About Me

My wife, two girls and our dogs are my centre of gravity, my reason. Our defeats are softened and our success sweeter because we are together. 

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I am the youngest of four boys, and grew up in Melbourne in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. My parents divorced when I was very little and I lived with my mum before she died of cancer in 1989. My childhood experiences of divorce and death, dysfunctional blended families, an abusive stepmother and an indifferent father, shape the husband and the dad I aspire to be, the antithesis of my younger years.

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After finishing school I was accepted to the Australian Defence Force Academy and then the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra. For as long as I remember I wanted to join the Army. I loved the outdoors, I was active and I played a lot of sport. I had a sense of service and wanted to do something that mattered. I served for twelve years as a parachute infantry officer.

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Since leaving the Army in the early 2000s, I have enjoyed a career that spans corporate, social enterprise and not-for-profit sectors. The connective tissue linking these experiences are broad yet consistent themes of service, community, and people.

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In 2019, I was appointed as Chief Executive (sounds fancier than it really was) of an emerging social enterprise, Dutyof.Care. Shaped by the findings of the Royal Commission and lived experienced, Dutyof.Care was created to help organisations keep kids safe and provide a secure and permanent auditable record. I have never felt so aligned with the mission and purpose and connected to my team. It also became the catalyst for me to report my own experience of childhood sexual abuse to police.

 

I had no idea what to expect walking into Eltham police station. I wanted the perpetrator to be held accountable, I wanted to matter and be heard. I didn't realise until much later the significance of my undertaking. The experience of giving statements, having to sit with and recall the detail of abuse in minutiae, the waiting and uncertainty of the investigation spanning years. Lies, denials and contest at every point of proceedings. Cross examination and more uncertainty. It takes a toll.

 

Then in October 2023, having pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse, the perpetrator was sentenced to five and a half years in jail. The sentence was reduced to three years after clever concurrent sentencing and concessions were applied. In sentencing the Judge spoke to considerations including just punishment, denunciation and deterrence. She said that sexual offending against children is all too common and others must be deterred. Judge Harper then exercised her judicial prerogative available only to historical matters in Victoria, to suspend the sentence and allow the perpetrator to walk free from court.

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​I'd like for how we engage with, care for and live alongside one another to be more compassionate, open, respectfully curious and patient. Whether it's credited to Walt Whitman or Ted Lasso; Be Curious, Not Judgemental. I believe we are stronger collectively. The art of diplomacy, empathy and rational compromise key ingredients. Experience tells me that navigating complexity to solve systemic, inter-generational challenges requires unified, collaborative and imaginative thinking.

 

Life still has its moments, nuance by my experience of PTSD and there are scars that will take a moment to heal, but they will heal.