The Board

Chairperson Mark Bagster, BBus (HR & Law Majors) UWS, Dip Lab Rel & Law, USyd, Advanced Management Program, Columbia University, New YorkPhoto of Mark Bagster - Chairman of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

Vice President, Business Development, Proudfoot Consulting.

Mark has had an extensive senior management career in government and private enterprise with companies such as Boral, BOC, Metal Manufacturers, Overseas Telecommunications Corporation and Philips Electronics where he was the Chief Executive Officer for Australia and New Zealand. 





Deputy Chairperson, Roger West, LLB(Hons), BComPhoto of Roger West - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

A lawyer and partner in the human services consultancy firm, WestWood Spice, Roger has been a senior executive in both the public and private sectors. He was the founding President of the NSW Guardianship Tribunal, the first Commissioner for Community in NSW, a solicitor with Blake Dawson Waldron and barrister at the NSW Bar. Roger headed the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Welfare Rights Centre and Redfern Legal Centre. Having contributed to government policy on child and welfare matters, Roger now works with community sector boards and management in areas such as service quality, governance, leadership, strategy, stakeholder relations, compliance and accountability, and change and communication.




Ex-Officio Board Member, Rev Harry Herbert.

Photo of Rev Harry Herbert - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board Representing UnitingCare NSW.ACT on the Board, Harry holds multiple positions within the Church and serves on a number of government appointed committees. He is Chair of the Social Justice Reference Group, a member of the NSW Board of the Legal Aid Commission and the ICAC Operations Committee, co-Chair of the National Customer Council for AGL and Chair of the Casino Community Benefit Fund. Ordained as a Minister in 1972, Harry is a graduate of NSW, Sydney, La Trobe and Yale Universities.

 

 



Barbara Horsfield, OAM, BA, MBA, MMgt, FAuSAEPhoto of Barbara Horsfield -- member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

Immediate past Chief Commissioner of Guides Australia, Secretary of the Australian Women’s Coalition Inc. and Director of the Foundation for Meriden Girls School, Strathfield, Barbara has the Medal of the Order of Australia, Centenary Medal from the Federal Government and Alumni Award, Macquarie Graduate School of Management. She has held numerous senior management positions including the former CEO of the Australian Veterinary Association. She is a Parish Councillor of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Parramatta.

 

 

 


Gillian Coutts, BEc, Monash, Grad Dip Counselling (Performance Psychology), ACAP, Grad Dip Statistics/Operations Research, RMIT

Photo of Gillian Coutts - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board An accomplished change and business management professional, Gillian is a business manager with Pacific Brands Limited. Gillian has worked in strategic management roles at RailCorp and David Jones Limited. She commenced her career with Shell Australia Limited.

 

 

 

 

 



Tony Engel, B.Bus Acctng & Finance Photo of Tony Engel - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

Tony retired from the Commonwealth Bank in July 2007 after 39 years, with the last 10 years as Senior Executive Performance Management for the retail networks. This role together with previous positions including Chief Financial Officer of the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation and executive responsible for Prudential Supervision across CBA have given Tony a deep understanding of financial control and management.

 

 

 

 

Graham Hayton, BA (UNE), Grad Dip Educational Studies (UWS), Teacher’s Certificate Photo of Graham Hayton - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

A retired teacher with over 41 years service in the NSW State education system as Principal of three primary schools from 1985 to 2003 and Coordinator of the Refugee Education Program (1977- 79), Graham is a Life Member of the NSW Primary Principals’ Association.

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Avery, BCom (Hons), GDipLaw, MAppSc, GAlCDPhoto of Scott Avery - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

Scott has senior management experience in health insurance and management consulting as an executive with the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. He has served on the boards of a medical research foundation and childcare centre. Scott is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 

 

 

 


Nigel Spence, BSW, MSWPhoto of Nigel Spence - member of the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Board

As CEO of ChildFund Australia, an international development organisation that works to reduce or eliminate poverty for children in developing countries, Nigel was the former CEO of the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) where he was closely involved in the reform of NSW child protection and out-of-home care policy and programs. Nigel worked for many years as a social worker, Manager and Director of Children & Youth Services with Centacare Catholic Community Services.

 

 

 

 

Abigail Jones

Abigial Jones joined the Board in July 2009.

Prior to this, Abigail worked for leading Australian law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, practising corporate law and competition law, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, and financial services. During her eight years with Mallesons, Abigail served on the firm's Pro Bono and Charities Committee where she helped establish a salary sacrifice scheme for financial donations to a range of charities. This scheme was supported by the form and a voluntary scheme for the law firm's employees was set up.

Abigail holds Honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Law and Management from the University of New South Wales and the Australian Graduate School of Management.