OUR TEAM
Unisson Disability’s Board is made up of a team of talented people united in their passion for creating possibilities for the people our work touches to live their best life. Our Board members bring significant and wide-ranging skills and experience to their roles. Together, they are committed to helping Unisson Disability continue to grow as a provider of high quality disability services whose key difference lies in the extraordinary connections we make with those we support and their families.
Unisson Disability’s Executive and Senior Leaders assist in formulating our overall strategic direction, and are responsible for its implementation, along with managing resources and operations. Our senior leaders are highly skilled individuals from a variety of backgrounds, each of whom is passionate about bringing their unique skills and experience to the table in order to create opportunities with the people we work with to live their best life. Supported by more than 60 like-minded and capable leaders throughout the organisation, Unisson Disability’s success is a truly collaborative effort.
Board of Directors
Steven Gregg
Chairman
B Comm
Steven is a highly experienced investment and commercial banker with extensive Australian and international executive experience. He held various positions with ABN AMRO including President and Global Head of Investment Banking, UK. He was also employed at Chase Manhattan, Lehman Brothers and AMP Morgan Grenfell. His most recent executive role was as Expert Partner at McKinsey & Company in Australia and the US. His current non-executive roles include senior advisor with McKinsey & Co and as senior consultant to Grant Samuel.
Steve has been the Chairman of Caltex Australia Ltd since August 2017 and he is the Chairman of Lorna Hodgkinson Foundation and Unisson Disability Limited. His former roles include Chairman of Austock Group Limited and Chairman of Goodman Fielder Pty Limited. He serves as Trustee of the Australian Museum Trust, and as a Non-executive Director of Challenger Limited, Challenger Life Company Limited, William Inglis & Son Ltd and TabCorp Holdings Limited.
PREVIOUS
Steven Gregg
Chairman
David Hardy
B COMM, MBA, MA
David’s 25 year career in corporate strategy development spans many industries.
He was Head of Strategy for the Insurance Australia Group, holding leadership roles with the consulting firms Accenture and McKinsey & Co prior to that. Currently mixing consulting and teaching, David is on the adjunct faculty of the Australian Graduate School of Management where he leads a strategic consulting project class. He has worked on a broad range of strategy and operations improvement projects in many industries across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and North America. David’s involvement with Unisson Disability has also been of a personal nature, as his brother Richard has been supported by the organisation for 45 years. David is constantly impressed with Unisson Disability’s leadership and the passionate commitment of all its staff to helping people with disability lead their best lives.
David Hardy
Peter Horton
B BUS, A.C.A
Peter has had over 40 years’ experience in accounting and finance roles.
He previously practiced as a Chartered Accountant, retiring as a partner from KPMG in 2001. This was followed by roles as Director of Finance & Accounting for Event Hospitality and Entertainment Limited and CFO and Company Secretary for Carlton Investments Limited, where he still serves.
Peter joined the Board of Unisson Disability in 1999 as Treasurer. He enjoys using the skills gained throughout his career to assist Unisson Disability in meeting its objectives of providing support to people with intellectual disability. Through his close involvement with the organisation, Peter has developed a great admiration for the families and employees involved in our work.
Peter Horton
Alex Gelman
OAM, GAICD, M COMM, CPA
Alex brings over 25 years of practical business and technology experience, focusing on strategic technology advice, business technology transformation, cloud solutions and strategies to compete in the digital age. Previously, Alex founded C9 Solution and Consult Point, plus was the National Head of Technology Advisory at Grant Thornton Australia.
Currently, Alex is an Executive Director at Care Support Network and a Partner at Strategy Assist.
Alex Gelman
Roberta Ryan
BA(HONS), B.SOC.SC(HONS), GRADDIP
Professor Roberta Ryan from the University of Newcastle is a leading social policy, program evaluation and stakeholder engagement practitioner and researcher, with over 30 years’ experience in academia and consulting across Australia and internationally. A qualified social worker, Roberta has specialised skills in large multi-service evaluations, service development, delivery and applied policy research. She has also worked for a number of non-government agencies in direct practice and management roles and has designed and undertaken a range of complex government and non-government policy advisory and applied policy projects. Roberta’s extensive experience includes working with people with disability and their families in applied policy, service review, evaluation and service management. Her work in the disability field includes projects for government, non-government agencies, peak and advocacy organisations, including the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care, the NSW Disability Council, Family Advocacy NSW, Centacare, Burnside, Jewish Welfare and UnitingCare. Prior to joining UTS, Roberta was a director of a private consulting firm.
Roberta Ryan
Dr Gillian Brooks
BA (PSYCH), MBBS HONS. FRACP
Dr Gillian Brooks is a specialist paediatrician and Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Paediatrics and Child Health). She has extensive experience in community child health and developmental paediatrics, general paediatrics and paediatric rehabilitation.
As Senior Staff Specialist Developmental Paediatrician and Team Leader for Children’s Hospital Westmead (Parramatta Early Childhood Assessment Team), Dr Brooks leads a multidisciplinary team in the service of paediatric patients and their families. She has extensive experience across the assessment, diagnosis and management of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Dr Brooks strongly supports a holistic approach to the treatment of children, which takes into consideration their family environment, as well as their social, cultural and linguistic needs, and revolves around taking a partnership approach with families. She has a special interest in quality improvement projects and in research related to service delivery and building the capacity of individuals with a disability to lead a full life.
Dr Gillian Brooks
Rodney Timm
Rodney brings over 35 years’ extensive experience in the construction and real estate industry and has had business involvement across the property lifecycle, including maintenance, facilities and property management, real estate agency, finance, valuation, development, and funds management. Rodney has also provided consultancy and strategic planning services to various sectors including, property funds management, government, corporate real estate and the not-for-profit sector.
His in-depth property sector knowledge includes commercial offices, business and industrial parks, retail and shopping malls, affordable housing, specialised residential, public and social housing, student and key-worker accommodation, assisted living and retirement villages as well as lifestyle projects.
Rodney has also held various executive/non-executive directorships in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors, many still ongoing.
Rodney Timm
Rebecca Fletcher
Rebecca Fletcher has been a part of Unisson Disability since 1988.
Rebecca has extensive experience across a number of industries including banking and finance, manufacturing and the disability sector and has worked in both Australia and the broader Asia Pacific region. Rebecca holds formal tertiary and post graduate qualifications in Accounting, Human Resources Management, Company Director, NFP Management and Teaching. She was accepted as a Fellow with the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2005 she became CEO and was responsible for developing and communicating Unisson Disability’s strategic direction, and for leading and guiding its operations. Rebecca acted as the key point of contact between the Board of Directors and the Senior Leadership Team and was responsible for bringing to life Unisson Disability’s vision, purpose and values. In 2018 Rebecca retired as CEO of Unisson, however, continues to be a part of the organisation as a non-executive board member, for both Unisson Disability and the Lorna Hodgkinson Foundation.
Rebecca Fletcher
Executive Leadership Team
David Kneeshaw
Chief Executive Officer
David has more than 20 years’ experience in both technical and commercial finance management roles.
He has had significant international experience, having worked in the UK, US and Australia, with long tenures in a top 4 professional services firm and a top 100 listed global organisation. David brings to Unisson exceptional skills in balancing high level strategy with operational responsibilities, and has extensive experience developing strong relationships at all levels of complex and diverse businesses. David comes to Unisson with a strong passion for the people we support and ensuring exceptional business practices are in place to support the sustainability of the organisation.
David Kneeshaw
Chief Executive Officer
Karen Bird
General Manager, Shared Living
Karen has tertiary qualifications in Social Science and Community Sector Coordination and has been working in the disability sector on and off since 1998.
Karen is passionate about building positive relationships, getting to know people and understanding their story. In 2002 she travelled to the Middle East and Africa, where she lived for a few years. In 2005, Karen returned to Unisson Disability, as part of the leadership team. Karen is motivated by the ongoing changes in the disability sector. She feels excited about the future and what it holds for the people Unisson Disability supports and their families.
Karen Bird
General Manager, Shared Living
Ben Droll
General Manager, Community Services
Ben has a Masters in Health Science and extensive experience working in the disability sector for more than 25 years. Ben's experience includes leading transformation and innovation in organisations to achieve strategic goals and provide quality services for people with disability. Ben brings to Unisson a strong track record in leadership roles, most recently working as Chief Strategy Officer at Breakthru.
Ben is passionate about delivering inclusive and contemporary services for people with disabilities where everyone has the opportunity to live their best life. Ben also has a keen focus on building a high-performing culture, where people are committed to achieving the best outcomes for people.
Ben Droll
General Manager, Community Services
Julie Brown
General Manager, Practice, Quality & Safety
Julie brings over 35 years’ experience in the human services and state and local government sectors to her current role. She has been fortunate to have worked in a diverse range of roles including, accommodation services in the disability and homeless sectors, advocacy and community development roles, management of multidisciplinary support teams providing services to people with a disability, management of state home care services and project officer roles including the establishment of the reportable incidents function.
Julie has also held a number of roles in professional standards units across government and has worked in a variety of investigation roles with a NSW watchdog body, including most recently as a Principal Investigator. Julie also looks forward to exploring opportunities to make the broader community more accessible to people with disability.
Julie Brown
General Manager, Practice, Quality & Safety
Paul Denahy
General Manager, People, Learning & Culture
Paul has had extensive experience working in both the retail and aged care sectors for the past 20 years. From managing complex industrial disputes, negotiated enterprise agreements with multi-national companies and developing and implementing cultural change programs; he loves the challenges each day brings. Paul worked for the retail union for 10 years before moving into Human Resources for a large aged care provider. His experience allows him to bring a balanced approach to all people matters with a focus on delivering outcomes that deliver change.
Paul loves to see people grow and develop and shares a vision of Unisson being the highlight of our employee’s working careers.
Paul Denahy
General Manager, People, Learning & Culture
