Board of Governors & Research Advisory Committee

Andrew Mannix is Executive General Manager – Mission Solutions at Nova Systems. Andrew is an experienced Senior Executive having held numerous appointments throughout his career in the Defence Industry and Mining Sectors most recently, prior to Nova Systems, with Naval Group, and formerly with Leidos Australia, Liebherr Australia and BAE Systems.  He is Deputy Chair of the Military and Emergency Service Health Australia Board of Governors and a Director of The Hospital Research Foundation.

Through spending a significant part of his career in the Defence Industry, Andrew has worked closely with serving members of our Australian Defence Force, and shoulder to shoulder with veterans in industry. He has listened to the stories of Australian service personnel before and after deployment and seen how their important work has impacted their lives. Andrew has close personal experience of the pressures faced by our first responders as they go about their daily duties and admires the work they do.

He is proud to contribute to the work of Military and Emergency Services Health Australia through the Board of Governors. In particular, helping to make investments into important research and programs for our veterans, emergency service first responders and their families. Andrew has also seen first hand the important impact delivered by The Hospital Research Foundation Group and is a passionate member of the Group board.

Michael joined the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) in February 1986 as a firefighter and progressed through the ranks to Chief Officer and Chief Executive Officer in 2018. During this time, he has served in various departments including Operations, Employee Support and Operational Human Resources. Michael drives vision, development and delivery of integrated and complex strategies across the emergency services within South Australia and nationally. Michael has led many wellbeing studies and implemented wellness programs in the MFS and the broader emergency services sector.

John is a former naval officer with nearly three decades of combined military and defence industry experience. He is currently the chair of the South Australian Veterans’ Advisory Council and a former member of the Veterans Health Advisory Council.

John is a passionate advocate for families of military and emergency services personnel. He envisions an inclusive definition of veterans and the veterans’ community, to encompass all those who have served in the Australian Defence Force, their children, partners, former partners, extended families, and anyone directly impacted by their service.

John is the founder and managing director of Cambrian Executive, an Australian veteran-owned small business based in Adelaide. The business serves defence industry clients across Australia and New Zealand.

John is an experienced defence industry executive, having worked with several Australian-owned and multinational defence businesses as a consultant, program manager, general manager, Asia Pacific regional business development director, and defence managing director.

During his Royal Australian Navy career, John served as a weapons electrical engineer and completed a range of engineering and operational sea and shore postings. He was deployed overseas on operations and exercises, including to the Middle East area of operations in 2004 in HMAS Stuart. John holds a Bachelor of Engineering from UNSW and is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Born and raised in country South Australia, Cheryl Pearce is one of very few females to rise through the Army ranks to Major General. She has recently transitioned out of Defence after leading a peacekeeping mission, as the Forces Commander – United Nations Force in Cyprus. Cheryl is now Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Border Force.

As well as Cheryl’s extensive experience in both military and policing roles, she has strong family links to the emergency services with her partner serving in the Australian Federal Police and her parents having worked in both paid and volunteer roles with the SA Ambulance Service and State Emergency Service. Cheryl is also a New York Marathon finisher, proud mum of two daughters, and Member of the Order of Australia for Exceptional Leadership.

After a stellar 30-year career in the Australian Army, Georgeina Wheelan is the current Commissioner for the ACT Emergency Services Agency. She transitioned from the Australian Defence Force as a Brigadier after a remarkable career specialising in military disaster response and Defence health, deploying to such war-torn or disaster-stricken places as East Timor and Banda Aceh.

Georgeina brings strong leadership experience from across defence and emergency services management roles and is passionate about the health and wellbeing of our first responders and current and ex serving members of the defence force and their families. In addition to an extraordinary career, Georgeina is a mother to four children, one of which has Down Syndrome and a severe medical condition.

Adam commenced his career as an Australian Army Officer serving for 14 years in the USA, UK, South East Asia, the Middle East and Australia. He has received two United States Meritorious Service Medals for his performance in the USA and Iraq and has also been awarded the US Army Military Order of St Christopher.

He is a graduate of the Royal Military College Duntroon and obtained his BMPS and MBA from the Southern Cross University.

Adam is currently the Director of Red Ochre Labs for BAE Systems Australia. In this role he is responsible for delivering new and disruptive technology for emerging market opportunities.

Paul is an experienced, innovative, and entrepreneurial Board Director and Chief Executive who has earned a stellar reputation for impact during a distinguished career in both the Finance and not-for-profit sectors.

Paul has received several awards and acknowledgements for his outstanding contributions to the Banking and Investment Industry, as well as the field of social entrepreneurship and not-for-profit organisations.

He was awarded a Senior Fellowship at the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, which recognises his exceptional achievements in the industry. Additionally, he was named the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year in South Australia/Northern Territory for his innovative work in the field of social entrepreneurship. Moreover, he received the Equity Trustees Australian Not-for-Profit CEO Award for Innovation, which acknowledges his contributions to the growth and development of not-for-profit organisations. Finally, Paul was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of South Australia in recognition of his exceptional work and contributions to the community.

Paul is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and currently holds positions as a Non-Executive Director BiomeBank Pty Ltd, Director of Military and Emergency Services Health Australia, and a Governor of Pulteney Grammar School.

Paul is Chief Executive Officer of The Hospital Research Foundation Group and of its Australian affiliates: Military and Emergency Services Health Australia; Australian Breast Cancer Research; Kidney, Transplant and Diabetes Research Australia; Australian Prostate Cancer Society Ltd; The Centre for Creative Health; THRF Group – Stroke; THRF Group- Parkinson’s; Parkinson’s ACT Inc, THRF Group Palliative Care, Arthritis Foundation SA, and Australian Heart Research.

Briony joined The Hospital Research Foundation (THRF) Group in 2010 and leads the day-to-day fundraising operations to ensure the strategic and operational goals of the organisation are met.

As COO, Briony assists the CEO in achieving THRF Group’s strategic and operational goals, including budget outcomes, enhancing the organisation’s effectiveness, providing leadership and overseeing portfolio initiatives as defined in the strategic plan. She provides the CEO with insight into areas of operations including policy direction, strategic marketing direction, group expansion and other initiatives.
As a key member of THRF Group’s Senior Executive Team, Briony provides strong and effective leadership by defining and achieving operational expectations, monitoring progress, and providing a work environment supportive of THRF Group’s strategic goals and ongoing staff development and growth.

Briony has a Masters in Business Administration, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and sits on various sub-committees for THRF Group including ICT and Cybersecurity, Governance and Risk, Finance and Audit and Human Resources.

A member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia, Briony is a passionate follower of industry trends and innovations, particularly in the evolving world of experience management, consumer insights and the use of data.

Briony enjoys balancing her career with spending time with her young family, made possible through THRF’s family-friendly and flexible working environment.

Karen May is the Associate Director, Military and Emergency Services Health Australia and also currently working on her PhD at University of Adelaide focussing on a therapeutic model for children of a parent with service related Post-Traumatic Stress. Karen’s background is psychotherapy, participatory action research and community development.

Karen has worked with many communities who have experienced trauma in Australia and developing countries. Since 2015 Karen has worked on building capacity in the military, emergency service and families sector to improve health and wellbeing through research, advocacy and sector collaboration to establish policy, change, models of care and programs.

Associate Professor Miranda Van Hooff is the Executive Director of Military and Emergency Services Health Australia and an experienced research scientist specialising in the mental health impacts of bushfires, adverse childhood adversity and occupational trauma. Completing her Bachelor of Arts (Hons Psych) in 1998 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine at The University of Adelaide in 2010 for her research examining the adult mental and physical health outcomes of childhood exposure to the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires.

Since 1999 she has held various academic appointments at the University of Adelaide under the direction of International PTSD Specialist Professor Alexander McFarlane and was formally the Director of Research at the University of Adelaide Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. She currently holds adjunct positions at both the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Associate Professor Van Hooff has authored 61 journal articles, 2 book chapters and 31 commissioned reports for the Australian Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. Over the course of her career, she has conducted several large-scale longitudinal studies of childhood survivors of the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, children hospitalised for a significant burn injury, children exposed to the neurotoxic effects of lead in childhood and adults exposed to the 2006 Black Tuesday Bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Since 2009, she has specialised in the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian military and emergency service personnel, as the lead researcher on three landmark studies: Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, The Military Health Outcomes Programme and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Health and Wellbeing Study. These studies were the first in Australia to ascertain the prevalence of ICD-10 Mental Disorder in current and ex-serving ADF members and South Australian Firefighters and have been strong drivers of change in relation to policy and service provision.

Over the last 10 years, Associate Professor Van Hooff has received over $10M in competitive and commonwealth grant funding, with the majority of this funding invested in research designed to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian servicemen, servicewomen and their families. Currently she is a chief investigator on two studies examining the health and wellbeing of emergency service personnel following the 2019/2020 bushfires.