Board of Directors

Brian is an experienced governance professional of some 30 years. He has worked as a professional internal auditor for large Australian corporates, leading internal audit functions for the past 25 years.

Brian is also a member of three local government and one local statutory body Audit and Risk Committees, three of which he Chairs.

He has had exposure to a number of industries including banking, funds management, financial advice, insurance, retirement living, aged care in-home care and local government.

Brian is a CPA and Professional Fellow of the institute of Internal Auditors, Australia. He has lived in Killarney since moving from Melbourne in 2012.

Alistair has a rich and varied career in the education sector, having worked across all tiers of education and training in a career spanning more than 30 years.

He began his career as a secondary school teacher in Australia and overseas before moving to the TAFE and university sectors. Alistair is the current Director of Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus. In addition, he is a Director on the Board of Beyond the Bell and Deputy Chair of the Great South Coast Food and Fibre Council.

Alistair is an active member of the Koroit community where he has fulfilled several roles, including Koroit Football Netball Club President and St Patrick’s Primary School Chair.

Sophie, who was born in Port Fairy, commenced her Nursing career at Melbourne’s Peter MacCullum Cancer Centre. Since that time, she has worked overseas and in remote parts of Australia. She returned to the south west in 2016 to take on a position as Nursing Lecturer at Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus.

Sophie’s qualifications include Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate of Cancer and Palliative Care Nursing, Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She is currently studying a Master of Education (Leadership and Management) and has a particular interest in rural health research.

Sophie is an active community volunteer for a range of community groups and organisations, including Standing Tall and the south West Emerging Leaders program.

Jodie has had extensive health care experience as a senior leader of multi-disciplinary teams across metropolitan, regional, and rural Victoria. Her most recent senior roles have included Executive Director of Aged Care and Interim Chief Executive Officer of a rural health service. Her passion is employee engagement, development, and alignment to values to create a great place to work and exceptional consumer experience. She has successfully completed a Masters Business Administration, Bachelor Arts- Communication, Diploma Applied Science (Dental Therapy) and more recently is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Dr Laura Alston has dedicated her career to improving the health of rural communities, with a particular interest in building research capacity and a culture of innovation in rural health service settings.  Dr Laura Alston started her career as a clinical dietitian working in both the public and private sector and since completing her PhD, has pursued a career building evidence to inform how we can improve the health of rural communities which has received national and international recognition. Since completing her PhD, Laura has undertaken a Masters in Business Administration to refine her skills and capacity to give back to rural organisations and health services, as well as supporting her role as the Director of Research at Colac Area Health. In her spare time, Laura loves running and is otherwise busy raising her three children on a family sheep farm north of Colac. Laura is connected to the beautiful Moyne region and enjoys taking a break in Peterborough with her family whenever time allows.

Trevor is an electrical engineer who has worked in consulting engineering and manufacturing roles in south west Victoria over the past decade. He is currently employed as a high voltage electrical engineer for Alcoa at its Portland site.

Trevor has honed his skills in asset management, project management, capital planning, strategic planning and regulatory compliance and relishes opportunities to promote long-term solutions to short-term problems.

A proud alumni of the Leadership Great South Coast program, Trevor is a former member of the Port Fairy Winter Weekends Committee. He is married with two young children, enjoys the outdoors with his family and is only ‘mildly obsessed’ with golf.

Gabrielle has had a varied career across the legal and consulting industries, working in Canberra, Perth, and Melbourne before relocating to the South West with her young family in 2018. Gabrielle is currently the Director of Operations & Compliance at Breakwater Insurance Brokerage and previous roles have included Judge’s Associate, lawyer, and government relations & community engagement consultant. Gabrielle draws on her broad range of experiences to bring fresh insight and understanding to her management and board positions, and is skilled in advising across both the regulatory and cultural needs of workplaces.

Gabrielle holds a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University, and is currently the Chair of Emma House Domestic Violence Services Inc.

As new residents of Koroit, Gabrielle and her family are loving settling into their new town and building strong community connections.

Maria began her career in nursing and has since worked in various clinical, business and operational management roles across a number of Victorian health services. Maria also worked at the Victorian Department of Health as Manager of the Renal Clinical Network, where she managed funding models, quality initiatives and policy.

Maria is currently the Manager, Renal Services of the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she leads the operational, strategic and financial elements of the service. Of particular interest is fostering collaborative health care partnerships and equity of access for regional consumers.

Maria completed a Bachelor of Nursing, Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. She maintains a strong connection with Port Fairy and surrounds and visits with her family as often as she possibly can.