YAL Board Meet the team

Mary Walker

Mary is the Principal Consultant and founding Director of Hibberson Woodroffe, a commercial management consultancy dedicated to helping the construction industry, through practical advice and strategy.

Mary has 20 + years’ experience in construction, land development and infrastructure projects in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, working for family owned and tier one contractors.

Having been introduced to YAL by Margriet and looking for an opportunity to contribute to the community Mary, welcomed the opportunity to join the YAL board.

Rod Ross

Currently a director and past Vice Chair of the both the YAL board and the YAL Trust board.  Rod also chairs the Educational Grants Advisory Committee, which helped see the inaugural 2015 scholarship program successfully launched.

He has been a member of the YAL board since 2001. His interest in the YAL commenced soon after his appointment as General Manager of the Araluen Botanical Park Foundation in 1999 due to the park’s YAL origins.  At its 2019 Annual General Meeting, Rod was awarded Life Membership of the YAL.

He has been married to Gail for 48 years and boasts a son, Chris, and grandchildren, Nicholas and Madison; as well as two step-grandchildren, Callum and Caitlin.  Since retiring from Araluen and the board of Armadale Region Business Association (‘Business Armadale’) in 2014, he has more time to indulge his passion of the YAL, motoring, travel, gardening, home improvements and relaxing.  He is excited about the prospects for the YAL and is committed to being a part of building its future.

Neil Mundy

Neil grew up in Sydney with his close family of 7 (5 boys – quite a crowd!). He first holidayed in WA with his partner in 1993 and when a work opportunity arose in 1995 they jumped at the chance to relocate.

He is a qualified CPA and has gained experience in manufacturing, software and legal industries. As Neil approached retirement, he sought opportunities to volunteer. He was invited onto the YAL board in mid 2014 and took up the role of Honorary Treasurer from the late Bob Tilley. With the YAL closely allied with his own ideals he is delighted to be associated with such a dedicated organisation.

Frank Schaper

Frank joined the YAL in 1958 when he was a student at the Graylands Teachers College. At the time he was recruited by John Fawcett as a company Commander for a Country Boys Tour which was domiciled at the Claremont Showgrounds.

His interest in the YAL continued and after several tours in a similar role he became an “Officer” of the YAL and a member of the Officers Club. He served as President of the Officer’s club and was eventually elected to the Governing Council. He resigned this position on the YAL Council when he went to Adelaide in 1978 for work and re-joined when he returned to WA in the 1980’s.

He has been Chairman of the YAL Board since 2006 and the Chair of the YAL Trust Board since 2014. He stepped down as Chair of both the YAL Board and the Trust at the AGM in 2019. He was re-elected to the YAL Board in 2019.

He currently lives in Sydney and attends meeting via videoconference.

Andre Burki

Andre came to Australia from Switzerland with his wife, daughter, son, dog and cat in 2008 to start a new life-adventure here in Perth. Joining YAL 10 years later is one of his ways of giving back to the community.

Andre is a senior professional certified coach with his consultancy: Burki Leadership. He is passionate about supporting individuals, teams & organisations who want to develop collective leadership.

He graduated with a degree in Business Administration. After years in the corporate world in leading positions Andre wanted to focus on where the real issues where (and still are), i.e. in and between us humans. Thus he changed career and obtained the necessary diplomas, certifications and accreditations that allowed him to live his calling to promote more connectedness, clarity, courage and care while making work more meaningful, enjoyable and sustainable for all.

Andre enjoys now serving YAL with its purpose and all those connected to it.

Chantal Charbonneau

Chantal was appointed to the YAL board in 2015.

She has almost 20 years’ experience in corporate operations roles in oil and gas, mining and aviation.

She is currently working in the Qantas Group, after having previously held roles across regulatory compliance, human resources, safety and training for a number of leading companies in Australia.

Her interest in the YAL stems from her family roots that saw her be part of the YAL ‘family’ before she became an active member of the YAL board.

David Lim

David was born in Singapore and has lived in Australia since 1997; first in Perth, then Brisbane, Adelaide and now Sydney.

He currently works for Western Sydney University as the senior academic lead in its health services management program, and adjunct senior lecturer in medicine with Flinders University.

He has a Master Degree in Surgery, a higher Doctorate in Public Health and a Law Degree.

He joined the YAL Board in 2013 and was also a founding Director of the YAL Trust board of directors.

Margriet Gibson

Margriet joined the YAL Board in 2018.

Margriet is a qualified Project Manager, and currently working for Schindler Lifts Australia. Previously, she worked for John Laing, on the Optus Stadium project, where her focus was on the Corporate Social Responsibility projects, including major sponsorship deals, as well as the Business Class partner programme with the Australian Business and Community Network and Girrawheen Senior High School. Via this relationship Margriet was introduced to the Young Australia League and did not hesitate to become a Board Director when invited.

Before joining John Laing, Margriet worked for the RAC in Perth, the BBC and Cartus in the UK and started her career in the Netherlands in project/admin coordinator roles.

In her spare time, Margriet volunteers for the local community in the Perth hills where she lives with her husband and their dog. She is also involved with dog rescue organisations throughout WA.

Michael Wainwright

Mick was born in August 1955 in Swan Districts Hospital Middle Swan WA, the eldest of four boys and one girl.

Mick has been married to Julie for 36 years and they have one son David (33). Mick and Julie have lived in Beechboro for 25 years.

Mick’s first job was in BOANS at the age of 14, joining the Army at 17 in 1972 serving over 20 years and taking discharge in 1994.

He served a further 12 years in the Army Reserve, only leaving after he was elected as Councillor with the City of Swan in 2005.    Mick was on the City of Swan Council for just over 12 years (until 2017) and served as Deputy Mayor for 6 years and 2 years as Mayor.

Mick has been involved in many community groups including RoadWise, President Altone Youth Service, youth programs, neighbourhood watch and the board of the local college.

Mick joined the Lions Club of Noranda in 1999 and has held various positions at the club, it was through Lions that Mick become aware of YAL and joined them in 2019.

Pieter Mulder

Pieter came to Australia from the Netherlands in 1988 and found work in a management role with John Deere after first working in a similar role with Spearwood Agriculture Supplies. He eventually joined his brother in law as a partner in Leeder Services, a cleaning services company.

He has served on a number of committees and boards including Armadale Region Business Association (‘Business Armadale’) with Rod Ross. It was through his connection with Rod that he was invited to join the YAL board.

Richard Offen

Richard is currently the Executive Director of Heritage Perth, which was set up to show the heritage of Perth in a positive light as a major social and economic asset. He is also a much sought after lecturer, speaker and regular broadcaster on both radio and TV.

His career commenced in the UK but he has worked across Europe on a number of heritage conservation strategies and holds a Master’s Degree in Heritage Management from the Birmingham University.

In 2014, in recognition for his work promoting heritage to a wide audience, he was honoured by the WA Heritage Council Heritage Awards, winning the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Heritage by a Professional in the Heritage Industry’ category.

It was in 2014 that he also joined the YAL board with a little encouragement from his friend Jan McCallum.

Rosalba Butterworth

As an experienced leader in education Rosalba has been a long standing Principal, Assistant Regional Executive Director of Schools and Principal Consultant for country and metropolitan regions. Rosalba has significant experience in leading schools, teaching and developing partnerships between schools and across agencies to facilitate and resource staff development and the positive transition of students in sometimes challenging environments.

Rosalba is driven by a strong belief in our youth, who are our future. Rosalba joined the YAL Trust board in 2017 as she experienced first-hand that YAL was positively helping to create supportive scholarship program for our youth and now will continue her journey as a new board Director in 2020.