Disability Services Commission Board
Dr Scott Hollier (Chairperson)
Scott has two decades of digital access knowledge in corporate and academic areas. His current position is as Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder of the Centre for Accessibility Australia, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to alleviating hardship caused by digital access issues for people with disability, their families, and carers.
Scott is a current Board member of the Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association (ASCCA) and has been in this role for several years.
Scott’s PhD studies were internet related and focussed specifically on the ‘disability divide’ addressing digital access issues for people who are blind or vision impaired. He also holds a Master of Management and a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Computer Science.
Scott has lived experience as a person who is legally blind resulting from a degenerative eye condition.
Mrs Linda McSherry (Deputy Chairperson)
Linda is the Quality and Compliance Manager at Far North Community Services located in Broome, Western Australia where she has developed a great understanding of the complexities faced by people with disability living in regional and remote areas and has insight into how things could be done differently to improve the current delivery of services. She has spent the last three years advocating for equity and access for Aboriginal people living in remote areas with disability, culminating in forming a consortia of Remote Community Connectors, Aboriginal Family Support Workers and Allied Health professionals to provide support across the Kimberley.
Mr Jaimen Hudson
Jaimen Hudson has won two Western Australia Young Achiever Awards and was a 2019 Young Australian of the Year Award finalist. Jaimen operates a tourism business in Esperance, offering marine activities and accommodation. Jaimen also manages a successful aerial media company and videos he created has amassed more than 250 million views. Jaimen is a quadriplegic due to a motorbike accident in 2008. He strongly feels there is no better country than Australia to live in for people with disability. He joined the Board to represent people with disability living in smaller communities.
Ms Terina Grace
Terina Grace has more than 30 years' experience working in the disability and healthcare sectors. Terina has been the CEO and Managing Director of Black Swan Health and its predecessor company, Osborne GP Network, since 2003, and was previously the Client Services Director for Senses Foundation. She holds Bachelor degrees in physiotherapy and sports science and has a Master's degree in public health. She also has lived experience as a carer for a family member with disability. Terina has extensive Board director experience in the disability, healthcare, business, and government sectors, and is also a Justice of the Peace.
Ms Amanda Hunt
Amanda has worked in the disability sector for more than 25 years in a variety of positions, from supporting people directly to leading organisations.
Amanda is committed to building beneficial relationships and partnerships with individuals with lived experience, families, and community, as well as corporate, government and political stakeholders, alongside whom she has worked to guide statewide system reform aimed at improving long-term community wellbeing outcomes.
Mr Kane Blackman
Kane Blackman is the parent of a child with Angelman Syndrome, a rare disease. His passion is working in commercial environments to drive improved outcomes for vulnerable people, which is informed by his experience as a father of a child with a rare disease.
Kane is the Chief Executive Officer of Good Sammy Enterprises, a commercial business providing employment opportunities for people with disability, and has 15 years’ experience as a senior executive in financial services, disability care, government service delivery, and the resource sector. His prior role was with the Insurance Commission of Western Australia, where he had executive responsibility for strategy, customer engagement, public relations, governance, and corporate services. Kane is also the Chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Disability.
Kane holds the following Board roles:
- Member, Rare Voices Australia
- Non-Executive Director, Therapy Focus
- Member, Future Health Research and Innovation Advisory Council
- President, Leederville Sporting Club.
He has a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Administration, and a Graduate Diploma of Corporate Governance. Kane is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Governance Institute of Australia, and is a chartered company secretary.
Mr Christopher (Chris) Kent
Chris has more than 20 years’ experience with a large listed professional services firm operating across Victoria, South Australia & Western Australia. This included the last 10 years as State Director in WA. He is recognised as an analytical, future-focused influencer that is known to challenge the norm and can systematically design and implement major organisational change to improve productivity and engagement for both internal and external stakeholders.
Chris has recently joined the Advisory Board of People with Disabilities WA (PwDWA) and has been a Board Member of Leadership WA since 2017 as well as being a graduate of their Signature Leadership Program. Chris is also an AICD graduate having completed the Company Directors Course in 2020.
Chris has a teenage daughter who was born with a physical disability, and who from a young age has broken down barriers in her community through her passion for genuine inclusion and increased participation for everybody in her school and sporting network. Born premature with a rare condition, she has recently transitioned to a wheelchair for her daily mobility. Through his daughter, Chris has become involved in para-sport as an accredited athletics coach and is passionate about increasing participation for people with a disability in schools and the broader community.
In his former Executive role, Chris was able to establish the “Helping for Your Tomorrow” initiative, which introduced paid volunteering across more than 1500 staff across Australia and New Zealand as well as setting up several key pillars to tackle underutilisation of minority groups in workforce participation in the region. As a member of their Disability Pillar Committee, Chris had been striving for Disability Confident Recruiter status for the organisation and was regularly reminded of just how many barriers employers are putting up for those with a disability trying to find gainful employment. In tackling this, he co-authored a “Guide to recruiting people with a disability” to help break down some of these barriers with their 10,000+ clients.
Chris’s drive to create a better life for his daughter and for all people with disability and their loved ones was addressed in the State Disability Strategy 2020-2030, which inspired him to do more to advocate for the high rate of unemployment in this area of our community.
Ms Patricia (Trish) Sullivan
Trish has both personal and career experience of disability and the impact that it has on individuals, families and the community. She is the proud parent of a now adult son who has an Intellectual Disability, Autism and Epilepsy.
Being the parent of a son with disability has put Trish in the position of being an advocate, not only for him, but others with a disability, especially those with an intellectual disability.
Trish has worked in health for more than 30 years, in both metropolitan and regional areas. Her career provided her with extensive experience and knowledge of the difficulties faced by persons who have disability across the entire spectrum of disability and among diverse population groups including Aboriginal, adult, child and adolescent, culturally and linguistically diverse including refugees, and mental health. Trish continues to maintain an awareness of relevant trends, issues, and policies, nationally and internationally, especially in the areas of disability and mental health.
Trish brings to the Disability Services Commission Board her understanding and experience in financial management, strategic planning, healthcare reform and innovation. She enjoys data analysis to identify trends, tracking performance, and making informed decisions.
Trish is also the deputy chair of the board of Developmental Disability WA.
