Rhonda Parker - Chief Executive Officer
After an early career as an educator, Rhonda Parker has been a leading contributor to community development in policy, program and practice in Australia for over fifteen years. She has had responsibility in the not-for-profit, commercial, government and academic environments. She is a former Minister in the Western Australian Government, where she had responsibility for community development portfolios, among others. Prior to her role at the AEC Rhonda held the statutory appointment of federal Aged Care Commissioner. She is respected widely for her capacity to lead, think strategically, engage stakeholders across the board, engender enthusiasm, work co-operatively, and get the job done.

Matthew O'Sullivan - General Manager
Matthew has led numerous community organisations that have had a particular focus on reaching youth at risk. With over 12 years experience in supporting youth and families with capacity building programs, Matthew has gained a genuine understanding of what it takes to assist those with barriers to employment and provide solutions to both employers and employment service providers.

Scott Langford - National P Plate Manager
Scott has over 10 years’ experience as secondary school teacher in QLD government schools across regional, remote and urban settings. Since leaving the classroom Scott has worked with the Former Origin Greats (FOGs) on the ARTIE program and the QLD Department of Education and Training’s Indigenous Schooling Support Unit as part of the Learn Earn legend Year 12 Destinations Initiative. In 2011, Scott was the AEC P Plate Manager for South Qld implementing the program with success across more than 45 secondary schools.

John McNamara - Manager NSW & ACT
John is a Wiradjuri man from Western NSW and he has some 25 years experience in Indigenous employment and economic development. He has worked in both Commonwealth and State Government supporting Indigenous employment with Departments directly. For a significant time he worked with the Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as the NSW Business Development Manager. In that role he oversaw development of Indigenous employment initiatives for both the private and public sectors, across NSW and in many instances Australia wide. Many of the frameworks that he developed are still used in supporting organisation to recruit and retain Indigenous employees. In particular John would work directly with employers and service providers to develop and implement Indigenous employment strategies and support them to attract and retain Indigenous staff. He has a long history of developing and implementing strategies with a significant number of Australia’s large Corporate organisations. Many of these organisations have now grown to be successful in their Indigenous endeavours. In joining the AEC he saw this as an opportunity to continue in this field and attract new employers to support them on their journey in Indigenous employment.

Seath Holswich - Manager Queensland
Seath has a long history in community service organizations, employment services and charitable organisations, working with homeless and at-risk clients in Brisbane and Sydney. He has extensive experience and success within employment services, case managing long term unemployed clients and managing Work for the Dole projects throughout South Qld. Seath has a wide range of management experience across a number of industries including Community Services, Employment Services and Information Technology and is also an experienced and qualified Project Manager.

Justine has come to the AEC with a wealth of experience in both the public and private sector. In her previous role at the Koori Business Network (Victorian Government) Justine was actively involved in the Victorian Indigenous community, where she supported and advised numerous Indigenous businesses to grow and develop. She is a keen advocate of Indigenous economic development and believes that employment is the key to halving gap.Justine’s previous experience in the corporate sector and studies in Business has provided her with the essential skills in business development and project management. She has a clear understanding of corporate Australia and how they can be active participants in Indigenous employment. Justine has also worked in the Torres Strait Island of Saibai in a volunteer capacity mentoring the community in sales and marketing. This project gave her a real understanding of Torres Strait Islander culture and an experience living within a remote community.

Paul Vandenbergh - Manager SA
Paul is a Wirrangu man from the West Coast of South Australia. He previously played professional basketball with the Canberra Cannons in the NBL and was a member of development squad for the Melbourne Tigers. Throughout his sporting career, he continued to work and held positions across a number of Government departments including Aboriginal Health, Aboriginal Housing and Aboriginal Education. He has a very strong passion for Aboriginal affairs and feels very fortunate to work in this area. While being the AEC State Manager for SA, Paul works with the Port Adelaide Football Club's managing their Aboriginal Power Cup, which is a school based program that encourages students to stay in school and begin thinking about their working careers once school is complete.

Jacqueline Lahne - Manager NT
Jacqueline comes to the AEC with a comprehensive background in project management and delivery in at risk and disadvantaged youth; public sector experience in education and training; and management and CEO experience in community service and training organisations. As a clinical youth work practitioner Jacqueline worked in child protection; youth and family intervention and Indigenous training. Jacqueline is a Board member of several specialist youth and community service organisations that deliver best practice Indigenous training and support programs. Jacqueline is also a professional mentor.