Our Executive Team and Leadership
Chief Executive
Our Chief Executive is responsible for leading the Executive and ensuring organisational functions and objectives are realised; and is responsible for the ongoing management of the organisation in accordance with the strategy, policies and programs approved by the Board.
Executive
Our Executive is made up of the Chief Executive and eight Executive members. It provides effective leadership to drive and monitor the strategic direction of our organisation and establishing business plans to meet our strategic goals.
Claire Robbs – Chief Executive
Qualifications: BSP, GradDipPsych, EMBA
Experience: Claire joined Life Without Barriers in 2004, and has over 20 years’ experience in the welfare and community services sector. She has held a number of senior positions within the organisation and has been key to the success of LWBs diversification strategy. She led the operations division since 2005, and in 2010 was appointed Deputy CEO, Operations. Claire was appointed Chief Executive of LWB in 2011. Claire was recently elected onto the board of the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA), the peak body for NGOs providing services for children and young people and is a member of the New South Wales State Committee with the National Disability Services. Prior to commencing with LWB, Claire had worked in the disability and child protection sectors in residential support, case management and behaviour intervention roles.
Andrew Kilgour - Acting Director of Operations
Experience: Andrew has worked at life without barriers since 2004 across number of portfolios including learning and development, operations, practice quality and executive leadership. Andrew has over 15 years’ experience in the human and community service sectors working in a number of diverse roles such as client delivery and management. Andrew has also been integral in the design and implementation of many of the organisation’s early practice and service model frameworks as part of the national practice team. More recently he has worked to drive key projects to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation while having input into the key strategic direction of the organisation. Andrew is currently the director of operations overseeing the operations of WA, SA, VIC, TAS and NZ.
David Lynch – Chief Financial Officer
Qualifications: BComm, CPA
Experience: David came to Life Without Barriers with over 17 years experience in the field of accounting and commercial services. Prior to joining Life Without Barriers, David spent over ten years in the venue industry and five years working in mining service companies based in the Hunter Valley. During this time, David has held senior executive finance positions, overseeing significant change in rapidly growing organisations and countering the effects of both business and economic downturns. David has gained extensive experience in supporting strategic organisational change and combined this with his significant knowledge in accounting and experience across a range of commercial environments. This has supported LWB to continue to develop our finance and commercial frameworks and services.
Tracy Mackey – Director, Strategy and Engagement
Qualifications: BA (Comms/Pol), BUrbRegPlan, MHousingStudies (Honours), MAICD
Experience: Tracy joined Life Without Barriers in early 2013 to head-up the Strategy and Engagement portfolio including organisational readiness and delivery for services under the NDIS. Tracy has more than 20 years of professional experience in the areas of social policy and programs, community services and stakeholder engagement. Her experience across Government, non-profit and the consultancy sectors is underpinned by a commitment to deliver better outcomes to those in need. During her time with the Commonwealth Government, Tracy held senior executive positions in the areas of children, carers, disability, immigration, women, communities and aged care. Tracy has a strong community spirit and has been active on many boards and management committees for more than twenty years.
Mary McKinnon – Director, Practice and Quality
Qualifications: BA (Social work), BA (Media Arts), ANZOG Executive Fellow
Experience: Mary joined Life Without Barriers in 2013 after nearly thirty years’ experience in a wide range of areas including disability, child, youth and family services as a practitioner, manager and administrator. Mary previously held the position of Director of Statutory and Forensic Services Design in the Victorian Department of Human Services. In this role Mary was responsible for the design of child protection, youth justice and disability forensic services in Victoria. Mary has also held a number of senior positions in Victoria including Director, Regional Operations Performance; Director, Child Protection, Placement and Family Services; Director, Child and Family System Advice (Cummins Inquiry); and Director, Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Strategy Unit. Prior to this Mary worked for nearly 10 years at Melbourne City mission in a variety of practice and management roles and in youth justice in South Australia.
Bruce Mulligan – Director of Human Resources
Qualifications: BEc
Experience: Bruce joined Life Without Barriers in January 2010. He brings over 35 years experience in Human Resource Management, including senior HR positions in both national and international organisations. Bruce has managed all functions within the Human Resources portfolio, in a diverse range of organisations including manufacturing, community services, and hospitality. Bruce has been involved in a range of community-based organisations over the years and brings a wealth of expertise in this field to LWB.
Lauren Murray - Director of Operations, New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory
Qualifications: BSc
Experience: Lauren has over 30 years experience in human services. Previously Lauren worked as a psychologist specialising in behaviour support, a youth worker, and a residential manager. She also has a background as a consultant in change management and leadership. Most recently, Lauren has held executive level roles in Ageing, Disability and Home Care and New South Wales Family and Community Services in operations and policy with a particular focus on community supports for people with disability. Lauren has a passionate commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable people.
Loretta Perry - Ambassador Values and Culture
Qualifications: BComms Pysch DipWel, Clin DipHyp
Experience: Loretta brings over 35 years experience in the human services sector to her role with Life Without Barriers. Loretta has been engaged in community-based, corporate, university and Government departments across a diverse range of human services including education, and programs, practice and clinical portfolios and is a past recipient of the Queensland Government’s Child Protection Medal. Since joining LWB in 2006, Loretta has held the roles of State Manager Queensland, State Director New South Wales and Director Enterprise and Sustainability. Loretta led the commencement of services in Victoria and Services to Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Her work is guided by a passion for developing safe, quality practice and systems to support positive outcomes and wellbeing for the people we support.
Brad Swan - Director of Operations, Queensland, Northern Territory & Western Australia
Qualifications: B Bus (Public Admin)
Experience: Brad commenced as Queensland State Director in Life Without Barriers in April 2013. Prior to his appointment to LWB, Brad was Deputy Director-General, Communities, Child Safety and Community Participation, Department of Communities responsible for child safety and community services in Queensland. Brad was responsible for development of the Helping Out Families initiative in South East Queensland and led work to re-orient the system away from a focus on tertiary intervention to more of a focus on secondary services to support families. Prior to this, Brad worked as Assistant Director-General in Disability Services Queensland, responsible for policy and program development. Brad has 29 years’ experience in Government working across child safety, disability services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, education and vocational education and training.