COTA NSW Board of Directors

COTA (NSW) Board of Directors consists of not more than nine (9) Directors being:

• six (6) Directors elected at the annual general meeting of the Association by postal vote (referred to as Member Elected Directors); and

• a maximum of three co-opted (3) Directors appointed by the Board (referred to as Co-opted Directors).

The Board continues its commitment to strong governance, sound decision making and strategic leadership.

The Board of Directors consists of:

Mrs Kath Brewster OAM - President & Member Elected Director

Kath is a strong advocate on issues of concern to older people, including stereotyping, discrimination and abuse of older people, health care and aged care. She personally has acquired in-depth understanding of carer and consumer perspectives, particularly those of older women in to-day's society.

Kath's experience includes over 30 years teaching in secondary and tertiary education; latterly she was Senior Lecturer in Educational Administration at Armidale CAE (UNE), where she held also a number of administrative roles, including Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinator, Head of Centre and Chair, Board of Professional Studies.

A Board member of COTA (NSW) since 1991, and Vice-President 1993 - 98, Kath has been President since 1998. She is a Director of COTA Over 50s Ltd, the national company uniting all the State and Territory COTAs.

Kath chairs the COTA (NSW) Policy Council and the Intergenerational Working Group, and is a member of the COTA Over 50s National Policy Council.

Kath's advocacy extends beyond COTA, as a member and chair of several committees and advisory boards.

She has been honoured for her contribution to the community with:

• the Medal of the Order of Australia
• the Commonwealth Recognition Awards for Senior Australians
• Honorary Life Membership, NSW Teachers' Federation
• Honorary Life Membership, NSW Lecturers' Association
• Honorary Life Membership, Armidale CAE Union

Dr Roger Morris AM - Vice President & Member Elected Director

Roger has been a member of the Board of COTA-NSW since 2000 and since 2006 has also been the Vice-President. He is one of the two NSW representatives on the National Policy Council of COTA Over Fifties.

Roger was, until he retired, an Associate Professor in Adult Education at the University of Technology, Sydney.

He has been a Member of the Board of Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts since the early 1990s and is currently the President. He is also the President of the NSW Association of Mechanics Institutes and Schools of Arts (AMISA).

Roger is the long-time National Secretary of Adult Learning Australia He has been a Member of the Council of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and he is the President of the Council of the Sydney Community College.

He is currently a member of Board of Governors, Meals on Wheels, NSW and a member of the Steering Committee for the soon to be established City of Sydney U3A.

In 2006, Roger was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. He is the first Australian to be so honoured.

On Australia Day 2008, Roger was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to adult, continuing and community education.

Mr Donald Woodburn - Treasurer & Co-opted Director

Don is a Retired Chartered Accountant specializing in accounting and income tax work, with a number of auditing appointments and later as financial advisor (accounting) and tax advisor to small business. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and an honorary Life Member of the Australian Marketing Institute. He is also a registered Tax Agent with the Tax Agent's Board of NSW.

Don's clients included the Australian Marketing Institute, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; George Newnes Limited. Australian Totalisators Limited, the Smorgon family of Melbourne, Norman Ross Limited and the Harvey Norman Discount Group and its franchisees. He held various positions on the Membership Sub-Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (NSW Branch).

Don retains a small number of long standing accounting and income tax clients. He joined the Board of COTA (NSW) in September 2003 and has been Honorary Treasurer since December 2005.

Ms Patricia Campbell - Member Elected Director

Patricia Campbell has been a director of COTA since 2002.

Ms Campbell is Chief Executive Officer of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia NSW Ltd and has held this position for eight years. The Guild represents around 11,000 war widows in New South Wales and provides advocacy, information, services, social support and friendship with a network of over 100 Guild and Social Clubs around NSW. It operates three Retirement Villages. The majority of Guild members are women over the age of 70 years.

Ms Campbell has experience in providing services to older people and is a member of the State Ex-Service Round Table on Aged Care (NSW), and the National Ex-Service Round Table on Aged Care.

She was previously a Member of the Veterans’ Review Board, appointed by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and held a variety of managerial positions in the Commonwealth and State governments working in the fields of Home and Community Care, supported accommodation, services for older people and people with disabilities, children’s services and the (then) Australian Archives.

Her qualifications include MBA (Exec) (UNSW), BA (Uni of Sydney) and Dip Ed (UNE).

Ms Janene Eagleton - Member Elected Director

Janene Eagleton is a registered dietitian and holds a Bachelor of Health Administration from the UNSW and a Masters of Business Administration from Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Having worked in the health and aged care industries now for over thirty years, Janene has gained significant experience working with people over the age of 55 years, and most particularly the frail and ageing.

Having held Executive Management positions in both the hospital and aged care sectors and being a member of the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Janene brings to this role, wide ranging experience and a diverse range of skills.

Janene currently holds the position of General Manager Client Services at Australian Unity Retirement Living Services, where she undertakes the role of Chief of Operations of Australian Unity’s sizeable retirement and aged care services portfolio, comprising 4 Residential Aged Care Facilities, Community Care Packages, Day Respite and Rehabilitation Services and 15 Retirement Villages across NSW and Victoria. In this role, Janene is responsible for the strategic direction of operations, the risk management, financial performance, and quality of services for clients, including the development of wellbeing programs to encourage healthy active ageing.

Janene is especially passionate about creating healthy ageing policy for the increasing numbers of ageing.

Dr Sara Graham - Member Elected Director

Over the last twenty years her research, policy analysis and advocacy roles have provided Sara's with insights into and a concern for the issues that confront older people in Australia. Her specific research interest has been the evaluation of community support services for older people. Her current policy interests are in health, equity and access amongst older people.

Currently she is a member of the:

• Aged Care Working Group, COTA NSW
• Board of Carers NSW
• NSW Dept of Health’s Primary and Community Health Advisory Committee
• NSW Department of Health’s Advance Care Planning Steering Committee and joint author of My Health, My Future, My Choice: An Advance Care Directive for NSW.
• Australian Association of Gerontology and have undertaken research for that organisation on older peoples’ experiences in hospital.
• Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW as an Honorary Visiting fellow

Sara was a member of the NSW Home and Community Care State Advisory Committee (HACC SAC) for six years.

Ms Kay Robinson - Member Elected Director

After working and volunteering for several years in libraries in Australia and overseas, including the National Library in Canberra, Kay moved into the Commonwealth Public Service where she held policy and managerial positions in several departments in Canberra and Sydney, including the overseas aid, foreign affairs, health housing and community services portfolios.

In 1993 she moved into policy and consumer representative roles in the non-government and voluntary sector, including:

• COTA NSW as Senior Policy Officer for some 2 years
• Home and Community Care Program State Advisory Committee Policy Officer
• Podiatry Association (NSW) Policy Research Officer
• NSW Divisions of General Practice State Advisory Panel Consumer Representative (Ministerial Appointment)
• NSW Dental Board Dental Care Assessment Committee Consumer Representative (Ministerial Appointment)
• National Advisory Committee on Oral Health Consumer Representative (Ministerial Appointment)

Kay was also a member of COTA NSW’s Policy Advisory Committee for several years, and is presently a member of the Older People’s Reference Group advising NCOSS.

Kay is passionate about social justice and the rights and desirability of older people to participate fully in our society as active healthy involved valued and supported citizens.

Kay's qualifications include BA (Librarianship) and Master of Public Policy (Sydney University).