About Us
Our Board
President: Gill RyanVice-President: Rob Anderson
Treasurer: Sandhya (Sandy) Chakravarty
Sarah Harry
Dr Leah Brennan
Annabel Haslam
Michael Hamer
Jane Hill
Josephine Gibson
Kathryn D'Anna
President: Gill Ryan
Gill comes from a management background, having run her own business and then a GP surgery for many years in the UK. She brings to the board a broad knowledge of all aspects of Eating Disorders from long personal experience and her work with sufferers. She has volunteered for many years, initially with the Eating Disorders Association UK and with EDV since 2003.
Vice-President: Rob Anderson
Rob is the immediate past president of the EDV Board. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Wheelchair Sports Victoria, the state's leading provider of sport and recreational opportunities to Victorians with a physical disability. Rob has previously held consultancy and management positions in a number of community, government and professional sporting organisations. He has experience in the leadership of not-for-profit organisations, strategic planning, welfare program design and delivery, human resource management, as well as fundraising, marketing, and community development initiatives. His work in the past led him to experience eating disorder health issues amongst elite athletes and employees in the entertainment industry. He has a particular interest in community health promotion and development strategies.
Rob is the immediate past president of the EDV Board. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Wheelchair Sports Victoria, the state's leading provider of sport and recreational opportunities to Victorians with a physical disability. Rob has previously held consultancy and management positions in a number of community, government and professional sporting organisations. He has experience in the leadership of not-for-profit organisations, strategic planning, welfare program design and delivery, human resource management, as well as fundraising, marketing, and community development initiatives. His work in the past led him to experience eating disorder health issues amongst elite athletes and employees in the entertainment industry. He has a particular interest in community health promotion and development strategies.
Treasurer: Sandhya (Sandy) Chakravarty
Sandy is a CPA and MBA with over 20 years of experience in a financial capacity with large multinationals. She is currently with a premium management consultancy firm, Boston Consulting Group. Her previous roles include Asia-Pac Vice President for Ingersoll Rand and Finance Director with Bristol-Myers Squib Pharmaceuticals. She is passionate about women’s issues especially around maintaining a healthy lifestyle and work life balance including a positive body image.
Sandy is a CPA and MBA with over 20 years of experience in a financial capacity with large multinationals. She is currently with a premium management consultancy firm, Boston Consulting Group. Her previous roles include Asia-Pac Vice President for Ingersoll Rand and Finance Director with Bristol-Myers Squib Pharmaceuticals. She is passionate about women’s issues especially around maintaining a healthy lifestyle and work life balance including a positive body image.
Sarah Harry (B.A., Grad Dip (Counselling), Q.M.A.C.A)
Sarah is a registered counselor who specialises in the area of Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating. Sarah works with individuals and groups, and is the co-founder of the RIPE (Recovery is Possible for Everyone) group treatment program for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders. Sarah has had experience in both the private and public mental health sectors, and spent many years at CEED developing and delivering training in eating disorders to health professionals across the state. Sarah was very excited to join the board in February 2008, after being a member of EDV for over 8 years.
Sarah is a registered counselor who specialises in the area of Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating. Sarah works with individuals and groups, and is the co-founder of the RIPE (Recovery is Possible for Everyone) group treatment program for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders. Sarah has had experience in both the private and public mental health sectors, and spent many years at CEED developing and delivering training in eating disorders to health professionals across the state. Sarah was very excited to join the board in February 2008, after being a member of EDV for over 8 years.
Dr Leah Brennan B.App.Sci.(Hons) PhD
Dr Leah Brennan is a clinical and health psychologist with a particular interest in the application of psychological approaches to understand, prevent and treat obesity, disordered eating and eating disorders in children, adolescents and adults. She is passionate about the development, evaluation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions suitable for 'real-world' application. Leah has worked in a range of clinical, research, policy and educational roles.
Annabel Haslam BA, LLB
Annabel is a lawyer currently working in-house for local government as a Senior Associate on behalf of Maddocks. In previous roles, she has worked for the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Victorian Institute of Teaching and for DLA Phillips Fox. Annabel also has experience working in the Victorian community legal sector and for the OECD in Paris. She is interested in ways to promote community health and positive body image, particulary amongst young women.
Michael Hamer
Michael has extensive, international senior management experience in the marketing and advertising industry. For over 20 years Michael held a series of senior executive roles in advertising agencies for an American multinational communications company, McCann Erickson, with client including Coca-Cola, General Motors, Nestle, Unilever, L’Oreal and Motorola, amongst others. He was C.E.O of advertising agencies in Nairobi, Dublin, Brisbane and Melbourne.
In early 2000, Michael set up The Next Level – a strategy and communications consultancy. In 2007 Michael joined leading business coaching organisation The Stephenson Mansell Group as an executive coach. Michael was educated in the UK and has an honours degree in English literature. He has served on the boards of the Alzheimer’s Association and Lifeworks.
Jane Hill B.App Sci,B.Ed
Jane Hill graduated from Deakin University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Health Promotion) and Bachelor of Education (Secondary). After four years of teaching in Melbourne, Jane headed to London to teach before returning home to work and volunteer for the EDFV newsletter committee. Currently working at Home Economics Victoria, Jane’s role combines her health promotion and education background and involves organising an extensive professional learning program for teachers while managing their Fruit + Veg Program – a healthy eating program for all Victorian primary schools.
Josephine Gibson (BND, MDAA, APD, AN)
Josephine joined the EDV Board in 2008 but is well known to EDV, having previously held the position of Education Officer in 2005. Josephine is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and specialises in eating disorder and mental health clients. Following on from her period as Education Officer for EDV, Josephine spent three years for the eating disorders unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before starting in private practice.
Kathryn D’Anna
Kathryn joined the EDV Board in 2008 and is a registered Psychologist currently working in private practice predominately treating eating disorder clients. Kathryn previously worked in a private eating disorder facility and other areas of psychology including organisation psychology and general mental health. She brings to EDV an expertise and interest in treating adults with eating disorders, particularly Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia Nervosa. She also works with some families using the Maudsley family based treatment approach.
Last Updated: March 2009