Board & Leadership

St John of God Foundation Board Members

Our Board directors ensure that the Foundation operates responsibly, maintaining the highest level of ethics, to enable transformational care to our patients and their families to help provide better health outcomes in our communities.

Tony Howarth AO, CitWA, Hon LLD WAust, SF Fin, FAICD
Chair of the Board, St John of God Foundation

Mr Tony Howarth AO joined the St John of God Foundation Board as Chair in October 2019.

Tony is a former Chair of the St John of God Health Care Board (January 2004 to May 2018), during which time the organisation grew from employing 5,700 caregivers with 10 hospitals and pathology and radiology services, to employing more than 13,000 caregivers and running 23 facilities in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.

Tony’s career spans more than 30 years in the international banking and finance industry. He brings a diverse range of executive experience to the Foundation Board, and currently holds non-executive director roles with Alinta Energy, BWP Trust and Viburnum Funds.

Stephen Roberts - BBus, BHA, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Geelong Hospital 

Stephen has been Chief Executive Officer at St John of God Geelong Hospital since 1991 and prior to that, St John of God Goulburn. He holds a Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Health Administration and an MBA from the University of Melbourne.

He is also currently the Chair and Director of the Board of disability and employment services provider genU.

Bryan Pyne
Group Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Health Care

Bryan joins the Board as St John of God Health Care's Group Chief Executive Officer, with more than 23 years’ experience in senior health care management and finance roles, including his previous role as Group Chief Operating Officer (Hospitals) and Group Director of Finance.

Brian is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and was a recipient of the 2010 40 under 40 Award (WA). Brian is a Board member and Chair of the Finance Committee of Newman College. 

Tina Chinery
Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Subiaco Hospital

Tina is a health executive leader with significant and broad experience in the hospital and health care sector across all service areas.

Tina also has extensive experience in health strategic service planning, capital project management, implementation of new technology, research and education.

Having started her career as a nurse, Tina is strongly committed to delivering high quality person-centred care and is pleased to work within an organisation that is focused on the values of hospitality, compassion, respect, justice and excellence.

Lisa Norman
Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Berwick Hospital; Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital; and General Manager, South East Melbourne Hospitals.  

Wesley Smith – BCom, FCPA
Chief Financial Officer, St John of God Health Care

Wesley has 27 years’ experience in the commercial finance and strategy development disciplines gained across both listed and private organisations within the financial services, agricultural, utility and engineering sectors. 

Skilled at growing and evolving businesses, driving value focused investment decisions, leading multi-disciplined teams, enhancing data analytics, purposeful mergers & acquisitions, commercial negotiation, risk management, capital and treasury management, tax structuring, and corporate governance.

Previous senior leadership roles include Group Chief Financial Officer at Capricorn, Group Financial Controller at Wilmar, Group Financial Controller at CBH Group and Financial Controller at Alinta Limited / WestNet Infrastructure Group.

Current member of John XXIII College Foundation Committee, Independent Living Assessment chairperson, Indigo Inc. non-executive director and previously JOC Wellness non-executive director, chairperson of Finance, Risk, and Fundraising Committee.

St John of God Foundation senior leadership team

Bianca Pietralla - BComm. GAICD.
Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Foundation 

Bianca has over 20 years’ experience in not-for-profit management, philanthropy, marketing and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Prior to joining St John of God Foundation, Bianca was the Director of Marketing and Future Students at Curtin University and held senior management roles with the Royal Flying Doctor Service WA and Bankwest.

Bianca sees the Foundation’s role as facilitating grateful patient philanthropy and connecting the generosity of the community with the needs of their local St John of God Hospital or Service. She sees her role as developing a culture where philanthropy can flourish, where every donor feels appreciated and understands the impact of their giving or their family’s legacy. Along with SJGF’s Board of Directors, Bianca is accountable for the governance, strategy, operations and overall performance of the Foundation. She says the best part of her role is working with her amazing team and getting to experience the impact donations have on people’s lives, both the givers and receivers of kindness. 

 

Rachel Bruechle
Director of Community Engagement

 

As the Director of Community Engagement, Rachel drives brand awareness, oversees community fundraising campaigns, appeals, and events, and leads the communications program with the Foundation’s supporters.

Rachel has over 20 years’ marketing experience, most recently as Senior Manager, Marketing for Royal Flying Doctors Service (WA). Her previous senior roles include Head of Marketing and Intelligence for Activ Foundation, Director of Development and Communications at Murdoch University, and Group Marketing Manager at Lotterywest.

 

Preema Wong
Director of Philanthropy

As the Director of Philanthropy, Preema leads the national strategy for one-to-one relationship fundraising with individual donors, trusts, foundations and philanthropic partners.

Preema has over a decade of fundraising experience in the higher education sector, and most recently led the donor engagement, bequests, and major gift portfolios at Deakin University. Her previous roles include Acting Director, Donor Relations and Senior Manager, Donor Engagement.

Brian Soucie

Foundation Services Manager

 

As Foundation Services Manager, Brian oversees the team responsible for gift processing, information management, systems and reporting.

Brian brings over 15 years of international experience supporting philanthropic and community engagement outcomes. Previously, he has led service-oriented teams to deliver transformational projects at both ANU and UWA, and supported the operational requirements of the largest fundraising achievement in WA history – the $400M Create the Future campaign at UWA.