Blue Care
Men's Shed Associaion Pioneer
Maxine Chaseling (nee Kitto) is a pioneer within the history of the Men’s Shed Association. Maxine links a significant chain of events, between 1986 – 1993 which led to the opening of the Goolwa Heritage Club Men’s Shed in February 1993. Maxine was the Coordinator of the Goolwa Heritage Club and worked with the communities across the Goolwa, Pt Elliot & Mt Compass regions to empower retired people to remain active & valued. The men’s movement within the Heritage Club began in 1991, with the building of a gymnasium, followed by the building of the Men’s Shed in 1993, all without government funding. Maxine was active within the South Australian Primary Health Network, establishing an awareness of the unmet needs of retired men and the effects on their health. Since leaving the Heritage Club in 1998, Maxine gained a Masters in International Public Health, worked for 10 years in PNG and 5 years in remote Indigenous Health in Central Australia. Maxine now works for Blue Care in Continuous Quality Improvement, and lives at Oxenford, Gold Coast Hinterland.
Australian Men's Shed Association
Chief Executive Officer
In 2006 David was originally employed by CatholicCare Newcastle as the Coordinator for the Shed at Windale. From 2008-2010 he was provided the latitude to concentrate on the development of the Australian Men’s Shed Association. The idea of creating an Association to collectively represent Men’s Sheds nationally and to freely share information between sheds was conceived at the 2nd National Conference in Manly 2007.
Since then AMSA has grown from strength to strength to what is now regarded as the largest Men’s Association in the country. David has represented AMSA at the Senate Hearing into Men’s Health, the National Roundtable Meeting on the Men’s Health Policy as well as continuously lobbying for the Association and its members at all levels of Government.
Prior to this position David was the General Manager of a large Association, providing an insight into the potential opportunities for AMSA. With experience in administration, marketing and tertiary studies, David also has over 17 years experience in a medium sized family business.
Australian Men's Shed Association
Shed Development Manager
Liz spent 20 years with the NSW Department of Education as a secondary teacher within the Social Services faculty- Geography Economics. During this time she also held numerous welfare related positions. Up until 2011, she worked for a national NGO as a Community Development Manager, project managing a variety of government funded programmes. Whilst in this role, Liz was actively involved in men’s shed development since 2004 and managed the establishment of both Windale and Maitland Men’s Sheds.She has also been successful in submitting grant applications and securing substantial funding from government departments and other funding sources such as the Federal Jobs and Innovations Funds as well as charitable foundations.Liz came to AMSA in July 2011 and currently oversees the Australian Government National Shed Development Grants Programme, the development of resources, supporting existing Men’s Sheds and assisting communities with new shed development.She brings a wealth of knowledge regarding men’s shed development and their sustainability, grant writing and project management.
Associations Forum
John Peacock, General Manager of Associations Forum Pty Ltd, is one of Australia’s most experienced advisors to associations and charities and is a thought leader for the not-for-profit sector. John, with a BCom (University of NSW), has senior management and Directorship experience in a variety of not-for-profit organisations.
John commenced his career as a professional association manager in 1989 at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and became CEO of a medium sized legal association within 10 years.
Since 2000, John has trained and consulted to hundreds of associations and charities, large and small, on strategic, governance, board effectiveness, operations, restructuring and financial issues. As well as engagement on specific projects, John’s business undertakes whole-of-organisation reviews of associations and charities.
John’s operational specialisation is developing plans that can be translated into actions, budgets and job descriptions. His change specialisation is in the field of mergers of associations.
In 2008, John responded to the Australian Senate Inquiry into NFP Regulation, in 2009 he wrote submissions to the Productivity Commission regarding their Inquiry into the Not-for-Profit sector and in 2012 he wrote submissions to Australian Treasury on the proposed Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. In 2014, he drafted a submission in the Royal Commission on Trade Unions.
John has led the expansion of Associations Forum beyond Australia with conferences, training and consulting. Since 2009, he has spoken at association training events in New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, The Philippines, India, USA, South Africa and China.
John Peacock strongly believes that the freedom to associate is a core foundation of democracy. Strong and well-governed associations and charities support their members or their cause, are independent of government and bureaucracy, plus generate jobs for employees and income for suppliers. John welcomes the opportunity to discuss how associations & charities are improving the world – and how to run your organisation to meet its potential.
Australian Men's Shed Association
Business and Compliance Manager
Matt has over 15 years experience as an Executive and Senior Manager in Finance and Accounting roles across public practice, multinationals, education and health industries. For the past 10 years Matt has worked in the not for profit sector and has additional responsibilities in HR, Payroll, Risk Management, IT, Contract Management, Facilities Management and Corporate Governance. Matt is passionate about the not-for-profit sector and has a long track record in consulting with the sector to improve accountability and efficiencies that provide members, clients and the public with improved services and security.
Matt is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and one of his tasks is to provide qualified financial support and advice to AMSA Member Sheds on their requirements to meet statutory obligations.
OrangeSky Australia
General Manager of Operations for OrangeSky.
David was a founding board member of Orange Sky Laundry, and two years on, he continues to be challenged in an environment that is redefining what the public perceive non-for-profit organisations to be capable of. David holds a Bachelor of Engineering (first class honours) from the University of Queensland, and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. He utilises this experience to maximise Orange Sky’s impact in the community and deepen the connections between our friends and volunteers. David puts the entire office to shame with his organisational skills. It’s no surprise that he was once interviewed by Hamish and Andy for owning 53 Hawaiian shirts - that’s every possible design available in Australia!