Governance

Geoff is a chartered accountant and is the Principal of GK Business and Taxation Consulting, an accounting firm specialising in taxation and small business consulting.

He has over 25 years experience in professional practice and was a partner of a mid-tier firm until going into business for himself in 2009. He has many years of experience in advising small businesses in many different areas including manufacturing, retail and primary production and importing.

He has been a Board member of Relationships Australia SA since 1998. Geoff is also on the board of an Aged Care Facility and South Australia’s leading Golf Club, Kooyonga.

Diarmid is a director at Leed Consulting, an Adelaide based consultancy specialising in organisational and leadership development. Diarmid founded Leed in 2010 after returning from the UK, where he facilitated senior leadership development and organisational development projects across Europe at the height of the global financial crisis.

Diarmid works with clients as a coach, facilitator, and cultural change consultant, assisting them to optimise business and people performance at both the organisational and individual levels.

He holds both a Psychology degree and an LLB Honours degree from the University of Adelaide and was a Senior Associate with Minter Ellison prior to his time in the UK. He was the chairperson of Time for Kids, prior to its merger with Relationships Australia SA, having served on that board for more than 8 years.

Experienced Associate Professor with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Program Evaluation, Public Speaking, Facilitation, and Report Writing. Strong professional with a PhD focused in Disability, spirituality and social policy from Flinders University.

Lorna holds a PhD from Flinders University (2005) having completed a B. Soc. Wk. from the University of Queensland in 1982. Prior to coming to Flinders, Lorna practiced in a range of settings, including disability advocacy and the management of a loss and grief service. Lorna speaks and writes regularly on ethical issues for workers in complex human services.

Lorna was Head, Flinders Social Work from 2014-mid 2019 and was President Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work from mid-2018-mid2019. During this period she was also Chair, Flinders Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee.

Lorna has been a significant and long term contributor to the development and analysis of disability policy including the development and evaluation of the Trial of The National Disability Insurance Scheme. In 2015, Lorna was appointed the Independent Reviewer of the SA Adoptions Act (1988). From July 2019 until the end of 2020 Lorna was seconded to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability as Senior Research Advisor. She is a member of the SA Premier’s Women’s Council; and the NHMRC Research and Advisory Committee on COVID-19.

Marion brings over 25 years of experience in health care. She has worked in executive and research roles in both the public and private sector, informed health care planning, research and policy through strategic partnership, professional development and effective governance to inform strategy, and achieved $7.5 million in research and grant funding in partnership with lead agencies.

Currently, the Director of the Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre. Previously served as the General Manager, Support, Research and Policy at Cancer Council SA, Marion was awarded a 2015 Churchill Fellowship for her dedication and passion towards survivorship research at a population level. She recently completed a MPH, 2015, and currently serves as the Chair of the Joanna Briggs Institute Cancer Node. She has completed a Professional Doctorate, Masters of Nursing Science, Graduate Diploma of Cardiac Nursing, Cardiac Care Certificate, Hyperbaric Certificate and awarded the Diploma of Applied Science.

In addition to this study, Marion has also completed training in the areas of clinical practice improvement programs, diploma in training and assessment (TAA) and Certificate IV (TAE) and Executive Leadership Program through University of Melbourne. As the nursing representative for the inaugural Statewide Cardiac Network, she established a statewide model for cardiac education and was the CSC of the Cardiovascular Interventional Unit, Royal Adelaide for over 10 years. Marion was previously an elected member of the NMBSA (2005-2011) and more recently she has been appointed the inaugural position of Professor of Cancer Nursing at UniSA.

Franco is a lawyer by profession. He is a director of an Adelaide legal practice that he established over 30 years ago. He practises in the corporate and commercial group and has a particular interest in corporate governance. He advises a number of not-for-profit organisations. His work has included an assignment with the Asian Development Bank as a legal consultant in the Lao PDR advising on issues concerning governance in financial transactions.

Franco has also been extensively involved in legal education having for many years taught in the Practical Legal Training programs in South Australia. He also holds the status of Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Flinders University where he teaches in corporate and commercial law subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Franco has been a legal member of the Nurses Board of South Australia. He has been involved with Relationships Australia SA since 2000 and is currently a member of the Investment Committee.

Claire Ralfs is an experienced professional educator and counsellor in the family services sector. She is currently CEO of Relationships Australia SA and the Australian Institute of Social Relations, the training division of RASA. Together with an established team of researchers, educators and communications personnel, Claire has led the development of several national education resources including AVERT Family Violence, SQUARE (Suicide, Questions And Resources), and Point of Contact children living with family domestic violence.

Claire is innovative and outcomes driven with a demonstrated commitment to human services that strengthen family safety, build cultural respect and use community resources wisely. She is experienced in driving organisational change and building cross disciplinary collaboration. She is consistently able to motivate staff teams to produce service results, contribute to quality education and demonstrate evaluation outcomes.

Claire is acknowledged for designing cutting-edge resources that genuinely build professional skills. She is an experienced facilitator and educator and known for creativity in the design of new services, quality tender writing, evidence-based program logic, and successful service implementation. She has demonstrated skills in strategic planning, financial management and outcomes evaluation to ensure success within a competitive and changing not for profit sector.