Founder and Board of Directors
Aileen Mountifield, Founder & CEO
Aileen is the Founder and Executive Director of the Lisa Harnum Foundation. Her passion for supporting women and families in domestic violence situations led Aileen to establish a foundation that supports and educates women and families in the Hills Shire of NSW, where support services are limited.
Aileen brings years of senior management experience, along with extensive community work and the establishment of pioneering programmes for vulnerable people and abused women. At a crossroad, Aileen trained and worked as a community based chaplain for ten years, facilitating programmes for women who had experienced some form of abuse. It was then that Aileen vowed to do more to bring an end to domestic and family violence.
Frank Sedmak, Chairperson
Frank is the General Manager, People and Culture at Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Over the past 13 years he has led the P&C team in providing strategic and operational advice and services to the CPA Board, managers and staff in the areas of employee relations, recruitment, workplace health, safety and injury management, volunteers and corporate engagement and payroll.
Prior to CPA, Frank had over 20 years of experience in senior and executive management roles, where he had developed and implemented effective operating, financial, accounting and human resources systems and key strategies in the transport, manufacturing, IT and aged care sectors.
Michael Hallen, Director
Mike began his career in the Royal Australian Navy, followed by senior business development roles in two major international companies and his own business management consultancy. As a member of the Rotary Club of Castle Hill, Mike dedicated many years supporting the St Michael’s Women’s Refuge in Baulkham Hills. Following the announcement of the closure of St Michael’s, Mike decided as the 2015-2016 President of his Rotary Club, that “Domestic Violence” would be his highest priority and he is currently investigating how to bring an Online Men’s Behaviour Change Program (OMBCP) to NSW and the Hills area.
The Rotary Club has also provided funds to modify a safety application for at risk women’s mobile phones and will participate in the refurbishment of two cottages at the St Michael’s site for use as transitional accommodation for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.
Julianna Creswell, Board Member
Julianna is a solicitor with Papantoniou Blake Lawyers in Toongabbie and has been a criminal law solicitor since her admission to the Supreme Court in 2002. A former regional Law Society President and former Rotary President, Julianna has dedicated her life to improving access to the justice system and bettering society. Throughout her career she has helped countless victims of crime through the Court process and to obtain compensation, also leading offenders down the path of rehabilitation and restitution.
In addition to helping adults Julianna has also represented many children and as part of that process has been involved in many programs to help disadvantaged adults and children, such as Breakfast Club which provides transport to school and free breakfast to children in regional New South Wales. In addition to her criminal practice, she also has experience in a range of other legal areas including care and protection, litigation, family law and wills and estates.
Terrisa Murray, Board Member
Terrisa Murray is the founder of SAFEHEART International and co-founder of Make Bullying History Foundation. A profound speaker, thought leader and innovator through her personal journey along with her innovative and disruptive social justice projects.
Terrisa has over 25 years of experience and expertise in program facilitation and delivery in the field of Domestic Family Abuse and Violence, helping restore dignity, honour and value to women and families.
Through SAFEHEART International Terrisa has initiated social inclusion programs mobilising local communities to partner together to create ‘Brave Packs’ for those in need across the national community. Terrisa’s impact ranges from women escaping DV, to teenagers in long term hospital stays in Children’s Hospitals in Melbourne and Sydney, to providing ‘Brave Packs’ for impoverished families restoring dignity and enabling them to provide presents for their children during Christmas. She has also initiated community events that mobilise and educate the broader community to issues that affect life and death situations for those within the community that don’t have a voice of their own.
Terrisa Murray inspires, motivates and gives you hope to overcome, push through and step into your dreams and vision turning them from fantasy into reality. Leading people to a ‘safe place’ is what Terrisa does best. Presenting in a way that is comfortable, relatable and most definitely inspirational. Speaking from years of personal experience and hard-fought victories, Terrisa is a breath of fresh air who impacts the lives of all who are privileged to come in contact with her.
Simone Murad, Board Member
As a director of businessDEPOT Sydney, Simone provides financial advice and accounting solutions to individuals and businesses throughout Australia, in addition to business, tax and financial planning advice with a focus on wealth creation, risk management and retirement planning. Simone’s strengths allow her to apply her knowledge to assess both her clients’ business and personal situations and provide wholistic tailored solutions that encompass both their needs now and into the future.
As a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Financial Planning Association, she knows the value of continuous education and knowledge and is passionate about using that knowledge to give back to the community. This spirit has seen her involved with various charities and pro bono efforts over her career.
Andy Abey, Board Member
Andy is a knowledgeable and experienced corporate affairs practitioner, with an outstanding record of achievement in strategic communications, corporate affairs, and ethics and compliance – with expertise in internal and external stakeholder engagement, change management, campaign development and implementation, issue and media management, copywriting and content development for all forms of business communications.
Andy has held various senior communication and corporate affairs roles across the property, retail, construction and hospitality industry, including National Communications Manager for Lendlease, Group Manager of Ethics and Communications for the UAE’s Habtoor Leighton Group, and Head of Corporate Affairs for CHRG (Castle Hill RSL Group).
