A note from current YWCA Australia President, Julie Boyd
It has been a tumultuous few months in Australia as we have grappled with the impacts of the bushfires, floods and now the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
It has been my honour as President of YWCA Australia to lead the board as we support our CEO Michelle Phillips and our Executive Team through these difficult times. I have every confidence in our ability to navigate this crisis while maintaining focus on delivering crucial programs and services to women, young women, girls and communities all around Australia.
I want to reassure all our members that planning for YWCA’s future post-crisis is also high on our priority list. To support this, we continued our recruitment for a new Board President which began in early January. After receiving a number of high-quality applications, I’m so pleased to announce that we have appointed a new Board President (designate): Helen Conway.
Many of you may know Helen already – she has been involved with YWCA for quite some years, first in her role as CEO of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency from 2011 to 2015 and then through her role in setting up the Australian Gender Equality Council as a founding director.
Helen is extremely experienced in gender equality, governance, media management, the political process, legislation, and commercial industries. Her breadth and depth of experience will serve YWCA well.
Over the coming months, I will be working closely with Helen on Board induction activities and to hand over the role of President of the YWCA Board. Helen will commence in this role on 1 July 2020.
Finally I want to thank all YWCA staff, volunteers, members and supporters. It has been my absolute honour to have been the first President of our merged national organisation.
I am proud of how far we have come in the past two years since merger, and I am confident that under Helen’s leadership, YWCA will continue to build on the incredible work we have been doing in Australia for 140 years.
Regards,
Julie Boyd
President, YWCA Australia
