The ACNC Advisory Board supports and advises the ACNC Commissioner. The Board is appointed by the Minister and consists of up to eight 'general members' with expertise in the not-for-profit sector, law, taxation or accounting, and office holders. The Board also currently includes one ‘ex officio’ member who is appointed to the Board because they hold a specified office.

General members are appointed for a term of up to three years. Ex officio members remain on the Board for as long as they hold the specified office. The Board meets quarterly.

The current Advisory Board members were re-appointed in July 2020 and their terms will expire between August and November 2023.

See summaries of previous Advisory Board meetings.

Advisory Board members

Tony Stuart

Chair

Tony Stuart is the Chair of the ACNC Advisory Board, a member of the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership and recently Chaired the Charity, Philanthropy and Fundraising Advisory Committee to the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission. He is the Chief Executive Officer of UNICEF Australia. Previously Tony was the Group Chief Executive Officer of National Roads and Motorists’ Association, one of Australia’s largest not-for-profit organisations. He is a former Director of the Heart Research Institute, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

A/Prof Martin Laverty

Deputy Chair

Dr Martin Laverty is Deputy Chair of the ACNC Advisory Board. He is Chief Executive of Aruma, and national disability services charity. In previous roles he has been Chief Executive of the Australian Medical Association, The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Catholic Health Australia, and the NSW Muscular Dystrophy Association. He was an inaugural Director of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Chair of the Heart Foundation and disability charities Unison Disability and Challenge Southern Highlands. Dr Laverty was also a member of the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission advisory group of charities.

He is currently a director of the international aid organisation Caritas Australia and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia’s Not-for-Profits Initiative. A lawyer by training, Dr Laverty’s doctorate is in board director contributions to charitable organisation outcomes.

David Pigott

General member

David Pigott is a board member of Uniting NSW.ACT and a member of the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing. He was previously an executive at Mission Australia and has been an adviser to federal and state governments including serving as private secretary to the NSW Premier. David is a former non-executive director of ChildFund Australia and until recently was Chair of the Ella Centre, a disability and aged services support charity in Sydney’s Inner West.

Heather Watson

General member

Heather Watson is a specialist charity lawyer with experience across the not-for-profit sector. She holds a number of non-executive appointments across the charity sector including as Chair of Uniting in NSW and ACT and the Epic Good Foundation and as a director with Uniting (Victoria and Tasmania), Australian Regional and Remote Community Services, and National Affordable Housing Consortium.

Peter Hogan

General member

Peter Hogan is a Chartered Accountant with over 50 years of experience. Peter began his career at the ATO before moving into the private sector and becoming a corporate tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Since his retirement from PwC, Peter has served on the Boards of a number of listed public companies on the ASX and the Singapore Stock Exchange. Peter has also served as Deputy Chair of Villa Maria Catholic Homes Ltd, Director and Treasurer of Edmund Rice Foundation (Australia) Ltd and is a former Board Chair of St Bernard’s College, Essendon. Peter currently serves on the Board of Don Bosco (Brunswick) Youth Foundation Inc.

Ex-officio members

Dini Soulio

Dini Soulio is the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs and Liquor and Gambling with Consumer & Business Services (CBS) in South Australia. CBS has a broad portfolio which includes regulation of charities. Dini’s background is as a solicitor in private practice, working in the areas of insurance, workers compensation and criminal law. He has also held senior regulatory roles with Customs and ASIC.