Conversations with The Academy

Janice Stokes

Janice works with the St Vincent de Paul Society in the role of Community Engagement Manager within Sydney Metropolitan Region.  Janice is also a Vinnies Member, engaging with her local community and the Matthew Talbot Hostel community.  
Her role within Vinnies is to support the Members who give up their time to provide “a hand up” to those in need, and also to work with Community Organisations in identifying areas of need and implementing programs to address that need.
Before joining Vinnies, Janice worked with the Westpac Foundation for a year in a secondment role, learning more about the Community Services sector.  Her previous roles had been within the Finance and Insurance Industries, working as a project manager and programme manager with the Information Technology division.  
Janice feels very fortunate to have found her sense of purpose through time spent volunteering with First Nations’ organisations, which was her ‘ah-ha’ moment and the reason for her career change to Community Services.

Dr Kate McBride

Dr Kate McBride is a Senior Lecturer in Population Health at Western. She is an epidemiologist with broad expertise in public health. In relation to COVID-19 specifically, Kate is focussing on the 'infodemic' and how this may affect people's behaviours around COVID-19 including how they access healthcare and robust information sources.
Kate has also recently co-led the development of a case investigator for COVID-19 training programme and is fully conversant with the Australian context in the light of international COVID-19 situations.

Arash is originally from Shiraz in Iran and fled with his mother and brother when he was 16 years old after persecution at the hands of the Iranian government made it too unsafe to stay. He sought refuge in Malaysia where he lived for six years. During this time, he was prohibited from studying because he was considered an ‘illegal migrant’. In 2014 he arrived in Australia and after a few knockbacks, he found his way to Western Sydney University via The College and graduated his Engineering (honours) degree in 2019.

Born in a Ugandan settlement camp to Rwandan refugee parents, Alfred was an orphan by the time he was 12. He managed to win an aid-funded scholarship from the Rwandan Government that would allow him to study in Australia. In 2016 he was awarded his PhD from Western Sydney University - ‘Educational resilience and experiences of African students with a refugee background in Australian tertiary education’, which focuses on narratives around the strength and resilience that African refugees bring to the country, their studies and their lives.

Anyier’s family fled to Kenya in 1992 when violence forced them out of their South Sudanese home and Anyier was born in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. By the age of 2 she had lost both of her parents. In 2003 she was granted a visa and moved to Australia when she was just ten years old. She completed her first degree in 2016 and her Masters in 2018. Her greatest achievement is being the Founder and CEO of the social enterprise Miss Sahara Pageant and Anyier Model Management which aim to build social cohesion within our African communities and the wider Australian communities.

Maryam grew up in Kabul under Taliban rule and was forced to leave at the age of 15. She lived in Pakistan for five years before coming to Australia. She and her siblings came here without any family. Arriving in Australia at the age of 20, she persuaded the local school in her area to take her in – even though she was well above the average age. As a woman in a war torn country, she wasn’t allowed to go to school so she was determined to change that. She completed her HSC then studied social work and community services. She works as a domestic violence officer in Blacktown and also runs Afghan Women on the Move.

Theo is a Partner with Deloitte’s Financial Advisory practice and focuses on providing services to the State, Local and Federal governments, government agencies and private sector organisations they interact with. Theo has been a lead advocate for the economic and social development of Western Sydney, starting with the ground breaking Shaping Future Cities - Designing Western Sydney report which provided an economic blueprint for the region sustainable and equitable growth. Theo’s path to Deloitte has been broad and varied including time in the music industry, telecommunications, IT, government, major events management, construction and consulting. The lessons and skills he has gained through these diverse experiences coupled with his VET and University study have armed him with the tool kit to be responsive and effective in the modern business environment.

Kristy Benstead has been an Agency Lead at Google Australia since 2014. She currently leads the engagement strategy for Performance Agencies across the AU & NZ markets with a focus on Google Search, Measurement and Shopping products. Whilst in the role, she has pioneered the development and launch of Australia’s most prestigious Search Agency recognition program - Google Honours and works to develop partnerships with an extensive network of Performance Specialists both Globally and Locally. Prior to focussing on Performance products, Kristy led the Google partnership with Dentsu Aegis Network, designing a program of work to deliver value for shared clients - which was the largest portfolio of in Australia at the time. Before joining Google, Kristy was part of the Group Marketing team at ANZ. As a Global Brand Manager she was responsible for the contracting and ongoing management of creative and media agencies and APAC wide execution of all ANZ master brand programs. Her passion for marketing stems back to her time spent up in Sydney at Toyota. Kristy joined Toyota in 2008 to deliver Retail Marketing for the largest Automotive manufacturer in the country and oversaw the local strategy for all 297 dealerships. She then shifted focus and moved into a Brand Manager role for 3 years where she led the rebrand of the company. A new master brand strategy and a fresh new look combined with that same Toyota feeling - “Oh what a feeling!” saw Toyota recognized as Australia’s most trusted brand during that time. Kristy’s additional experience includes time spent on the agency side at a number of different boutique agencies and a short stint at Renault managing Passenger Vehicles and Renault Sport. Kristy Benstead was educated at Swinburne University, Melbourne (Bachelor of Engineering), Monash University, Melbourne (Bachelor of Business) and Chisholm Institute, Melbourne (Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design).

Frances is an experienced Talent Acquisition Specialist that is passionate about helping people find their dream job. Frances has recruited at a variety of large, multinational organisations such as CommBank, EY, Macquarie Group and Optus. She has recruited roles ranging from interns through to niche, highly technical senior positions. In her current role at Optus, Frances is focused on recruiting positions within the Digital space, with a focus on UX, transformation and data analytics roles. Previously, Frances was a Sourcing Specialist for Macquarie Group, where she was responsible for recruiting investment bankers and technical specialist roles. She was involved in recruiting for Australia’s first waste to energy facility in Perth along with roles for a proposed waste to energy facility in Western Sydney. Notably, Frances has also worked as a Campus Recruitment Senior Consultant at EY where she was solely focused on identifying and hiring the best talent from Universities, particularly STEM students, for intern and graduate roles. Frances is a proud alumnus of Western Sydney University, having graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Business and Commerce (Human Resources and Industrial Relations).

Sajit is currently a graduate consultant at PwC Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Western Sydney University, graduating recently in 2020. During his time at university he worked as a PASS Facilitator and an Ask Us Assistant for two years. He was the founder and president of Western Association of Computing and Mathematics (WACM) and has held leadership positions in Western Sydney International Student Association, 180 Degrees Consulting WSU and Nepali Student Association. He was also a member of the Vice Chancellor’s International Student Advisory Committee and has been a member of The Academy at WSU since 2017.

Chris Tobin is a Darug man who works as an artist/educator throughout Western Sydney, the Hawkesbury and in to the Blue Mountains. Currently employed as an Aboriginal Education Officer with Blue Mountains National Parks and Wildlife Service, Chris regularly speaks with schools and visitors to the country and enjoys sharing important stories on local Aboriginal history and heritage. He has served on a number of boards and committees over the past 20 years and is often invited to participate in assisting in community ceremonies and public engagements. Chris is also a practicing artist and hosts an art camp in the bush each month for people wishing to connect with Aboriginal people, art and country.

David Harding - NSW & ACT Business Leader Principal at ARUP

Andrew Loveridge - Customer Executive, Emerging Sectors Business and Private Banking at National Australia Bank (NAB)

Katie Walker - Policy Officer at Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue

Camilla is passionate about creating more job opportunities for graduates and helping start-ups attract, hire & retain junior talent.

She has worked in graduate recruitment for over 7 years within the UK's leading graduate specialist agency, Give a Grad a Go (opens in a new window), helping to launch over 350 careers across 100 businesses and moved to Australia pre-pandemic in 2020 to launch their operations here.

Camilla is dedicated to educating the graduate market across Australia on the innovative start-up space and connecting emerging talent to growing teams in a role they will love.

Jenny is a creative and enthusiastic sales leader, passionate about solving business complexity with powerful story-telling through video. She is currently working with Vidico (opens in a new window), a video production agency in Melbourne for innovative tech startups, that works with the likes of Spotify, Square, and Uber to name a few. She is in their sales and business development working on things like building strong relationships, early project engagement and finding the right creative direction for new projects.

Jenny is multifaceted, and comes with an additional asset of having a strong marketing and entrepreneurial background with over 6 years of experiences working with both B2C and B2B clients across industries such as film and TV, hospitality, tech and retail.

Jacob Muller, a graduate of The Academy and our inaugural Alumni winner in the Annual Academy Awards of Excellence, completed a B Business and Commerce (ABL).

Jacob has made a career out of building and supporting ventures that use business and tech for good. He’s the co-founder of award winning start-up accelerator Catalysr (opens in a new window) - an organisation helping migrants and refugees to launch start-ups at the frontier of Australia 2.0. His work has received awards including a medal from the Governor General of Australia, the Foundation for Young Australians’ Vanguard Award, and has been funded by Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Nowadays, Jacob is the Founder and Head of INCO Academy Australia (opens in a new window), a training organisation providing equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and habits necessary to secure in-demand jobs in tech & startups. Since launching in 2020 they have trained 400 tech professionals and partnered with over 80 tech companies.

Along with founding companies, Jacob has guided dozens of startups as an Entrepreneur in Residence at UTS Startups, Catalysr, and disability tech accelerator Remarkable Tech.