Bob Gilkes

Executive Director

Bob became Executive Director of UnitingCare Community (previously Lifeline Community Care Queensland) in June 2010.

UnitingCare Community is one of the state’s largest community service providers offering Lifeline services, child and family care, counselling, disability support and social inclusion programs across Queensland. It employs 2 500 people and is supported by 5 500 volunteers.

Bob came to UnitingCare Community with over 28 years experience in the disability, aged care and community services.

His experience in disability ranges from on-the-ground direct client support to executive levels both within government and NGO’s. He has also had state-wide portfolio responsibility for child protection, youth justice and youth detention, domestic violence support services, out of home care, adoption, sexual assault support services and supported accommodation services for people without a home.

Some of Bob’s previous roles include Director of Organisational Development and Regional Director for Blue Care.  He has also worked for Health and Human Services as Director of Child, Youth and Family Support as well as other executive roles within the asmanian Government .

Bob has a passion for social justice and personally longs for the day when all members of society are valued regardless of their circumstances.  He is very committed to finding a way to help ensure that the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our community are safe and supported and receive the assistance they need to live with independence, dignity and respect.

Bob strongly values family and is married to his wife Deborah and together they have five children and ten grandchildren.

Bob’s personal interests include his family, church and his motorbike as well as working with various community groups in his area to help where he can.

Julie Aganoff

Director, Client Service Development

Julie is a psychologist who has worked in child protection, trauma, domestic and family violence with adults and children since 1992. Julie is also in private practice outside UnitingCare Community and has a group practice with three other psychologists delivering services to adults and children. Now Director, Client Service Development, Julie is also a member of the Board of Lifeline Australia and a member of the Clinical Advisory Group of the Lifeline Suicide Foundation.

Julie has degrees in business and psychology as well as a Master of Health Science. One of Julie’s passions is in providing quality training to new psychology graduates and this is evidenced in her development of Lifeline Community Care’s Internship Program with ten probationary psychologists.

Julie Aganoff and husband Peter have seven children and one grandchild.

John Pini

Director, Individual & Personal Support

John joined UnitingCare Community in January 2007 as Director, Disability Services. He has a career and senior management experience that spans the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. A Victorian by birth and Queensland by choice, John has worked in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Prior to his role at UnitingCare Community, John was the Chief Executive of a not-for-profit Disability organisation in Victoria.

This is the second time that John has chosen Queensland as his home, having previously lived and worked in Rockhampton where he was inaugural Regional Director of Disability Services Queensland. John has worked in numerous fields including the Retail, Hospitality, Community Health, Justice, Juvenile Justice, Child Protection and Disability fields.

John has an enduring commitment to addressing social justice issues and brings a rights and enabling focus to his work. John holds a Bachelor of Social Work (Phillip), Master of Social Work (LaTrobe), Executive Master of Public Administration (Griffith), and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

John gets great joy from his family and they have been critical in shaping his outlook. He holds strong to the lessons of being a sole parent when his wife died when their youngest child was almost 18 months. He lives in a blended family and has 4 children. He has 5 grandchildren - the most recent triplets.

Sam Sapsford

Director, Corporate Support

Graham Beattie

Chaplain

Graham is an ordained minister of the Uniting Church in Australia and over 30 years has worked in a variety of parish and consulting roles before coming to UnitingCare Community as State Chaplain.

With a keen interest in leadership development, Graham is passionate about helping people fulfill their potential and calling in both their work and everyday lives. To this end he brings a strong commitment to relationally driven, developmental coaching in his work as Chaplain.

As his role focuses on the people and culture of UnitingCare Community, Graham also is keen to resource staff and volunteers in applying UnitingCare’s Shared Values to their respective roles in the organisation.

Outside of UnitingCare Community, Graham coaches and consults with church and community leaders from various backgrounds.

Married to Beth, they have 3 adult children and when not involved in family activities, Graham enjoys playing tennis.
 

Richard Johnson

Regional Director, Central Queensland

Richard Johnson is a passionate, dedicated and caring professional with a broad knowledge base and extensive experience in leadership and management. As well as his working career, Richard has served as a volunteer on numerous boards and committees that govern the work of community organisations.  

Richard has been working with UnitingCare Community for over 14 years where he commenced as the Director of Lifeline Bundaberg.  In 2002, after the Queensland amalgamation of Lifeline Centres into Lifeline Community Care Qld and then UnitingCare Community, Richard expanded his scope of responsibilities to cover the Lifeline Centres in the Wide  Bay/Burnett and Central Qld regions.

Richard initially trained as a registered nurse, and followed this up with degrees in Social Science, Counselling and Masters Degree in Counselling.  Prior to coming to UnitingCare Community Richard managed a community housing program for people with disabilities in NSW.  A most memorable and rewarding part of his working life was a12 month stint he spent working on a building site.  He believes this may have helped to toughen him up to cope with the demands of being part of the UnitingCare Community Executive team.    

Richard still has a keen interest in the martial arts where he has won a number of national titles, though he reluctantly admits he is now well past his prime.  Today most of Richard’s recreational time is spent doting on his 2 grandchildren.

Sheryl Hateley

Regional Director, Metro North & Coast

Sheryl has been with UnitingCare Community for almost four years, starting as Client Service Manager and then becoming General Manager for our Lifeline centre in Brisbane, before becoming Regional Director. During her time with the organisation Sheryl has been instrumental in setting up a number of new services, most recently Lifeline's overnight paid staff program and online crisis chat service.

Prior to commencing with the organisation she was seconded to Department Education and Training to implement prevention strategies in schools under the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Plan for Mental Health, 2006-2011. This work included implementing the ‘Supporting Students’ Mental Health and Wellbeing’ policy and suicide prevention initiatives.

Sheryl’s interest in mental health and wellbeing is long standing. She was seconded to her role in the Department of Education from Queensland Mental Health where she worked in both adult and child and youth mental health. Her roles at Queensland Mental Health included the provision of social work services and developing and implementing new projects and services.

Prior to her roles as Queensland Mental Health, Sheryl worked in a number of other organisations in direct practice, coordination and management roles. Overall, areas of interest and expertise include mental health and wellbeing, suicide prevention and child and family support. Her qualifications include Masters in Social Work and Mental Health.

Sheryl is anticipating commencing her PhD studies with Monash University early in 2012. Her research topic is homicide/suicide specifically familicide. The term familicide refers to a type of murder or murder-suicide where at least one spouse and one or more children are killed; or a situation whereby a parent or parents and sometimes other relatives are killed. Her hope in undertaking this study is that the results may strengthen suicide prevention efforts that lead to improvements to child and family support and build community resilience.

Sheryl is passionate about life and living it to the fullest, she and her husband Mark have a family of four plus a cat and two dogs. The couple enjoys travelling and spending time together with family and friends.

Sally Kelynack

Regional Director, Metro South & West Moreton

Sally Kelynack joined  UnitingCare Community in 2008 as General Manager Far North Queensland. Sally has lived most of her life in Melbourne and moved to Cairns in 2006. After five years of tropical living, Sally is enjoying the new challenges of moving to Brisbane and working with the team in Metro South & West Moreton.

Sally’s career has been one of contrasts. Originally qualifying with a science degree with majors in genetics and zoology, Sally’s first professional role was as a Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Sally then moved into Laboratory Accreditation with Australia’s National Association of Testing Authorities where she developed her interest in practice and quality. Sally was appointed National Manager Non-Destructive Testing and sat on a number of standards committees with Standards Australia and was a member of the Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing’s national Qualifying Board. During this period Sally travelled all around Australia assessing quality and compliance of testing, including work on many major construction projects.

Sally’s involvement with volunteering grew over the years and led to her retraining in community development. Her next roles were with non government organizations in Victoria. Sally worked with the Eastern Volunteer Resource Centre for several years  initially coordinating and advocating for community transport before taking on the role of manager of the centre. This role meant Sally was involved in best practice developments in volunteering, advocacy for volunteers and the role of volunteering in community capacity building.

Sally moved to Cairns to take up a role with Relationships Australia initially as Manager of their Cairns Centre and then to establish the Family Relationship Centre which provided service at locations throughout the far north.

Sally is married and has an adult daughter. The household also includes dogs, cats and lots of tropical fish. Sally’s husband, daughter and the menagerie are looking forward to their new life in Brisbane.

Fran Tilley

Regional Director, North Queensland