Pauline Vamos
Chairperson

Ms Vamos was appointed to the Interaction Board in December 2016 and is a governance, public policy, risk, and advocacy specialist.  Her noble cause is to ensure “systems do not destroy people’s dreams”.

Ms Vamos currently works as an independent director and consults internationally to regulators and the financial services industry.  She has over 25 years’ experience in financial services, and was most recently the CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, where she brought super to the consumer and fought hard to fill the retirement savings gap.

As a qualified lawyer, Ms Vamos, has also held various senior positions including directorships across financial services corporations.   Her motivation to be on the Interaction Board was to bring her business, public policy and governance skills to the organisation in this time of significant change to the NDIS.

Gail Bennell
Director

Gail is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist and Allied Health Manager with an extensive history of working exclusively with children and adults with disability. Gail’s in-depth understanding of the policy and program requirements of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is reflected in the various training packages she has developed and delivered to allied health professionals. She has also presented at numerous conferences as an NDIS Subject Matter Expert.

Gail’s impressive career also extends to coaching private practice owners to create business strategies that result in significant growth. In her current employment with TAFE NSW, Gail has worked as Industry Relationship Lead and Product Specialist with responsibility for guiding key strategic relationships, development of training materials and management of complex governance requirements.

Robert Binskin
Director

Robert specialises in business management and information technology systems, and currently holds the position of Business Solutions Manager at BaptistCare NSW & ACT. With a Master of Business in Information Technology Management, Robert is skilled in delivering innovative, efficient and sustainable platforms and technologies. His career history covers an impressive list of both not for profit and commercial organisations including the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, HammondCare, Anglican Retirement Villages, and Coca-Cola Amatil.

Robert is passionate about building the business capability of organisations to better serve their clients and staff through business and technology platforms.

Laurie Boxwell
Director

Laurie specialises in the development and execution of organisational strategy as well as leading large operational teams. In his current role as Head of Transformation at Coca-Cola Amatil, Laurie is responsible for leading the Equipment Service function while driving significant organization and cultural change.

Having worked for Coca-Cola Amatil for the last 24 years, Laurie has worked in many areas of the business including Marketing, Sales, IT and Equipment Service.

Laurie holds a Bachelor of Design, and MBA and as well as post graduate qualifications in Project Management all from the University of technology, Sydney. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Laurie is keen to advocate for and work towards true inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in all aspects of community life. This is a very personal mission as one of his 3 daughters has Down Syndrome.

Allan Dodd
Director

Allan is a Fellow of CPA Australia and Justice of the Peace. In 1972, he started his accounting career in public practice, to later become Principal Partner for a number of years.

From 1982-2006 Allan was the Chief Financial Officer for Lowes Australia, his expertise in computers and systems helped the company become a leader in Electronic Commerce – assisting with growing the company from 56 stores in one State, to more than 135 stores covering most of Australia – the biggest men’s and boys wear retailer in Australia at the time.

Allan represented retailers at the Commissioner of Taxation Small Business Consultative Group for many years, and returned to public practice from 2006-2015.

After resigning from paid work, Allan was looking at some way to use his skills to put back into the community. Having been the auditor at Interaction for a few years, he was privileged to observe the professionalism of the then current Board, the Interaction employees, and their wonderful care and treatment of the people they were entrusted to look after. When Allan was approached to join the Board, he was more than happy to accept.  Allan also enjoys being on the Boards of Vocational Bible College Ltd and Ministry Training & Development (an Anglican Church related committee).

Michael Fairley
Director

Michael is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, with a particular interest in Intellectual Disability. Michael is currently working in private practice as a visiting consultant in Grafton, and for the State Disability Service.

Michael’s professional history includes graduating in Medicine from Sydney University and – after some time in the Navy – trained in both general and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry. For more than 30 years Michael worked as a specialist at Hospitals including:  Concord, Royal Alexandra, Camperdown, Westmead Children’s, Sydney Children’s, and various rural hospitals throughout NSW.

Other positions held include:  Former Chairman of The Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in NSW, Consultant to the Ombudsman – Family Court, Michael was also a member of the: Law Reform Commission, Department of Aging, Disability and Home Care, and member of Child Death Review Team.  Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Psychiatry, has a Certificate of Accreditation in Child Psychiatry and is a member of the Intellectual Disability Special Interest Group.

Interaction provided good quality care to several of Michael’s patients, and Michael consulted to the Behaviour & Allied Health team for a number of years. In 2005 Michael was invited to join the Board of Interaction. Being familiar with government service provision and private practice, the opportunity to become involved was too interesting to pass.

Karen Hinton
Marketing Committee Chairperson
B.App.Sc   A.I.M.M)

A member of the Australian Institute of Management since 1984, Karen is an accomplished manager and strategic marketing professional, specialising in marketing products and services B2B.

A degree in Biomedical Science and grounding in diagnostic pathology led to roles in surgical and scientific optics with Swiss giant Leica. Then followed a career in marketing products and services in medical devices (Cochlear), biotechnology (Amgen), pharmaceuticals (Wyeth and Novartis), life sciences (Amersham), and consulting roles for Cochlear (global marketing), Clarendon Residential Projects (Volume Residential Developments), Cross Media Communications (Advertising) and Creative Future Dynamics (Training sales teams in neuro-linguistic programming), and more recently in the not-for-profit sector with St Paul’s Anglican (Christian communications).

Karen joined Interaction Services as a Director in 2010, serving as chair of the Marketing Committee and member of the Strategic Planning Committee since 2012.

Now retired, Karen continues on the Board because (in her own words) “I share Interaction’s values and see the NDIS as a unique opportunity for those we serve at Interaction to access more appropriate individualised services and be empowered to be their best.  Interaction is uniquely equipped to meet these needs and I love being a part of telling that story loud and clear”.

John Lucas
Director

For 41 years John was a Public School teacher. After receiving a Teaching Certificate from Sydney Teachers College and later a BA from UNE Armidale, John taught in schools ranging from a one teacher primary school to executive positions in many secondary schools. John introduced strategies and programs to improve the quality of pedagogy thereby enhancing student outcomes. He developed and introduced courses to better meet the needs of students with mild intellectual disabilities. John was Principal of a high school in South West Sydney for 10 years prior to retirement.

Since retiring John worked as an educational consultant in disadvantaged schools as well as in the Department’s staffing unit interviewing prospective trainee teachers. Currently he is an active member of a local garden club and a Probus club.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” (Winston Churchill). This is the essence of John’s involvement at Interaction. John is passionate about social justice and making a difference to peoples’ lives. This is reflected in Interaction’s values and culture. He is proud to be part of this organisation which ensures that people cared for are treated with respect and dignity by a truly dedicated, professional and empathetic staff.

Kevin Pike
Director

Kevin was appointed to the Interaction Board in 2006 and is a retired actuary.  He worked for a large life office for the major part of his career, including stints in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.  Before retiring he consulted to a company that won many awards for excellence for some years.

Kevin served on the Council of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, as well as on various committees, and was also Chairman of the life insurance industry’s Risk Classification Committee for many years.  On his retirement, he was made the 1^st Life Member of ALUCA, the underwriting and claims group within the industry.

Since Kevin’s appointment to Interaction’s Board and until the end of 2016, he acted as Treasurer, helping to ensure the organisation is on a strong financial footing.

He sees his role as one of encouraging and supporting Craig Moore and his team to provide services of the highest quality and efficiency to the people that Interaction supports.  Kevin wishes to ensure that the NDIS becomes a means and not an obstacle in achieving Interaction’s Mission.