Governance

The Ember Connect board guides the organisation’s strategic direction, oversees management, and ensures compliance with our goals, purpose and strategic objectives. All of the board’s members are independent non-executive directors. Our current directors bring with them a wealth of personal, professional and community experiences and are passionate about our work. They act voluntarily and receive no payment for their services.

Our independently reviewed annual financial report to 31 December 2022 can be viewed by clicking here.

Eve Howell, Chair

Living and working on Whadjuk Country.

Eve has over 40 years of business experience in technical, managerial, executive and board roles in the UK and Australia including being an Executive Vice President of Woodside Energy Ltd and Managing Director of Apache Energy Ltd. She has previously served as a Non-Executive Director of Downer EDI Ltd, MMA Offshore Ltd and Buru Energy Ltd as well as a Board Member of the Fremantle Port Authority, West Australian Ballet and the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd. She is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of the University of Western Australia’s Public Policy Institute. Eve holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Geology and Mathematics from King’s College, London University and an MBA from Heriot Watt University (Edinburgh Business School). She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Michelle Ellis

A proud Koorie woman from Wiradjuri Country, living and working on Whadjuk Country.

Michelle is currently the Program Coordinator – DigiTech in Schools at Edith Cowan University where she oversees the engagement, delivery and implementation of computer and security science activities for high school students. Before joining the academic world, Michelle was a Primary and High school teacher and Principal before moving on to complete her PhD at ECU on Parent/Teacher interactions: The dynamics of social influence. Michelle has lectured in undergraduate and postgraduate programs at Edith Cowan University and Swinburne University in the areas of ‘Working with Indigenous Child’, ‘Youth and their Families’, ‘Learners and Learning’, ‘21st Century Teaching and Learning’, Learning Theories and Practice.

Marilyn Morgan

A proud Western Arrente and Wiradjuri woman, living and working on Wardandi and Bibulmun/Pibelmen Country.

Marilyn Morgan is a qualified physiotherapist, and an Honoured Life Member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. She is Chair of the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Physiotherapists, Director of Kaitijin Mia Mia Aboriginal Foundation (“the Bush University”), Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee, (CTG), the Aboriginal National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF) and a member of Cancer Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Group on Cancer Control. Ms Morgan is a national leader in Aboriginal health, cultural safety education and social and emotional well-being. Ms Morgan was formerly a Commissioner of the Conservation Commission WA and a Director of the Aboriginal Economic Development Council WA.

Jenny Bryant

Living and working on Kulin Country.

Jenny Bryant brings more than 20 years of global executive experience to the organisation. She is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer for Wesfarmers, one of Australia’s leading ASX listed corporations. Her previous roles include Human Resources Director and Business Development Director at Coles, one of Australia’s largest retail employers, where she was responsible for Indigenous employment; her team won the Australian Human Rights Business Award in 2015 for creating employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Jenny holds a Master of Arts (Modern and Medieval Languages) from Kings College, Cambridge. Her earlier career includes roles in operations, sales and marketing, working in countries throughout Europe and Africa, as well as the USA. Jenny is a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW).

Susan Chew

Susan Chew is a solicitor admitted in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, having over 20 years of experience advising a number of multinational corporations in the engineering and resources, technology and utilities sectors on commercial and corporate law. Susan has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and a Bachelor of Laws from Murdoch University. She is also a corporate governance specialist, having completed a Graduate Diploma of Applied Corporate Governance with the Governance Institute of Australia and serves on several boards in the not-for-profit sector. Susan is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Sadie Heckenberg

A proud Wiradjuri woman, living and working on Nipaluna Country.

Associate Professor Sadie Heckenberg has recently been appointed to the position of Academic Director (Aboriginal Engagement) at the University of Tasmania. Prior to that she was the Academic Director (Indigenous Research) and a Senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Fellow within the Moondani Toombadool Centre (MTC) at Swinburne University of Technology. Sadie is the President of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC) and sits on the Universities Accord Ministerial Reference Group and the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts.

A Wiradjuri scholar, Sadie was awarded her PhD in 2018, entitled Nothing About Us Without Us: Protecting Indigenous knowledges through oral histories and culturally safe research practices. Sadie was a Fulbright Scholar based in the Kamakakūokalani Centre for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa, has been a Columbia University Oral History Institute Summer Fellow, a National Library of Australia Norman McCann Summer Scholar, has held a Confucius China Studies Program Young Leaders Fellowship as well as attending Columbia University’s International Summer Program on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Policy.

Sadie also sits on the board of Black Duck Group, on the Universities Australia DVC Corporate Committee, and she has held a ministerial appointment on the Higher Education Standards Panel (2018-2021). Sadie is the Lead CI for Australian Research Council’s Linkage Project: Empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Girls, Changing Communities.