Jim Mullan is trained in youth work with a career across community education, economic development, light engineering, social care, print media and food relief. Prior to joining Amaze, he held the role of CEO at SecondBite and The Big Issue UK.
Jim has guest lectured for several Scottish universities and provided specialist contributions outlining the impact of social enterprise on the economy for both Scottish and UK Governments. Jim was awarded a distinguished talent visa by the Australian Government in recognition of his work internationally in the field of social and community enterprise.
Tina Chronis is an accomplished Certified Practicing Accountant with experience in large global organisations as well as not-for-profit. She has vast experience in statutory reporting, management reporting and business improvement processes with a strong attention to detail.
Tina balances strategic thinking and practicality to work towards the most effective use of resources to support the Amaze community. Tina joined Amaze in April 2015 and is the Chief Financial Officer as well as the Company Secretary for Amaze.
David is the Chief Operating Officer at Amaze. He has a background in not-for-profit, government, education, health and community service delivery, and prior to joining Amaze, was the Director of Family Services at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He also has previous experience as a University Lecturer, and currently volunteers his time on a number of boards and committees. He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in education and an MBA.
Alex is responsible for supporting autism inclusive work and educational environments for Autistic individuals. Her career has crossed three continents, spanning higher education, organisational learning and leadership development. Before joining Amaze, Alex was the Strategic Learning Advisor: Organisational Learning at Melbourne Business School where she led projects to understand how the needs of various stakeholders are shifting as organisations adapt to a new world of work.
She is passionate about developing innovative solutions that create impact and motivate change and has a wealth of experience working with senior business leaders to realise their aspirations for a thriving organisation. Alex is also undertaking a PhD at Monash Business School, investigating neuro-inclusion in knowledge-intensive organisations.
A higher education consultant and experienced university leader, Professor Warren Bebbington AM is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Professor Emeritus at the University of Adelaide, where he was Vice Chancellor for 5 years. He was Patron of Autism SA until 2017, and an experienced Chair and Director of Boards in professional education and the not-for-profit sector.
Jason is a neuroscientist, innovation manager, business leader and company director. He is experienced in corporate governance, strategy, government relations, scientific research, innovation, finance and risk management.
Jason is passionate about combining his capabilities and experience as a company director with his personal experiences with autism in order to catalyze better outcomes for all those in the autism community.
Peter Heard has had a career in senior leadership roles in corporate governance and risk management within the Victorian public sector, including the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority and the Department of Premier and Cabinet. These roles included responsibility for the delivery of a range of governance, reporting, communications and legal services and he has significant experience in and understanding of government and policy development.
Peter held non-executive Director, Secretary and Committee roles at Autism Victoria from 2008-2010 and was Secretary of the Autistic Family Support Association (AFSA) from 2004-2006.
Peter has extensive lived experience of caring for autistic people as the father of autistic adult sons, in particular the ongoing challenges of complex needs support.
Kathy has a significant involvement in Autism organisations and advocacy, including on the Boards of The Autistic Realm Australia (TARA) and Reframing Autism. She works for the Autism CRC, having previously been an oncology and palliative care nurse for over a decade. She completed the Sylvia Rodger Academy Governance Program and also has a Certificate in Governance for Not-for-profits from the Governance Institute of Australia. Kathy is Autistic and has Autistic teenagers.
A Chartered Accountant of over 35 years’ experience, Gavan recently retired as a partner of the national firm KordaMentha, having previously been with PWC. He is a Director and Chair of the Risk Management Committee for a regional bank (Wangaratta Albury-Wodonga Credit Union), and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Rural City of Wangaratta. Gavan has an Autistic grandson.
Professor Nicole Rinehart is an international leader in neurodevelopmental conditions and practicing clinical psychologist. In 2021, she was appointed Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Director, Krongold Clinic, in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. Nicole has been at the forefront of research efforts to improve educational, mental and physical health outcomes for children and adolescents. Nicole founded the AFR award wining AllPlayTM platform est. 2014 taking a strengths-based approach to disability and turning this into tools and strategies that everyone can access to ‘make the world fit for all kids’ www.allplay.org. Nicole currently serves on the Board of Directors at AMAZE and is an expert advisor to the Victorian Department of Education and Training. She has contributed to the NHMRC Clinical Practice Statement for ADHD and the revision of the Australian Therapeutic Guidelines for Developmental Disabilities. Her research is inspired by the families and children with neurodevelopmental conditions who she has worked with over the last 2 decades.
Check Tan’s qualifications include Engineering, Quality Management and an MBA. His career has been in quality management and has worked in this field as Operations Manager in large and small organisations including start-ups. He has no board experience, but has served on school council as Treasurer.
Check and his son Jonathon (a young autistic adult with an intellectual disability) are well known to Amaze, having participated in several Spectrospective films and Jonathon undertaking media interviews for Amaze. Check and Jonathon also fundraise for Amaze, most recently raising $2,000 for Amaze through the Melbourne Marathon.
Check has also mentored some young autistic people as a basketball coach in Doncaster All Abilities Basketball and is active on social media in advocating for autistic people.