NEEOPA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The NEEOPA Executive Committee is elected at the Annual General Meeting by members for a 12 month term. There are 3 Office Bearers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer) in addition to Executive Committee members.
NEEOPA EXECUTIVE 2020-2021

Julie Chai, PRESIDENT
Julie is the first culturally diverse woman elected as President in
NEEOPA’s history.
She brings 15 year’s experience from private, public and
not-for-profit sectors working in D&I, OD and HR.
Julie previously served as State Vice-President and Councillor for the
Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), then worked at
Australia’s peak diversity body advising to hundreds of organisational
members.
The Asian Leadership Project is an Australian innovation and is
first-to-market with a mission to fast-track diverse Asian talent into
Leadership.
Asian Leadership Project, Founder & CEO

Fiona Davies, VICE PRESIDENT
Fiona Davies is the National Manager Diversity & Inclusion at Life Without Barriers. Fiona is results focused and experienced in developing and executing on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiatives across complex organisations. Fiona has broad D&I subject matter expertise and is adept at applying a commercial lens to D&I as well as using data to tell a story. She demonstrates leadership to influence stakeholders at every level to deliver cultural change.
Fiona was the winner of AHRI’s 2019 HR Diversity Champion Award and inaugural Sandra Cormack Practicing Certification Scholarship. Fiona’s experience is from across corporate industries, small businesses and non-profit environments in a variety of roles.
Life Without Barriers, National Manager Diversity & Inclusion

Sharon Billingham, TREASURER
Sharon is Senior Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. She is passionate about people and inclusion and see it as everyone's right to shine and be fulfilled at work. Sharon combines a fascination about human behaviour with a reverence for data to deliver innovate ways of creating inclusion on a wide scale and in a sustainable way.
Sharon has a unique blend of skills across Design Thinking and Experimentation, Organisational Development, Change Management and Consulting gained working in Australia and Asia.
Commonwealth Bank, Senior Manager - Diversity & Inclusion
Executive Committee

Alice Young
Alice is currently the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Leader at IKEA Australia and has been a NEEOPA member since 2013. Her role is focused on three pillars as she builds the function – enabling diversity within IKEA’s workforce, integrating equality into the business, and supporting IKEA to model equality, diversity and inclusion in the community.
Alice is passionate about human rights and human potential and has worked in HR for over 20 years in the commercial, not-for-profit and international development sectors both in Australia and overseas. She has held national, regional and global roles. HR qualified in Australia and the UK with a Certificate in Human Rights Law, Alice comes to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion from a rights-based perspective and leverages her cross-sectoral experience to deliver practical people strategies that benefit individuals and organisations alike.
IKEA, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Leader

Andrew Bacon
Andrew is a proud Yamatji man from the Murchison/Gascoyne country in Western Australia. As a Senior Member of the University of Sydney's University Infrastructure (UI) Compliance Team he manages the development, implementation, training and maintenance of the Compliance Framework and Register in collaboration with the Senior Leadership Team. As the Chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for UI he has successfully launched the Yarning Circle Series (Hon. Linda Burney MP was our inaugural speaker) and an Indigenous Mentoring Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Andrew is also an Indigenous Community Presenter with the Black Dog Institute, where he delivers mental health awareness presentations nationwide.
University of Sydney, Senior Compliance Officer
Gudrun Elms
A passionate and enthusiastic advocate for building diverse and
inclusive culture and workplaces whilst linking Diversity & Inclusion
initiatives to business outcomes and people strategies.
An experienced Diversity & Inclusion and HR specialist with strong
communication and stakeholder management skills. Broad experience
project managing and delivering diversity and inclusion programs and
HR projects across the Telco, Financial Services, Media and Legal
sectors.
NBN, Diversity & Inclusion Program Manager

Jen Lanahan
Jen is the Global Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Link Group, responsible for the delivery of Link’s global strategy.
Jen is a collaborator and committed to working to understand people’s needs to create solutions that are meaningful and make an impact.
Jen previously worked at international and Australian professional services firms in learning, organisational development and diversity and inclusion roles. She graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Criminology from the University of York (UK) in 2008.
Link Group, Global Diversity & Inclusion Manager

Lauren Levin
Lauren’s current role as Diversity & Inclusion Manager at MinterEllison is focused on creating lasting impacts for our clients, our people and our communities. At MinterEllison, Diversity in all its forms is central to collaboration and covers the full spectrum of diversity in its broadest sense - Gender Equality, LGBTI+ Inclusion, Disability Inclusion, Cultural Diversity and Reconciliation. Lauren's role is focused on bringing Diversity & Inclusion to life and ensuring that people are engaged and supported in the workplace.
Lauren has expertise in D&I, Learning & Development, Organisational
Development, policy development, employee engagement, workplace
training, employment and discrimination laws and their application in
the workplace.
MinterEllison, Diversity & Inclusion Manager

Myreen Aronowitz
As Program Manager of the Paralympic Workplace Diversity Program she
has helped organizations across Australia employ suitably matched
Paralympians and benefit from the inclusion of these ‘Diversity
Ambassadors’ in their workplaces. More than 100 Paralympians have
received career support with over 50 joining organizations that value
and celebrate diversity.
As an active member of NEEOPA since 2010, Myreen continues to break
down stereotypical barriers that exist in the workplace, passionately
promoting diversity and inclusion for all!
360HR, Senior Consultant