• Member of the Order of Australia
• 2017 Telstra Business Woman of the Year and national winner of the For Purpose and Social Enterprise category
• 2018 AFR 100 Women of Influence
• 2018 InStyle Women of Style Community Champion

Violet Roumeliotis AM has spent nearly 40 years leading for-purpose organisations, providing human services that promote equal opportunity and change the lives of individuals and families experiencing inequality.

She is currently the CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), a community organisation and social business that supports newcomers and other vulnerable individuals in achieving their full potential. During her 11 years as CEO, Violet has taken SSI from a Sydney-based organisation with 68 staff to a 1200-plus workforce that supports more than 50,000 people nationally each year across a range of human services.

Violet is a previous National Telstra Business Woman of the Year and one of the AFR 100 Women of Influence. Her Non-Executive roles include the Australian Council of Social Services board, a member of the NSW Women’s Advisory Council, the NSW Ageing and Disability Commission Advisory Board, the Australia Post Stakeholder Council, and the NSW Commissioner’s Modern Slavery Advisory Council.

Yamamah Agha is an executive leader, humanitarian and advocate dedicated to creating lasting, meaningful change for refugees and newcomers.

Driven by respect and compassion, Yamamah has spent nearly 20 years supporting new arrivals to settle in Australia, with a particular focus on women’s rights and ensuring people with lived experience influence the services they receive.

As General Manager, Newcomers, Settlement and Integration, Yamamah leads all settlement programs at Settlement Servies International (SSI), a national nonprofit organisation that delivers human services to around 50,000 people annually, including 20,000 refugees.

Yamamah has extensive frontline experience in settlement, including complex case support and case management, which – coupled with strong problem-solving skills and strategic thinking – have led to a leadership career traversing migrant resource centres and program management before moving into her current executive role with SSI.

A former Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25 Awards winner, Yamamah brings a global perspective to local service delivery and has undertaken extensive international advocacy, including leading an Australia delegation at the 2018 Annual NGO Consultations, where she acted as Rapporteur.

She holds a degree in Sociology from the Lebanese University Institute of Social Sciences and a Diploma in Management.

Ben Fioramonte is an executive leader with extensive experience spearheading multi-disciplinary teams in the not for profit-sector.

Driven by a passion for social justice, Ben has worked closely with marginalised communities for much of his career to create greater access to mainstream and community supports. He has led equally passionate teams through several domains including children’s services, home care, social support, sport and recreation, emergency preparedness, media and the arts, and the Local Area Coordination Program (LAC) as part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Since joining SSI in 2018, Ben has built divisions from the ground up, using his 16 years of experience in the sector to focus teams on community development, social inclusion, and co-design.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Diploma of Project Management, Diploma in Disability Work and Diploma in Management. As the General Manager – Children, Families and Disability Support, he currently oversees SSI’s LAC Program and the Multicultural Child and Family Program.

Sandy is a passionate executive leader who creates systemic change through her work across government, policy, law and advocacy inspired by her belief in compassion and equality to deliver solutions that shift the dial to improve the lives of everyday Australians.

Sandy has over 12 years’ experience in government, policy and law across high-profile political, state and federal government and industry settings. Sandy is the Group Head of Stakeholder Relations, Research & Policy at the non-profit organisation SSI, which provides life-changing human services to enable individuals and families to realise their full potential.

Prior to joining SSI, she was the senior adviser for the NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research, providing strategic policy and legal advice over the course of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

As a qualified lawyer with experience in leadership, policy and government, Sandy has also held roles with the NSW Ministry of Health, industry regulator Greyhound Racing NSW during the nationwide crisis, AUSTRAC and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Rob Hoitink is the General Manager Client Connection, Health and Wellbeing and Queensland State Director for SSI, a community organisation and social business supporting newcomers and other Australians to achieve their full potential.

Rob is a highly experienced leader and manager who has a background in managing significant financial resources and large geographically dispersed work teams. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience developed over 25 years working across the Australian Government including over a decade at the senior executive level.

Rob has worked across several Australian Government portfolios, including Defence, Primary Industries and Energy, Transport & Regional Services, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Prime Minister & Cabinet and Social Services, on a range of complex and challenging public policy issues facing Australia both domestically and internationally.

He has extensive experience in policy development, program delivery and regulatory management, international policy and engagement, organisational strategy, national security and border management and has worked closely with major private sector organisations, NGOs and international organisations.

His experience in government has provided him with a unique policy perspective on issues relating to multicultural policy, refugee and humanitarian policy, settlement, migration and issues impacting global people movement. He has led the division responsible for multicultural affairs and settlement and provided policy advice and advocacy in this area. He partnered with various peak bodies to steer national policy development and action on multicultural issues, migration and settlement and advise government in these areas.

In addition to his career in Government, Rob is an experienced registered psychologist and consultant who has worked with a broad spectrum of clients in a range of settings in various organisations, private practice and in a psychiatric hospital.

Katia is a senior leader with over a decade’s experience leading and building high-performance teams, delivering business improvements and leading complex change initiatives across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

She is an experienced manager with a strong focus on continuous improvement, stakeholder and project management, and has a successful track record in creating and bringing together strategy, operations and people.

Reporting to the CEO, she helps drive the successful delivery of SSI’s many initiatives from development through to successful execution.

Katia is passionate about ballet and founded a small NFP (Ballet Without Borders) that brings ballet education to children who would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience this art form. She holds a Diploma in Commerce, Graduate Certificate in Business Management and an MBA.

Sharon is a dynamic executive leader who designs communication and engagement pathways to influence more equitable outcomes and enhance organisations’ impact on their people, partners and communities.

As the Group Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement at the national non-profit SSI, Sharon has been instrumental in creating the brand vision, including leading a national brand refresh and cementing the final step in SSI’s merger with Queensland-based Access Community Services. She is responsible for protecting and enhancing the organisation’s professional image and aims to promote a greater understanding amongst the Australian public, politicians, media and opinion leaders on SSI’s impact and the strengths and needs of the communities it serves.

Sharon has an MBA (Social Impact) from UNSW’s AGSM and a BA in Management Communication. She is committed to collaborative practice that enables communities to co-design innovative solutions to achieve positive social impact. In 2019, she was awarded the UNSW Anton Mischewski Design for Social Innovation Prize.

Before joining SSI, Sharon held executive marketing and strategy roles with national and international brands, including WestTrac Caterpillar, Bluescope Steel, Unilever, Leo Burnett USA and BBC London. She also spent eight years as a director of design thinking consultancy, iSEE Impact.

Ram has a proven track record of strong strategic thinking, innovation, change management, commercial astuteness and leadership roles across the core disciplines of finance, IT, governance, procurement and risk management in both commercial and NFP organisations in Australia and globally. Ram has led overall operations of a diverse nature of NFP organisations, transformed financial management systems from routine accounting functions to highly valued business partnerships, developed and implemented risk management systems, undertaken value for money and impact assessments, and developed and implemented business processes to scale up organisational capacity to effectively deliver services. He held similar roles in Habitat for Humanity Australia, The Fred Hollows Foundation and Camp Quality Limited, prior to joining SSI.

Ram brings a wealth of experience in international development. Ram has worked in Australia and more than 70 countries in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, South America and Europe in different capacities for UN organisations (such as UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO), bi-lateral organisations (such as DFID, Sida, CIDA, SDC, DFAT), inter-governmental organisations such as Partners in Population & Development (PPD), INGOs (such as International Planned Parenthood Federation, International Federation of Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity International, Marie Stopes International, and Save the Children) in leading the delivery of services and programs, undertaking independent monitoring and evaluation, value for money assessments and developing and assisting in the implementation of Strategic Plan.

Ram is qualified Chartered Accountant trained with Deloitte, a member of CPA Australia, holds PhD degree and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Caroline is a senior human resources professional with experience in industries such as construction, professional services, infrastructure, telecommunications, banking and the community sector.

She is confident in building strong stakeholder relationships, leading teams, managing critical conversations, engaging employees, developing leaders and organisational capability, creating inclusion, attracting talent, building commercial acumen and embedding flexible workforce planning.

Sonia is an executive manager with over 20 years’ experience, has significant skills and knowledge of, the multicultural sector, migration and resettlement.  She has strong leadership, strategic and stakeholder engagement skills; and a proven track record in developing and maintaining effective partnerships with key stakeholders including all tiers of Government, academia and civil society.

She is currently employed as the Victorian State Director at Settlement Services International, has held the position of Director Partnerships & Community Development at Eastern Community Legal Centre, Acting CEO at South East Community Links, previously she was the Principal Advisor of Operations at Anglicare Victoria, National Manager of Community Migration Programs at Australian Red Cross and before that her role was Manager Settlement & Family Services at Spectrum MRC.

Sonia holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in PsycSonia is an executive leader whose career has been shaped by her advocacy for, and in-depth understanding of, the multicultural, migration and settlement sectors. With over 25 years’ experience, she has strong leadership, strategic and stakeholder engagement skills; and a proven track record in developing and maintaining effective partnerships with key stakeholders including all tiers of government, international institutions, academia and civil society.

Currently, Sonia holds a dual role at non-profit organisation SSI of Victorian State Director and General Manager Clients, Partnerships & Business Growth. She is a former Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, in this role, she built on her extensive leadership experience in community service organisations and NGOs to advise and foster ties between Government and our diverse communities.

Sonia’s current non-executive positions include the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Advisory Panel, the board of Banyule Community Health Service, and the Diaspora Humanitarian Advisory Board – Australian Council Linkage Project on Diaspora Humanitarians: How Australia-based migrants help in crises abroad, a research Partnership with Monash, Deakin Uni, RCOA.

Sonia holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Psychology & Human Movement, a Graduate Diploma in International Law, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Trauma Counselling & Psychotherapy. She is also a Registered Migration Agent.