The Institute of Managers and Leaders Board is comprised of Member representatives from the former divisions of: NSW & ACT, QLD & NT, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria & Tasmania and New Zealand. The Board brings a wealth of business, financial, leadership and entrepreneurial capability and it supports the Institute’s management in the delivery of the Leadership Matters strategy. Click on each Board Director below to view their profile.
Board Members
Marie-Louise Pearson FIML Life Member
Chair of the Board
Marie-Louise has over 32 years in sales and management experience in the energy, telecommunications and ICT industries. As part of the Extended Leadership Group at Jacana Energy, Marie-Louise has directly been involved with the recent establishment of the Commercial & Industrial business of the Territory’s largest retail electricity company. With her background in management at IBM, Optus, and now Jacana Energy, Marie-Louise has extensive management experience in complex changing businesses and is keenly interested in delivering value and strong governance. Under her Chairmanship of the IML NT Council 2006 to 2012, IML NT saw its strongest ever recorded Membership and participation rates. Marie-Louise has a strong history of leadership in community organisations. Most recently these included being Chairman of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra Board and Chairman of the Anchorage Sister Cities Committee of the City of Darwin. Marie-Louise won the 2014 ALEA award for Community Leader of the Year. Marie-Louise is a Life Member and Fellow of IML, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Sciences.
Diana De Hulsters CMgr FIML
Deputy Chair of the Board
Diana De Hulsters has close to 3 decades of international experience in commercial and not for profit organisations. She has expertise in association management and is Managing Director of Your Outsider (sole trader), and General Manager of the Thylation Group of Companies. Diana commenced her career in Belgium in the international travel industry, specialising in travel to Australia and New Zealand. She moved to Adelaide in 2002 and after several international sales positions, including with AccorHotels, she side-stepped into association management for organisations such as the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Simulation Australasia, the Royal Institution of Australia and the Australian Organics Recycling Association. Diana graduated with an MBA from the AIM Business School in 2014. She has completed the Company Directors Course and holds GAICD level membership at the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She also holds membership of the Australasian and American Societies of Association Executives (AuSAE and ASAE). Diana is proud to have achieved Chartered Manager status in 2017 as one of the first 100 people in Australia to do so.
Geoff Fary FIML LIFE Member
Director
Geoff Fary has an unusual combination of background and experiences. From 2013 to 2016 he was the Chairman of the federal government’s Asbestos Safety & Eradication Council. Elected Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Assistant Secretary in 2007, and re-elected in 2009, he previously had responsibility for the national peak council’s policy on workplace health and safety – including asbestos.
He had earlier worked as a farm labourer, sheep shearer, administrator, Director of the Australian Trade Union Training Agency (TUTA) for the state of Victoria, Chief of Staff to a Federal Cabinet Minister, Human Resources Director and on the Board of George Weston Foods Limited, CEO of Industrial Relations Victoria, Employee Relations Manager at Nestlé Australia and Executive Director of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA).
Geoff was born and raised in the 1950s and 60s in a rural community in southern Australia. His education and early work were typical of the time and the place. Most of his working life has been devoted to human resource management, organisational change and labor relations. His career moves have given him the combined perspectives of union, corporate and government experience.
Currently an Ambassador for the FightMND Foundation and working as a consultant, Geoff has been a keynote speaker at a number of major conferences in Australia, the United States and Europe. His studies have included the Rive Reine College in Switzerland and Harvard Business School in the US. Widowed with two adult children, he lives at Portarlington, a small seaside township near Melbourne - where he is the President of the local Community Association. His other interests include being a home handyman, travel - and a keen interest in Australian Rules football.
Michelle Gander CMgr FIML
Director
Michelle is a Director, College Services at Flinders University in Adelaide. She has worked for over 20 years in higher education in Australia and the UK after starting her career in project management. With a background in leadership, human resource management, change management and higher education, Michelle was awarded Chartered Management status in the UK in 2011 and joined the Institute in 2018. As someone who has been involved in management and leadership practice for many years, including as a student, and as a university lecturer of management, Michelle is passionate about excellence in this field. She has been a mentor for IML ANZ and Flinders University.
Michelle is currently a Board member for Shelter SA, where she has worked with the CEO and another Board member to review the organisation’s risk and strategy. Previously, Michelle was a Board member of the University College of Osteopathy, where she also held a position on the Equality Committee. Michelle was part of the Board that took the application for University College status with degree awarding powers and supported management on the accreditation process. Michelle was also a School Governor and was on the recruitment committee for the new Head.
Michelle has a PhD in Management and an MBA and has recently completed the Foundations of Directorship with the AICD.
Ann Messenger CMgr FIML
Director
Ann is a Chartered Accountant who studied marketing and operations management before specialising in accounting and finance. Ann began her career in banking and has had a range of commercial experiences both in Australia and overseas, including six years in Latin America where, as an equities analyst, she covered emerging markets during the mid-1990s. In Australia, Ann has worked in corporate finance and middle market advisory roles with accounting firms KPMG and HLB Mann Judd in the early 2000s before moving into Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer roles with organisations including the Sydney Chamber of Commerce. In recent years Ann has developed a strong interest in the not-for-profit and education sectors. Ann worked as General Manager of St John’s College (within the University of Sydney) from 2009-10 with responsibility for the financial and commercial management of the College. In 2011, Ann was appointed to the Mosman Council’s Development Assessment Panel. Ann is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of IML ANZ.