Committee Members for 2023
Bruce Byrnes
Our Treasurer since 2017.
Bruce is a chartered accountant, business advisor and partner at Accru Perth.
He has been on the Main Committee since about 2018 and looks after our accounts, keeping us on the straight and narrow!
Sophie Chamberlain BA Hons (UWE, UK)
Sophie is one of the founding committee members. She was born in WA but brought up in the UK and returned to Perth in 1994 with her husband, Paul (past committee member), to make the most of the West Australian lifestyle. She worked in the IT industry until their 2 children came along and her outlook on life was changed forever. She wants to be able to impact positively on the quality of life in WA today and for the future.
She is a Board Member for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy as well as her family foundation. Through this last, she and Paul can achieve many things but being part of Impact100 WA enables greater understanding and knowledge of the WA landscape as well as creating opportunities for others to experience the pleasure and satisfaction that comes with philanthropy.
Sophie loves her work on the Grants Committee and is also the primary producer of the emails and communications that go out to donors.
She has been on the Main Committee since the beginning!
Karen Cheng
Karen works as a Principal Design Consultant, specialising in User Experience Design and Software Delivery, weaving together human-centred design, innovative problem solving, cutting-edge cloud technology and agile software delivery.
She has been part of our committee, a Co-Chair of Arts and Culture focus area and on the Communications Sub-Committee (as part of which, she re-designed our all-important website). She is passionate about building up communities of like-minded people in art & design, technology and women in STEM.
She has been on the Main Committee since 2017.
Cécile Crochu
Cécile relocated to Perth after a 20-year career in investment banking across London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. She joined Impact100 WA shortly afterwards. She was immediately enthused by the model of collective giving – a gathering of a varied, but like-minded, group of people with a common interest in making our beautiful state a better place for all.
Cécile takes an active role in the selection process as it is a great way to understand some of the social challenges in WA and the good work that is being done to address them.
As part of the Grants Committee and the Finance Review Committee, Cécile particularly enjoys the due diligence process that helps identify the finalists, and meeting many inspiring people along the journey.
She has been on the Main Committee since about 2018.
Simone Eley BCom (UWA), ACA
Simone is a founding committee member and our current Chair. When Impact100 WA began, she was the Western Australian Manager for Australian Philanthropic Services who establish, administer and provide services to Private Ancillary Funds. Simone is qualified as a Chartered Accountant. She has worked in accounting, commercial banking, institutional property financing, as a financial analyst and business manager for Marsh insurance broking.
Upon returning to work after her 2 children were born, Simone wanted to change career direction and work in the not-for-profit sector. Soon after starting in the sector, the opportunity to help establish Impact100 WA arose. She loved the concept and also involved were an enthusiastic and professional group of founders. It was an easy decision. She liked the idea of donating, but being part of something larger. Additionally, you could achieve a significant impact with the accumulated donations and see those results.
She has been on the committee since the beginning!
Matt Gent
Matt is a commercial, property and estate planning lawyer with Hale Legal, a firm he jointly founded in 2013. Matt is a director of a property management and development group of companies called Tangent Property Group.
More importantly Matt is a husband and father of two daughters.
Matt’s initial involvement with Impact100 came by way of the provision of some pro bono legal work. After learning more about the organisation, the concept of collective giving and what Impact100 was doing for the WA community,
He has been on the Main Committee since 2020.
Michelle Johnston BCom UWA, Grad.Dip Finance
Michelle has recently joined the committee after being involved in the Impact100 Events Sub-Committee and the Financial Review process for grant applicants. She was born in WA but spent most of her adult life in Sydney in a banking career with Westpac Bank. Michelle returned to Perth in 2021 with her husband, Iain and their two young boys, to make the most of the West Australian lifestyle. She worked in senior management roles at Westpac and was most recently the Regional General Manager for Westpac’s Commercial banking office based out of Fremantle.
In April 2022, Michelle and Iain embarked on their dream of owning and operating their own business. They purchased Country Pak Wholesalers, a fruit and vegetable wholesale business operating out of Perth markets in Canning Vale. Through Country Pak, Michelle was able to put her interest in philanthropy to good use, supporting projects such as:
- The Laverton Cycling Project – an indigenous, youth and community cycling program in remote Western Australia.
- Manna School Breakfast Program – currently supporting 50 schools and providing 5000 meals a week through the Kids Breakfast Program. Country Pak donate fruit for school lunches to kids who need it on a weekly basis.
Michelle loves her work on the Impact100 Events Committee and is also a keen contributor to the work that goes on is assessing the annual grant applications.
Michelle Morgan BCom
Michelle was born and raised in country Western Australia. After completing school and University in Perth, Michelle started her career at the ASX in Perth, a role that then took her to ASX Sydney in 2001. Sydney was home for 18 years where Michelle worked for the ASX and various fund managers as a financial services consultant. After many happy years in Sydney, Michelle with her husband, Alistair, and their three children decided to relocate to Perth at the end of 2019.
Upon arriving in Perth, Michelle & Alistair were introduced to Impact100 WA and joined as a Donors and members of the Finance Review Sub-Committee. So impressed with the Impact100 model of collective giving, and professionalism of the Committee and grants process, Michelle was keen to engage further and joined the Impact100 WA Committee at the end of 2020. She has taken on organising our Events with gusto!
Michelle loves the fact that the whole family can become engaged in collective giving within the WA community, with her children also participating in the 2020 and 2021 Young Impact program
She has been on the Main Committee since late 2020.
Felicity Ruse
Felicity emigrated to Australia in 1976 and successfully established then sold two new-to-Perth property companies, Leasing Elite (1984) and Private Properties (1994). She has a keen interest in Aboriginal art, and is joint owner of Silverstream Wines in Denmark WA. Felicity served on the Fremantle Press board for more than ten years, serving as deputy chair for seven of those years.
Felicity has been a regular supporter to Impact100 WA for more than ten years, giving her time as the committee’s co-chair for the Arts Focus Group. In 2022 and 2023, she served as the first Chair of the Arts Impact WA selection committee.
Wendy Scott-Hamilton
Wendy left the UK aged 19 and fell in love with Australia, the weather and the lifestyle and so made it her home.
Wendy works as a Director of the JBWere Philanthropic Services team and through this work has come to understand deeply the contemporary issues that for-purpose organisations are facing. She is passionate about helping to solve some of the systemic problems that we face in society and sees collective giving as a great way to encourage everyone to get involved and have a say.
Outside of work, Wendy is just as passionate about supporting organisations that do good. As well as volunteering extensively throughout South East Asia, she has run three marathons and an ultra-marathon to raise funds for a number of charities.
She has been on the Main Committee since 2019.
Donor Engagement Coordinator
Lia Simmonds BCom, BArts
Donor engagement is the key to Impact100 WA’s longevity and success. The more donors we have, the more grants we can award to deserving and effective organisations in our state.
In 2019, the Impact100 WA Committee came together and decided that in order to continue to grow donor numbers and its level of impact, they needed to hire a part time staff member.
Thanks to the Minderoo Foundation, Ramsay Healthcare and a few other generous supporters of Impact100 WA, we employed Impact100 WA’s first Donor Engagement Coordinator.
Past Committee Members
Emma Bedbrook
After completing a Physical and Health Education degree at UWA Emma started her career at Clough Engineering in Workplace Training and Education.
Emma and her husband Simon later moved to Victoria and co-owned bakery businesses in country Victoria. She continued to work in workplace training, recruitment and expanding the business.
She has coordinated many fundraising and community events for community groups and charities. One of her favourite programs she has been involved in is the Kids Together; Sharing Cultures Sharing
Schools established by Swanbourne Primary and La Grange Community school in Bidyadanga.
Emma has been part of Impact100WA since the beginning and joined the committee in 2016. Her 3 children are supporters of YoungImpact and her husband Simon was our founding Chair.
Her main role on the committee is organising events such as Generous Australians and the Grants Dinner. Emma also works with the Grant winners while they are implementing their projects and helps connect the donors with Grant Winners.
Simon Bedbrook
Simon is the outgoing Chair of Impact100 WA and a founding committee member. He is also Managing Director of an investment and retirement planning practice, is a Director of the Paraplegic Benefit Fund and is on the State Chapter of the Family Business Association. Simon has a number of clients who are actively involved in philanthropy via Private Ancillary Funds and was keen to be involved with Impact100 WA as a means to pool funds and make a greater contribution to the WA Community.
James Boyd
James Boyd sourced the Impact100 model from the US and is a founding committee member. He is the State Manager WA of Creative Partnerships Australia, a Commonwealth Government agency encouraging cross sector partnerships and private sector support of the arts and cultural sector.
In 2007, he completed the Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders in the Arts at Stanford University in California where he become interested in US models of collaborative philanthropy. A FIA Perpetual Scholarship allowed him to return to California and Washington State in 2011 to interview inspiring founders of a range of collective giving groups, including Impact100 Sonoma.
Since then, James has championed the development of collective giving in Australia and, after helping form Impact100WA, assisted new groups form in Fremantle, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Tasmania. He believes collaborative giving allows us all to participate in powerful philanthropy, will grow generosity and capacity build communities. He is the National Convenor of Collective Giving Australia.
Although James is no longer formally on our committee, we still regularly use him as a sounding board!
Martin Caplice
Martin is a Tax Controversy Partner at Ernst and Young. We lost him when he relocated back to Sydney.
Paul Chamberlain
Paul is a founding committee member, involved in those very first conversations over a bottle (or two) of red wine! He was born and raised in England where he worked in the tobacco and the life assurance industries. After a year spent travelling he met Sophie in Fiji. Both of them had loved their time in Australia and decided to come back here for a couple of years once they got married. They have now lived in Perth for 25 years and raised their children here. In Australia he has been involved in the automotive and property industries.
An interest in Philanthropy came about through involvement in their family foundation and the belief that the more fortunate of us should help out those who are struggling. He feels that Impact100 WA is a great introduction to philanthropy and a chance for families and friends to get involved in an efficient, targeted grant-making organisation that will benefit this state of ours.
Although he is no longer on the Main Committee, Paul is our faithful MC for the Grant Awards Dinner each year and has been conducting the interviews with our Generous Australians.
Gavin Cooke
Gavin has a background in business and we made the most of his strategic skills. He also took on the role of Co-ordinator for YoungImpact for three important years.
Sally Everist
Sally describes herself as a Connector. She has worked with and for not for profit organisations helping raise their profile and funds for past 30 years. Sadly, she relocated back to the UK in 2014.
Iris Koornstra Dip M, BA Hons, MA
Iris was one of the founding members of Impact100 WA and was the cornerstone of our communications activities, as well as helping to start up the YoungImpact100 arm. She has subsequently taken on a board role for our 2015 winner, Sensorium Theatre – a perfect example of ways in which Impact100 WA can make a difference for the smaller not-for-profits in WA.
Loretta MacDonald
Loretta was a committee member at the very beginning and stepped down in 2016. Previously, she worked with children with special needs, in mainstream and special schools, prior to moving to Sydney with husband Kevin, in 1996. In Sydney, she continued teaching in mainstream schools. Also commenced working with and volunteering for a number of organisations providing support services for the elderly and disadvantaged.
Loretta returned to Perth in 2010 to take on the care of elderly parents. Loretta and Kevin have been supporting a variety of charities for many years. Particular areas of interest include education and support services for the disadvantaged, and support services for the elderly.
Michael Pyne
Michael has been a donor to Impact100 WA for many years now. He is a Certified Financial Planner with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning. Michael is an owner at HPH Solutions, an FPA Professional Practice and a Director of HPH Financial Planning Pty Ltd.
Rory Thomson
Rory was one of the founding committee members and was involved in the infamous ‘early discussions’ over that bottle (or two) of red wine. He is a director of Wealth Management at Patersons Securities Ltd.
Franca Sala Tenna
Franca heard about Impact100 in its founding year and was so excited about the idea of collective giving that she became a donor and has loved being involved ever since. Franca is thankful for all the opportunities and all the people that have contributed to her life and sees that she has a responsibility with what she has been given to give back in time, money and the skills she has. Franca joined the Main Committee in 2015 and finished up in 2019 but she still co-ordinates all our pitch training for finalists every year.
In her professional life Franca is a lawyer and is the Director of EEO Specialists a training and consulting company that provides innovative training programs for organisations in relation to workplace harassment, discrimination and bullying.
Lucy Westcott
Lucy and her husband have been a long time supporters of Impact100 WA and Lucy has a background in grant-making and assessment. We are delighted that she is supporting the work of our Grants Committee on a regular basis.
She was been on the Main Committee from 2017 – 2021.