Reconciliation Australia today welcomed two new members to the organisation’s Board of Directors.
At the first Board meeting of the year, Co-Chairs Dr Tom Calma and Ms Melinda Cilento said Peter Nash and Joy Thomas made excellent additions to the directorship.
“We are extremely pleased to have two distinguished leaders join us in our journey towards reconciliation,” Dr Calma said.
Ms Cilento said: “Their strong and diverse backgrounds in corporate and government affairs will strengthen and complement the work we do—particularly for Reconciliation Actions Plans and constitutional reform.”
Mr Nash is the Australian Chairman of KPMG and holds positions on KPMG’s Global and Asia Pacific boards. Having joined KPMG in 1982, Mr Nash has worked for the firm in Australia, Canada and the Asia Pacific region, and led a number of major global accounts spanning the financial services and energy and natural resources sectors.
Mr Nash has held a number of senior roles including Head of Markets and Head of People, Performance and Culture, and most recently Head of Audit in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
“It’s an honour to join Reconciliation Australia’s Board of Directors,” Mr Nash said. “Reconciliation has always been very significant to me and I look forward to working with Corporate Australia on this important issue.”
Ms Thomas is a Senior Policy Adviser and Manager of the Australian General Practice Network Member Engagement Strategy. She joined AGPN in 2008 after serving for many years as an adviser to former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, and chief of staff to Ministers in the Howard Government.
“Throughout my career in policy and government, I have always been committed to making a difference,” Ms Thomas said.
“I look forward to making a contribution along with other Directors of the Board of Reconciliation Australia in sharing the vision of reconciliation with the broader Australian community”.
The Reconciliation Australia Board of Directors now consists of six Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander members and four other Australians.
The announcement of the new directors comes ahead of tonight’s launch of the 300th
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Agribussiness GrainCorp, one of Australia’s largest grain suppliers, will launch their first RAP at a special function in Sydney.