Beyond Blue pays its respects to former Board Director Russell Taylor AM, who passed away on April 7, 2023.

Russell, a proud Kamilaroi man, had been a member of the Beyond Blue Board from September 2019 until his retirement earlier this year.

More information is available via the Beyond Blue Media Releases page.

Board of Directors

The Board is the guardian of the purpose for which Beyond Blue was established – its vision, mission, values and beliefs. The Board fulfils its primary role by:

appointing and removing the Chief Executive Officer and monitoring performance
overseeing the development of, and approving, Beyond Blue's strategic plan
supporting the delivery of the strategic plan by ensuring adequate management of resources to achieve agreed corporate and performance objectives
providing input into, approving, and monitoring performance against Beyond Blue's annual budget and operating plan
monitoring, and where necessary, approving Beyond Blue's compliance with legal and regulatory requirements including external financial reporting
recommending to Members the appointment and/or removal of and monitoring the performance and ongoing independence of the auditor of Beyond Blue.

The Board has formally delegated responsibility for the day-to-day operation of Beyond Blue to the Chief Executive Officer and executive management team.

The Board oversees and monitors management’s performance by:

meeting at least four times per year
receiving detailed financial and other reports from management at these meetings and at other times as required
receiving additional information and input from management when necessary
assigning authority to the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee (which operates under Terms of Reference approved by the Board) to oversee particular areas of responsibility.

Our Board of Directors

The Hon. Julia Gillard AC

Chair, appointed 1 July 2017. Director since December 2014

Chair of the Global Partnership for Education
Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London
Distinguished Fellow with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution in Washington
Member of the Advisory Board of LeapFrog Investments
Honorary Professor at the University of Adelaide
Patron of Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education
Patron of Aim for the Stars
Patron of the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Perth
Patron of Mambourin Enterprises
Twenty seventh Prime Minister of Australia (2010-2013), and the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister
Thirteenth Deputy Prime Minister of Australia – (2007-2010), and the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister.

Ms Georgie Harman

Beyond Blue CEO, appointed June 2014

Director, Mental Health Australia
Former Deputy CEO at the National Mental Health Commission
Responsible for Commonwealth policy and investment in mental health, suicide prevention, tobacco control, substance misuse, cancer and chronic disease at the Department of Health 2006-2012
Responsible for design and implementation of major system reforms in mental health and organ and tissue donation
Was the inaugural Executive Director for the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation in Sydney – Australia's first and largest independent HIV/AIDS charity.

Kate Carnell AO FAICD FAIM

Deputy Chair, appointed December 2016

FAICD, FAIM
The inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO)
Former CEO of Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Former CEO of Beyond Blue
Former CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and Australian General Practice Network
Former CEO of the Australian General Practice Network
ACT Chief Minister (1995-2000)
A pharmacist by profession and was the inaugural chair of the ACT Branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the first female to become the National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Mr Paul Howes

Appointed February 2014

National Managing Partner of KPMG Enterprise
Partner, KPMG Papua New Guinea
Governor, American Chamber of Commerce in Australia
Commissioner, National COVID-19 Commission
Previously Partner in Charge of Customer, Brand & Marketing Advisory and National Sector Leader of Asset & Wealth Management at KPMG
Former National Secretary of The Australian Workers’ Union
Former Deputy Chair of Australian Super.

Ms Johanna Griggs AM

Appointed June 2014

Television presenter, Seven Network
In September 2009 Griggs was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters Honoris Causis – from Macquarie University in NSW for services to swimming, media and charity fundraising
A former competitive swimmer she represented Australia, winning Bronze at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990, and a silver at the 1991 World Championships.

Dr Jessica Dean

Appointed August 2015

MBBS (Hon), LLB, BMedSci (Hons), MAICD
Doctor specialising in Intensive Care Medicine
Completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Laws from Monash University
State Finalist for Young Australian of the Year
Former President of the Australian Medical Students’ Association
Former Federal Councillor of the Australian Medical Association.

The Hon. Robert Knowles AO

Appointed 1 February 2017

Farmer and Company Director
National Mental Health Commissioner (2012-2017)
Chairman of the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
Former Chair of Mental Health Australia
Former Commissioner on the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission
Former Victorian Minister for Health, Housing and Aged Care (1992-1999) and MLC for Ballarat (1976-1999).

Denise McComish

Chair of Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, appointed September 2019

Non-executive director Webjet Limited, Macmahon Holdings Limited and Chief Executive Women
Former partner with KPMG for 30 years with extensive experience providing audit and advisory services nationally and globally
Current member of the Takeovers Panel, formerly a member of the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (2011-2014) and the Australian Accounting Standards Board (1993-1999)
Chair, Advisory Board for the School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants and member, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Former member of Council, Edith Cowan University (2007-2016) including Pro-Chancellor (2011-2016)
Former Director, Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention and Australian Scholarships Foundation
Awarded a Doctorate in Business Honoris causa from Edith Cowan University, 2016
Recognised in the Top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining, 2018.

Derek Schoen

Appointed September 2019

Farmer: Beef, Grain and Hay Producer
Integrity Advisor, Drought Transport Subsidy, NSW Department of Primary Industries
Independent Chair, Rural and Regional Seatbelt Taskforce, Transport for NSW
Director, AgStewardship Australia
Board Chair of Murray Local Land Services
Director, National Farmers Federation (2017-Oct 2019)
Member, NSW Farmers Association Executive Council
Chair, NSW Farmers Association Cattle Committee
President, NSW Farmers Association (2015-2018)
Vice President, NSW Farmers Association (2014)
Director, NSW Farmers Association (2012-2018)
Former Director, Cattle Council of Australia
Former Director, Southern Riverina Rural Co-op
Former President and former Sec/Treasurer, Redlands Rural Bush Fire Brigade
Former Councillor, two non-consecutive 4-year terms, one year as Deputy Mayor, Corowa Shire Council.

Professor Helen Milroy AM

Distinguished child and adolescent psychiatrist. Studied Medicine at the University of Western Australia, worked as a GP and Consultant in Childhood Sexual Abuse at Princess Margaret Hospital for children for several years before completing specialist training in Child and Adolescent psychiatry
Chair in Child Mental Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, University of Western Australia
Perth Children's Hospital Foundation Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Member of the RANZCP Foundation and Presidents advisory group
Co-chair of the Million Minds Medical Research Advisory Group
Honorary Research Fellow with Telethon Kids Institute
Young Lives Matter Foundation Board – UWA suicide prevention research project
Inaugural Chair of Gayaa Dhuwi Australia
Member of WA Mental Health Tribunal and the WA Care Plan Review panel
Commissioner with the Australian Football League 2019+
Commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission
Commissioner on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse 2013–2017
Former member of NHMRC Human Ethics Committee, Director headspace Board and Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, Wharerata Group for the International Initiative in Mental Health Leadership
Descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Born and educated in Perth.
Australia's first Aboriginal doctor
Recognised as a member of the Order of Australia in January, 2023.

Dr Jason Lee

Rurally trained psychiatrist, spent more than 10 years working in a generalist psychiatrist capacity providing outreach services to Gulf of Carpentaria remote Aboriginal communities
Immediate past Chair of the RANZCP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Committee.

Dr Abbe Anderson

Appointed June 2021

Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia
PhD in Public Health and Community Medicine from the University of NSW
Former CEO of the Brisbane North Primary Health Network, Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local and Brisbane North Division of General Practice
Served on numerous governance bodies including as a member of the Minister for Health's Primary Health Network (PHN) Advisory Panel on Mental Health and as Chair of the National PHN Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs working group
Over thirty years’ experience in the public, private and not-for-profit health sectors of Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Sam Mostyn AO

Appointed 28 February 2023

Businesswoman and sustainability adviser, with a history of executive & governance roles across business, sport, climate change, the arts, policy and NFP sectors.
Current Chair of Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, Sam also serves on the boards of Mirvac, and the Climate Change Authority, with a broad portfolio of other roles including chairing ANROWS, Alberts, Ausfilm, AIIW, Aware Super, FYA, Climate Council and CPD with extensive past Board memberships including chairing Chief Executive Women, Citi Australia and Women’s Economic Opportunities Review.
A long-standing member of the Faculty of Cambridge University’s Business & Sustainability Leadership Program; past commissioner of UN Global Business and Sustainable Development Commission.
The first woman to be appointed to the AFL Commission in 2005, Sam was an advocate for women’s inclusion at all levels of the game, a strong voice for the creation of the AFL Women’s League and continues to champion the role of women in sport.
Awarded the OA in 2021 for distinguished service to business and sustainability, and to the community, through seminal contributions to a range of organisations, and to women; and in 2018 awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by ANU in recognition of her work as a pioneer of gender inclusion and equity, and leadership in sustainability and climate change.

Ken Wyatt AM

Appointed 29 May 2023

Proud Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi man elected in 2010 as the Federal Member for Hasluck, the first Aboriginal Member of the House of Representatives.
In 2015, became the inaugural First Nations member of the Federal Executive after being sworn in as Assistant Minister for Health.
In January 2017, became the first Aboriginal Minister to serve in a Federal Government, after being appointed Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Indigenous Health. Portfolio responsibilities included Australian Hearing Services and organ and tissue donation, through the Organ and Tissue Authority.
Before entering politics, worked in the fields of health and education including as District Director for the Swan Education District, and Director of Aboriginal Health in New South Wales and Western Australia.
Awarded the Order of Australia in 1996, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for contribution to the wider community in training and mentoring young people.
Awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal in 2000 for ‘efforts and contribution to improving the quality of life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and mainstream Australian society in education and health’.