Board & Life Members
Our Board of Directors is responsible for Lighthouse Foundation’s overall performance and compliance, providing strategic direction, effective governance and leadership.
Meet Our Board
Although Len has a finance background, he is a creative at heart. His career started at Ernst and Young in a range of roles, culminating as the Supervisor of the Insolvency Division.
In 1984 Len made the shift to join his family’s homebuilding business, Glenvill, which was in a downturn at the time. In his capacity as General Manager, he went about overhauling everything from operations to sales, before being appointed as CEO.
Under his strategic leadership, Glenvill was restructured, rebranded and grew to encompass four specialised, market-leading businesses within the newly formed Glenvill Group. Still taking a hands-on approach, Len puts his self-taught architect and interior designer skills to use, as well as acting as the Creative Director for the group’s renowned YarraBend development.
Guided by the philosophy “Never Ordinary”, Len’s focus on innovation and challenging the status quo has seen the Glenvill Group go from strength-to-strength, all the while delivering exceptional homes.
Susan began caring for vulnerable young people in her own home more than 30 years ago following a life-changing experience as a volunteer when she saw a child die from malnutrition in a Sri Lankan orphanage. This was the catalyst that started her on the Lighthouse journey. She began by opening the first Lighthouse home in 1991. Lighthouse has since raised millions of dollars to radically transform the lives of more than 1000 vulnerable young Australians. Susan has been recognised through multiple awards for driving change in the area of youth homelessness. She was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in 2002; received the Melburnian of the Year award in 2009 and was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women for her significant achievements and contribution to the Victorian community in 2012. Susan has also co-authored two books that feature extensive evidence and hands-on experience collated over the past 25 years.
Susan has worked relentlessly to harness widespread community support and build Lighthouse into an organisation that has grown substantially and helped to truly break the cycle of homelessness. Susan is still on Lighthouse's board and is passionately involved as ever, with her story serving as a constant reminder of the life-changing impacts of our work.
Dean Firth is a partner, dad and business leader who champions Australian businesses to innovate and invest for a better future.
Dean is Head of Business Banking for Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group and a member of the Group’s Executive Committee. With 30 years’ experience in banking and financial services, including 25 years at Macquarie, he’s held a range of leadership and strategic roles over this time. Dean is responsible for the strategy, distribution and growth of the division through banking, platform and strategic partnership solutions, in addition to leading and managing an engaged national team.
Throughout his career, Dean has been an advocate for diversity, inclusion and community giving in our workforce - enabling this in his current role as Executive Sponsor for the Pride Employee Network Group at Macquarie, having previously held the same position for the Families and Carers and the Gender Equality Employee Network Groups.
Experience:
Lorelle held multiple roles within GE in Europe before joining GE Money (Australia & New Zealand), first in the position of Process Integration Manager, then National Program Manager.
Loralle established RedZed Lending Solutions with two other co-founders. Loralle is the Chief Operating Officer and has been responsible for establishing strategic vision, operational objectives and core values, implementation of IT systems, core processes and measurements in a start-up business. Loralle has created a successful business with 74% growth from FY20 to FY21, and has built a team to create a collaborative business culture which maintains an extremely high retention rate.
She was the Co-founder and Director of FMI, an award-winning technology company which she sold in early 2019 to PayApps, a leading global software platform for construction and building operations. Kris joined the board of PayApps at the time of the sale and has been involved in the recent sale of PayApps to Autodesk which has enabled her to recently step off the board. Kris is a graduate of AICD and was appointed the first female Chair of FMA Australia in 2015, and was on the board until 2022. She was recently honoured with a prestigious Life Membership award for her contribution to the FM industry.
Tracy was the Chief Practitioner where she provided strategic advice and policy implementation for government in relation to child welfare, client care, quality and safety, evidence-based best practice workforce initiatives, leadership and practice development. As the Chief Practitioner, she held the role of Executive Director, Office of Professional Practice for the Department of Health and Human Services for over 7 years. Tracy was also Victoria’s Chief Mental Health Nurse prior to this time and involved in significant statewide work including the introduction of SafeWards, gender safety and a range of other specific initiatives. Tracy was also Adjunct Associate Professor with LaTrobe University over this time.
After an extensive career as a Senior Account Manager in Fast Moving Consumer Goods, advertising & marketing with major firms including FCB Global and McCann Erickson in both Melbourne & New York, Amit turned her attention to philanthropic endeavours whilst continuing to work in the travel & events industry as a senior leisure advisor
For more than two decades she has dedicated herself to raising awareness of causes that are close to her heart. Amit has served as an active member of the Peter Mac Art Collection Committee for 20 years and the Fight Cancer Foundation Red Ball Committee for 10 years.
Amit was previously involved in the Lighthouse Foundation’s Fundraising Committee and fundraising activities for Cystic Fibrosis and the Jewish Museum Melbourne.
Mike was the principal master planner and urban designer of the Ellenbrook New Town in Western Australia and in 2004, the recipient of the Russell Taylor Award for Design Excellence for Ellenbrook. Ellenbrook received the International Real Estate Federation [FIABCI] 2015 World Prix d'Excellence Award as the world's best master-planned community.
Place Leaders Asia Pacific bestowed Mike with the 2018 Centrepiece Award | Leadership Excellence in Promoting Walkable Urbanism.
Most recently Mike led the masterplanning for the jointly funded Consolidated Land and Rail Australia | Federal Government Strategic Business Case for the CLARA High Speed Rail and eight sustainable, liveable, connected cities between Sydney and Melbourne.
Mike is a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Life members
Bill has been an active member of the Finance Board sub-committee and supported our Chair, Len Warson, as Deputy Chair. He was also involved with the Remuneration and CEO board sub-committee’s and played a key role in initiating the Annuity Committee with special attention to our Superannuation project 'Sharing for Kids. Bill’s elevation to the position of Life Member is a fitting recognition of the high esteem in which he is held by the Board and the Lighthouse community.