Our Board

Wendy Simpson

Non-executive director

OAM, BSocSci, GradDip Ed, BLitt, MBA, FRMIT, FAICD

Tenure: Appointed February 2013

Board and committee responsibilities: People, Culture and Governance Committee (Chair)

Career: Wendy is an experienced, versatile global business leader and entrepreneur. She was the Founding Chair of Springboard Enterprises, Australia’s only internationally-focused business accelerator for women entrepreneurs seeking investment capital.

Previously, Wendy was a Senior Vice President of Alcatel Asia Pacific, responsible for a sales budget of 4.2 billion euros. She implemented the sales of major mobile and broadband services to 17 countries and was on the team that negotiated with the Chinese government to bring the internet to China. She has also held global leadership roles with QBE Insurance, Alcatel and TNT International. Wendy is on the organising committee of the annual Sydney Prayer Breakfast.

Wendy was recognised in the Australia Day 2013 Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community through a range of women's and youth organisations. Also in 2013, she was inducted into the Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame on International Women’s Day and named as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence. She was appointed to the Board of the General Sir John Monash Foundation in January 2015.

Andrew Scipione

Non-executive director

AO, APM, MMgmt, GradDip Police Mgmt, FAIM, MAICD

Tenure: Appointed May 2019

Board and committee responsibilities: People, Culture and Governance Committee, and Board member (World Vision International)

Career: Andrew was the New South Wales Police Commissioner from 2007 until his retirement in 2017, making him one of the longest-serving police chiefs in the state’s history. He worked for the NSW Police Force for more than four decades in a decorated career that included targeting global organised gangs and heading up campaigns to reduce alcohol-related and domestic violence.

Andrew was a recipient of the National Medal in 1996 and Australian Police Medal in 2003. In 2016 he was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for his service to law enforcement and “advancing the professionalism of policing and leadership of international investigations and counter terrorism activities”.

Andrew was also named as the 2018 Macquarie University Alumni of the Year for Public and Community Service.

Charles Badenoch

Non-executive director

BA Oxon (Oxford University Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics), ACA (Qualified Chartered Accountant UK)

Tenure: Appointed September 2019

Board and committee responsibilities: People, Culture and Governance Committee

Career: Charles is World Vision International’s Partnership Leader for Support Office engagement. Prior to this he was World Vision International’s Partnership Leader for advocacy and external engagement.

Charles began his career at Arthur Andersen, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then worked for several international technology companies as Finance Director before moving to Paris to become Regional General Manager Europe Middle East Africa for SITA/Equant, an international data communications group subsequently acquired by France Telecom.

Charles moved to Xerox Europe to build a Network Services Business before starting his own boutique consultancy specialising in operational integration for mid-size mergers and acquisitions.

He served as CEO of World Vision UK from 2003 to 2009.

Darryl Gardiner

Non-executive director

Tenure: Appointed May 2016

Board and committee responsibilities: Audit and Risk Committee

Career: Darryl is an Anglican priest who has been involved in youth and community work for more than 40 years. He sits on and has helped to establish several not-for-profit boards.

He has travelled extensively, training and assisting charities – particularly those in the social service sector. For eight years he was a weekly guest on television show Good Morning New Zealand, discussing youth and family issues. He currently works with judges in the Youth Court, focusing on communication issues.

Darryl is married with two children.

Jon Seeley

Non-executive director

FCA, BEc, MBA, FAICD

Tenure: Appointed February 2017

Board and committee responsibilities: Audit and Risk Committee (Chair)

Career: Jon is Group Managing Director of Seeley International, a manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning products including Breezair and Braemar. The company employs around 500 people with manufacturing plants in Adelaide, Albury and Denver.

He previously worked for Deloitte and Goldman Sachs JBWere, in addition to spending 10 years overseas in the not-for-profit sector with relief and development organisations. This included postings to Austria, Turkey, Uzbekistan and the UK.

Jon lives in Adelaide with his wife Claire. They have four young adult children and two granddaughters, with whom Jon is besotted.

Peter Trent

Non-executive director

LLB, GAICD

Tenure: Appointed February 2020

Board and committee responsibilities: Board Chair (World Vision Australia), Audit and Risk Committee, and Board member (World Vision International)

Career: Peter comes to World Vision with 36 years in commercial and investment banking, and the infrastructure sector, 20 years of which was spent with Macquarie Group. Peter began his career with the Commonwealth Bank in 1982, later became executive vice-president of investment banking with Bankers Trust and in 1999 joined Macquarie Group as division director of investment banking.

Peter eventually became chief executive officer of ASX listed Macquarie’s Atlas Roads division, a position he held between 2009-2018 where he took it from an entity with market capitalisation of A$278 million to a top-100 ASX-listed company with a market capitalisation of more than A$U3.7 billion.

Peter has also held several senior corporate advisory roles during his time with Macquarie Group here and globally, and served on the boards of nine different entities over the past 27 years.

Alicia Leis

Non-executive director

BCom CA

Tenure: Appointed August 2022

Board and committee responsibilities: Audit and Risk Committee

Career: Alicia‘s career spans 25 years as a chartered accountant in Australia and the United Kingdom. A partner of Tasmania’s largest independent chartered accountancy firm, WLF Accounting & Advisory, she co-leads the firm’s internal audit and risk function.

She has been the lead investigator on high-profile investigations for government across conduct, governance, children in state care and compliance activities and holds several other board positions, including with a large private civil construction company.

Alicia was the 2016 Telstra Business Woman of the Year in the Corporate and Private category for Tasmania. She lives in Hobart with her husband and two sons.

Kate Harrison Brennan

Non-executive director

Tenure: Appointed May 2022

Board and committee responsibilities: People, Culture and Governance Committee

Career: Kate has extensive expertise in social policy, community development and the need to empower people and communities.

A Rhodes Scholar and former Young Australian of the Year (NSW) with a doctorate in politics, she is the Director of the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney.

Kate’s previous roles include Head of Policy & Design at the Paul Ramsay Foundation, adviser to Prime Minister Julia Gillard AC, and CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries. She is passionate about social policy, breaking the cycle of disadvantage, international development and about her Christian faith.

Kate first connected with World Vision doing the 8-hour kids’ famine as a child, volunteered at the youth-run Oaktree development agency and has visited World Vision offices in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Rwanda, Malawi and Sierra Leone.

Louise Mercer

Non-executive director

GAICD, MBA (Finance & Entrepreneurship), B.Comm (Liberal Studies)

Tenure: Appointed February 2023

Board and committee responsibilities: People, Culture and Governance Committee

Career: Louise has extensive experience in leadership, strategic planning and technology across multiple sectors including, insurance and financial services and emerging technology like AI and blockchain.

As an executive leader, she has led and scaled new business ventures, led industry transformation projects and run strategic innovation functions.

A Board Member at Brisbane Montessori School, she previously held directorships with The Oaktree Foundation and other Not-for-Profit organisations.

Her volunteer work includes building schools in South Africa, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and India, setting up microenterprises in Myanmar.

Louise lives in Brisbane with her husband and two children.