Board of Directors

Toni is a founding Director of ConneXtions, which was established in 2017 after a two-year consultation process with individuals and families in North East Victoria and Southern NSW interested in supporting people with disabilities to live a "good life".

Toni supports self–direction and self-management and in building people’s knowledge and capacity to live ordinary and typical lives in communities of their choice. She has been actively involved in shaping the disability landscape since her son was born in 1998 and has supported the establishment and development of a range of services, including early intervention, learning and development, and capacity building projects across Victoria and NSW.

Her ongoing learning comes from the people she meets. She maintains her motivation and inspiration by being actively involved as a Director of Belonging Matters, a social inclusion organisation based in Melbourne.

Toni believes that “the only way to truly alter the disability landscape is one person at a time; through thoughtful and meaningful engagement, participation, and connections with people in our community”.

This commitment to community inclusion and social justice has led to over 30years of work in community development, research, education and training, service management and service development, within a range of organisations including, local and state government, not-for-profit , community service organisations, community health, education and training organisations and industry peak bodies , including VIC SERV and the Centre of Excellence in Child and Family Welfare.

Toni has led an organisational development and consultancy company and was contracted by the Community Services and Health Industry Training Board to project manage, design, develop and roll out Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Disability Quality Framework in Victoria between 2009–2012 and provided ongoing quality management and organisational consultancy across Victoria, NSW, and the ACT for over six years before returning to North East Victoria to live and shape her own son’s transition to life after school.

Ann is the Chair of the ConneXtions board and as well as having lived experience of providing support to a family member with a disability, she has led a range of small to large teams over her extensive career in disability and community health.

Ann was a public servant in various iterations of health and human services over 20 years. She worked in policy development and managed direct services mainly in disability.

Ann moved to community health in 2005, and enjoyed 10 years as Chief Executive Officer of Ovens and King Community Health Service. During this time, she led a team of committed and passionate staff to provide health and community services across central Hume.

As well as ConneXtions, Ann has served on various boards including youth, education and more recently, Northeast Health Wangaratta. Participating in governance has provided Ann with wonderful insight into the complexity of managing health and community services. She is now delighted to assist in the governance of ConneXtions, which she says is a fine disability agency which focuses on ensuring people with a disability live the life they want with the support that meets their needs.

Jan has more than 40 years of experience in the health sector with formal qualifications in community development and social work.

Jan was the Operations Manager at Ovens and King Community Health Service for eight years to 2014, and following a merger with Gateway Health, worked as the Director of Clinical Services for 12 months. Prior to that she worked for the Hume Region Parent Education Service and at the former mental health facility, Mayday Hills in Beechworth.

In recent years, Jan has undertaken a number of projects involving obstetric and maternity services at Yarrawonga Health and Albury Wodonga Health, as well as building partnerships between the hospital and general practitioners in the Yarrawonga area. Jan also oversaw a project for Beechworth Health Service focusing on the four evidence-based elements of high-quality aged care, known as the 4Ms (what matters, medication, mind and mobility).

Now retired, Jan volunteers as a member of the clinical governance committee at Beechworth Health, and as a Director of ConneXtions where she has special interests in human resources, workforce planning, and learning and development.