder of Social Traders and an Executive Director for 13 years. There he led the development of their social enterprise marketplace which has become a must-access service for corporate and government clients seeking to build social enterprises into their supply chains. He has worked with hundreds of business and government clients seeking to build social impact into their supply chains.
Mark is a soccer player and fan, parent of two young adults, a keen reader and occasional bushwalker.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Chief Operating Officer for Technology & Enterprise Operations at NAB
Melissa is the Chief Operating Officer for Technology & Enterprise Operations at NAB. She joined NAB as Chief People Officer for Enabling Units in April 2021 and took on the COO role in March 2022.
Prior to joining NAB, Melissa led the Financial Services practice for Russell Reynolds in Australia working with clients in Global Banking & Markets, Private Equity, Insurance, Asset & Wealth Management Practices. She has spent 25 years in Financial Services, including eight years at BlackRock in New York and Hong Kong. The last four years at BlackRock she held the role of Global Chief Operating Officer for the Credit business.
Melissa has a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from University of Tasmania and a Masters of Business Administration from University of New South Wales.
Job Titles:
- Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships
Nico joined White Box Enterprises in June 2022 as Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships. Nico has worked for the last 20 years in a variety of business management and development roles in the NFP and for purpose sectors in the UK, Belgium and Central Asia; and most recently with Social Ventures Australia in Sydney.
Nico holds a BA degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Grenoble in France and a Master in International Relations from the University in Sydney.
A keen cyclist and football lover (the real football!), Nico has recently sailed for two years from France to Australia with his wife and two young boys.
Oskar joined White Box in early 2021, after 7 years' of mixed experience from management consulting and project management roles in the corporate sector. Oskar holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from Chalmers University of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science in Financial Economics from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. At White Box he looks after the financial and market analytics on pipeline ideas and work alongside selected projects throughout the incubation phase to help them reach financial independence.
Born in Sweden, Oskar has travelled the world extensively and studied and worked in countries such as Taiwan (ROC), Japan and the USA before he found his way all the way to sunny Brisbane, where he takes every chance he gets to enjoy the great Australian outdoors on a bush walk.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Partner at PwC Australia
Rosalie is a partner at PwC Australia who specialises in financial statement and ESG audit and advisory. In her audit and advisory capacity she continues to work with large listed and multinational organisations across a variety of sectors.
She also has practical knowledge of ESG having been PwC Australia's Social Impact leader from 2016 to 2022. In this role Rosalie was responsible for PwC's social policy including environmental responses, human rights policy, the inaugural Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan and chairing the PwC Foundation.
Rosalie is an experienced director having been involved with a number of not-for-profit organisations over the past 10 years in both board and advisory roles. Rosalie is CSI Governance for Social Impact graduate, Carbon Literate Certified by the UK Carbon Literacy Project and a registered company auditor.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Chief Economist at Business NSW
Sherman is the Chief Economist at Business NSW and an economics lecturer at UNSW. Proficient in both macroeconomics and microeconomics, she has experience across government, banking and consulting. This includes a stint in the Office of Social Impact Investment at NSW Treasury where she specialised in program logic models, outcomes measurement and economic evaluation. Sherman is passionate about promoting social inclusion and her academic research focused on tackling financial exclusion. She is an advocate of evidence-based decision-making - particularly in government and the social enterprise sector - to ensure resources are used effectively and efficiently.
Job Titles:
- People and Pathways Co - Ordinator
Sherry was involved with different social research projects and has worked with DSS and DET. She was a board member for Persian Cultural Association in South Australia and has also has volunteering experience with the Project Management Institute in Melbourne, with the aim of empowering women in project
Simon has over ten years' experience across philanthropy and private family offices. A qualified chartered accountant, Simon moved to Australia from the UK in 2004 with Deloitte and has worked for a variety of financial institutions in banking, funds management and private equity.
Simon has been heavily involved in the formation, management and strategic development of a number of major Australian Foundations including the Paul Ramsay Foundation (which was, at the time, Australia's largest private Foundation). During this time, he has overseen the allocation of over $200m worth of funding commitments to a range of causes in Heath, Education and Social Equity.