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Lirata’s Board and staff have the expertise to make a difference. We understand the education, health and community services sectors because we have worked in those sectors ourselves over many years. We have delivered services, managed organisations, conducted research, audited performance and advocated for change. We know the strategic environment and the operational reality of these fields from the inside out.
Our senior staff have led complex projects on behalf of funders and service providers across Australia. We assemble a custom team for each engagement with the skills and experience to achieve great outcomes every time.
Our Board
Celia Clapp
Board Deputy Chair
Celia has extensive leadership and practice experience in the community and not for profit sectors, through a range of management, consulting and quality roles.
Dharshika Sabanathan
Director
Dr. Dharshika Sabanathan is a Principal in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory practice, with experience in leading multinational transformations in response to digital, cultural and regulatory change.
Jessica Williamson
Director
Jessica is a human rights lawyer, specialising in refugee and immigration law.
Jia Xie
Director
Jia is a financial analyst and risk management and compliance expert with experience in the aged care, disability and community housing sectors.
Justin Welfare
Board Chair
Justin is a quality and compliance professional with strong experience within Australia’s health and community sectors, including Aboriginal Medical Services.
Nicole Bluett-Boyd
Director
Nicole is a criminologist with an extensive research and consultancy background in gender based violence, First Nations justice, and criminal justice processes.
Our Staff
Alex Gruenewald
Consultant (Evaluation Specialist)
Alex has over a decade of experience in participatory design, monitoring, evaluation and learning processes in complex programming environments.
Athar Shafaei
Research Officer
Athar has extensive research experience and expertise in designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research.
Hadijah Tamam
Administration Coordinator
Hadijah is an experienced administrator with a track record of many years work in the education and hospitality sectors, in Singapore and Australia.
Kate Randall
Capacity Building Coordinator
Kate is a values-driven trainer, consultant and manager with expertise in design, monitoring, evaluation and capacity building.
Katie Ronson
Consultant (Evaluation Specialist)
Katie is an equity-focused evaluator with strong experience across sectors including community legal services, homelessness and elder abuse prevention and response services.
Leannda Read
Senior Consultant
Dr. Leannda Read has strong executive management expertise and a track record of delivering complex consulting projects across Australia.
Mark Planigale
Chief Executive Officer
Mark is a high-profile consultant who has led Lirata's work since 2010. Mark combines expertise in research and evaluation, organisational development, social work practice, IT and social justice advocacy.
Martin Goldzieher
Research Officer
Martin has extensive experience in research, evaluation and data analysis in the disability, education and homelessness sectors.
Nich Rogers
Senior Consultant
Nich is a consultant and social justice advocate with 25 years experience working across the health and community services sectors.
Our Associates
Anne Leonard
Associate Consultant
Anne is an experienced senior manager and consultant with extensive expertise in service management, development, planning, evaluation and review.
Christine Dean
Associate Consultant
Based in New Zealand/ Aotearoa, Christine is a Director of Impact Health and an experienced manager and auditor of large and complex organisations.
Christine Stankowski
Associate Consultant
Christine provides specialist consultancy which supports organisations to achieve their goals through more effectively engaging and managing volunteers.
Elaine Hendrick
Associate Consultant
Elaine Hendrick has over 25 years experience in the not-for-profit, government and non-government sectors in Australia and Singapore.
Emma Pritchard
Associate Consultant
Emma is an evaluator with more than 20 years’ evaluation and research experience, who specialises in the not-for-profit, Victorian community legal and international development sectors.
Eva Sarr
Associate Consultant
Eva is a mixed methods evaluator specialising in culturally responsive, equitable, participatory, and collaborative evaluation approaches with multicultural and multifaith communities.
Jillian Marsh
Associate Consultant
Dr. Jillian Marsh is an Adnyamathanha person with experience in community-based social research. She has worked in public health, school and tertiary education, and legal aid.
Linda McCrorey
Associate Consultant
Linda has worked in the health and community services sector as a practitioner, manager, director and auditor for over 30 years.
Rachael Pallenberg
Associate Consultant
Rachael is an executive manager, practitioner and consultant, with extensive experience in service delivery and leadership roles in family violence and sexual assault support services and prevention programs.
Vivienne Cunningham-Smith
Associate Consultant
Viv has long experience in executive leadership roles across a range of sectors, and is a specialist in outcomes-based planning and outcomes measurement.
