ACNC Advisory Board

Sarah has had a wide-ranging career from executive roles in tertiary education to private sector consulting in Australia and overseas. For the last 20 years she has held leadership and executive positions in the charity and for-purpose sector.

In 2021 Sarah joined the Alannah & Madeline Foundation as the CEO. The Foundation works to make sure children can grow up happy, safe and strong – in both their online and offline worlds, free from violence, and with the support and strategies they need to thrive.

Sarah also serves on a range of Boards and committees. Her current community governance roles include Chair of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Advisory Board, non-executive director of the Sisterhood Foundation, and Board Member of the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD).

Sara is a seasoned governance leader with a career in steering organisations through complex transitions and growth, particularly within the not-for-profit sector.

She has played a pivotal role in enhancing board composition, risk management, and strategic governance across various organisations, including charities in the transport and logistics, community and health space.

Sara is also an independent member of the ACNC’s Performance, Audit and Risk Committee.

A Yorta Yorta man, Ian has extensive government and community sector experience, particularly at executive and governance levels. Ian has overseen major policy and strategic reforms for government and community organisations. He works with people from a vast array of backgrounds, managing complex and sensitive relationships to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Ian was CEO of a major Aboriginal community organisation from January to August 2018.

Ian chairs and is a member of a number of boards, including the Indigenous Land & Sea Corporation, the Community Broadcast Foundation, Connecting Home, the Koorie Heritage Trust, Holmesglen TAFE and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He is also devoting himself to improving the representation of Aboriginal people on boards and other high level governance, through strategic action, advocacy and mentoring.

Nick is the Founder and CEO of Befriend, a vibrant community building non-profit established in Western Australia in 2010 to address isolation and loneliness through community-led connecting efforts.

Through Befriend’s community building projects, Nick connects with many new and emerging grassroots community groups and next-generation charities. Nick brings experiences in social entrepreneurship, innovation, social justice, inclusion and resilience.

Dr Rosy Walia GAICD is Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary of Multicultural Care, an ACNC-registered charity providing aged care, disability, health and community services.

She has more than 25 years’ leadership experience across the not-for-profit, community and health sectors, with expertise in governance, strategy, regulatory compliance and organisational growth.

Dr Walia is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served on a range of boards, committees and advisory groups at state and national levels.

She brings extensive experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing charities, community organisations and the people they serve.

Ian is a Professor in the Law School at the University of Western Australia, researching and teaching at the intersection between Not-for-profit Law, Tax and Corporate Governance. He has published widely on charity tax concessions, charity regulation, accumulation of assets by charities, tax administration and resource taxation from the perspectives of tax policy, equity, trusts, property law, corporations law and regulatory theory.

Ian is chair of the board of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Charity and Not-for-profit Law Committee.

He has a particular interest in the manner in which law and regulatory practices apply to organisations, informed by a number of years’ experience as a practitioner advising on corporate tax, not-for-profit law and governance issues, philanthropy and on resource and energy industry tax and charity law issues.

Alice has been specialising governance, compliance, tax and structuring for existing charities and foundations, as well as for corporates and new charities since 2000.

She is the leader of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Charity Law practice which is recognised throughout Australia.

Alice is passionate about improving and simplifying the laws applying to charities and has seen many changes over this time, including welcoming the introduction of the ACNC. Alice focuses on clear and concise explanations of the requirements for charities and has written many papers and conducted workshops to help compliance and understanding of the laws.

Alice is chair of the Law Council of Australia’s Charity and NFP Law Committee and has been on the board of several charities.

Krystian has extensive experience shaping the policy and regulatory frameworks for Australia’s not-for-profit sector. He currently serves as the Executive Director for Policy and Sector Development at the peak body Philanthropy Australia.

Between 2023 and 2024, Krystian was an Associate Commissioner at the Productivity Commission, where he jointly led the Commission’s inquiry into philanthropy. As an adviser to a previous Assistant Treasurer in the Australian Government between 2012 and 2013, Krystian managed the delivery of major not-for-profit sector reforms, including the establishment of the ACNC and the introduction of the Charities Act 2013.

Krystian is a Non-Executive Director of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, and an Adjunct Industry Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology.