Our Board

Christina is the Chair and founder of Bayside Women’s Shelter. Christina wanted to ensure there was a safe home in South East Sydney for women and children to go to if they were experiencing domestic violence to get the support they needed. She believes that awareness is important but it is education and action that are vital to eradicate domestic violence.

Christina is an experienced leader with a demonstrated track record in education, people development and community engagement. With 20 years’ experience in the education sector Christina has developed and refined her skills in professional development, community engagement and social welfare.

As CEO of Women’s Community Shelters (WCS), Annabelle has worked with local communities around NSW to establish and open five shelters in Sydney. She has worked with a range of organisations, individuals and community stakeholders and all levels of government to achieve change in the field of homelessness for women.

Annabelle is continuing this work to establish more shelters throughout NSW and is already working with half a dozen communities to expand the WCS model to every community.

Annabelle Daniel has been a family support and operations professional for 20 years, working in private enterprise, Federal government, and the community sector.  Prior to joining WCS as Chief Executive Officer, she held a leadership position in the Department of Human Services, overseeing a child support program.  A key role in Annabelle’s career was the Manager of Elsie, Australia’s longest-established women’s shelter, providing services and support to women and children experiencing homelessness and escaping domestic violence.

Annabelle trained as a lawyer with specific expertise in discrimination and family law. She has extensive experience in administrative decision making for the Australian Government. She investigated and resolved complex complaints and conducted “own motion’ investigations for the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Annabelle has also held a number of board positions in charitable and not-for-profit organisations in diverse fields including community development, fundraising, and the arts.

More information about WCS can be found at womenscommunityshelters.org.au

Sophie is a highly experienced and qualified not-for-profit non-executive director and deputy chair of Bayside Women’s Shelter. Her diverse wide-ranging career includes executive roles in corporate Australia to private sector consulting in marketing and strategy in the Asia Pacific region.  These roles have incorporated business management, strategic planning, marketing, communications, fundraising and new business development.

Bayside Women’s Shelter has given Sophie the pathway to pursue her passion for empowering women, social justice, inclusion- always striving to make a difference in the community. Sophie’s quality skills in strategic thinking allow her to manage and execute marketing and content strategies that link back to broader business objectives including advocacy.

She is respected as a credible voice in decision making and establishing governance framework in her planning.

Sophie is the founder of Coach In The Rye, supporting an individual’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Her main focus is to support and empower women to make informed decisions about their lives through coaching.

She is also a University Of Melbourne alumni and a member of Women on Boards and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Sadie is the treasurer of the Bayside Women’s Shelter. Sadie is passionate about providing support and opportunities for women in crisis, and being part of community initiatives to recognise and start to address the numerous challenges facing so many women and children as a result of family violence.

Sadie is an experienced forensic accountant who has worked with Government and private organisations for 15 years to improve their risk, governance, financial controls and compliance monitoring programmes, as well as to investigate fraud, corruption and misuse of public funds.

Sadie holds a Joint Honours degree in philosophy and mathematics, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of England and Wales (ICAEW), a member of Chartered Accounts Australia and new Zealand (CA ANZ).

Debra is an accomplished Human Resources Executive with significant experience within global and Australian entities where she has delivered human resources strategies and solutions.

Debra joined the Bayside Women’s Shelter Board in 2019 and she is currently the General Manager People & Culture for Tabcorp’s Wagering and Media business.

Debra holds a Bachelor of Arts and is a member of the Chief Executive Women’s Program alumni. She is passionate in ensuring enterprise leadership and sustainable change through Inclusion & Diversity in the workplace and plays a key role in supporting women.

Jack is an award-winning Chief Information Officer with over a decade of industry experience. With a proven track record of taking a local retail and manufacturing company to new heights, expanding it from 10 stores on the east coast of Australia to 17 across the nation and another 10 new international stores spread across 6 countries and 2 manufacturing facilities spread across South-East Asia, Jack has established himself as a dynamic leader with a vision for innovation and growth.

In addition to his business achievements , he is committed to making a positive impact in his local community.

Jack holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Technology Sydney and is based in the Bayside local government area.