Our People
Our People
Board Members
Executive
David Keay – Chairperson
David Keay, is a retail executive with over 20 years of experience and believes that a focus on people, genuine and committed leadership, and consistent coaching are the critical elements in creating a successful business unit.
David has performed many roles and has been responsible for leading broad and diverse teams including buying, planning, product development, marketing, creative design, finance, retail sales and operations, visual merchandising and Ecommerce, consistently focused on aligning them to brand goals.
David is experienced in developing and implementing product and commercial marketing strategies that drive sales and gross margin in the retail space. He has a passion for speed to market production, responding to customer demand, and maintaining nimble inventory, have been key to driving strong profit outcomes.
He also has a strong financial acumen, which includes detailed P&L and open to buy management.
Erica Russ
Erica is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Field Education in Social Work and Community Welfare at Southern Cross University having previously worked at the University of New England. Erica holds a PhD in Social Work.
Erica has over 30 years of industry experience in government as a social worker in child protection, youth, and family services including work in rural and regional areas. She brings extensive strategic management experience including being responsible for the rollout of state-wide policy and programs and having been a Regional Director with the child protection department in Queensland where she was responsible for service delivery and working with partner agencies on regional community initiatives.
In her academic roles, Erica has taught multiple subjects in addition to leading the field education programs where she has work with partner agencies to development innovative placements for social work and community welfare students. Erica is an active researcher with research interests including child and family welfare, social work education, rural social work, and welfare workforce.
Jeff Egan
Jeff was born and raised in Sydney where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Sydney.
After working as an employed Solicitor for 18 months in Parramatta, in 1980 he moved to Murwillumbah where he opened a legal practice with his late wife. It was a general legal practice covering many aspects of law. Jeff obtained Law Society Accreditation as a Business Law Specialist. He sold that practice in February 2018 and acted as a consultant to the practice until August 2018 when he retired.
He has served on the Management Committees of two not for profit organisations in the education and parish administration fields as well as being the District Governor in 2021/22 for the Rotary District 9640.
Jeff now lives at Tweed Heads.
Pam Mitchell
Pam comes from Sydney. She moved to the Northern Rivers in 1999. She has a Bachelor of Business and Advanced Diploma in Community Sector Management as well as Diploma in Community Services.
Pam has 30 plus years of experience working in Community Services, Disability Services and in Training. She teaches remotely on a fly in fly out basis to Moura and is also a support worker and Support Coordinator in the NDIS.
She is JP ( Accredited) Queensland and a Director of Community Work Australia.
She has worked in many local Community-based businesses and is experienced in the management of them.
She recently returned to the Family Centre Board after a break of 4 years.
Belinda Hall
Belinda Hall is the owner of Cameo Bookkeeping, based in Pottsville, where she leads a professional team providing bookkeeping, compliance and financial management support to small and medium-sized businesses and not for profits across Australia. She is a qualified Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) with deep experience in finance, governance and strategic planning.
Prior to establishing her own practice, Belinda spent more than a decade at NORTEC Employment and Training Ltd, a large not-for-profit organisation, where she was instrumental in strengthening financial controls, supporting successful tender bids, and contributing to organisational growth through her stewardship of finance, IT and marketing functions. She has also led community-focused programs and social enterprise initiatives, bringing both governance and grassroots service experience to her volunteer roles.
Belinda is a huge believer in volunteering and supporting organisations with her expertise and has held volunteer roles with local sporting clubs and other community based organisations.
David Boutkan – Executive Director
David has worked with The Family Centre since 2004, and has over 30 years’ experience in the community services sector. He has worked for a number of NSW and Australian government departments including Family & Community Services, Health and Juvenile Justice, in child protection, out of home care and youth and family work positions. He has also managed community organisations including ground breaking youth accommodation and support service, The Burdekin Association in Sydney.
David has a special interest and experience in community led co-design, integrated service delivery and collective impact approaches. The Family Centre has a demonstrated commitment to program outcome and social impact measurement using a Results Based Accountability framework.
David holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree and a Graduate Certificate in Social Impact from The University of New South Wales.
Steve Simmons
Director Disability Services and Practice Quality
Gerina Appo
Senior Manager Community Services
Jo Blanchard
Senior Manager Communications and Executive Coordination
Brett Carn
Senior Manager Business Systems
Jonathan Taylor
Senior Manager Finance
