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Who we are

Our backbone team

Our backbone team connects and supports partners so together we can drive impact for children and young people in Queensland.

Michael Hogan

executive Convenor
TQKP - Eleni Bourboulas

Eleni Bourboulas

Partnership Officer – Capability Development
Headshot of Michelle Brown QKP employee

Michelle Brown

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Early Oral Language
TQKP - Naomi Brown

Naomi Brown

Principal Partnership Manager – Framing Initiative
TQKP - Rowena Cann

Rowena Cann

Convenor, Places and Hubs

Lead, Capacity Building

Alisha Chand

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Country
TQKP - Michelle Cole

Michelle Cole

Principal Partnership Manager – Capability Development
TQKP - Kamila Davidson

Kamila Davidson

Senior Partnership Officer – Learning​
Headshot of Kym Dunstan wearing stripy top

Kym Dunstan

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Early Oral Language

Anita Egginton

Senior Partnership Officer – Disaster Resilience

Helen Fogarty

Senior Partnership Officer – Engagement and Communication
Seated photo of QKP employee Nathan Gallagher

Nathan Gallagher

Childhood Stewards - Griffith University PhD Industry Partnership Placement

Kerry Graham

Convenor, Stewardship and Voices

​Lead, Learning

Kirsten Holland

​Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Early Oral Language
TQKP - Roger Meany

Roger Meany

Convenor, Brains and Investment

Lead, Strategy and Governance
TQKP - Sophie Morson

Sophie Morson

Principal Partnership Manager – Hubs
TQKP - Giselle Olive

Giselle Olive

​Principal Partnership Manager – early years
Woman with long brown hair, orange top, jacket and necklace, with treed background

Eula Rohan

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Place
Headshot of QKP staff member Helen Smith

Helen Smith

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Early Oral Language
TQKP - Angela Timbs

Angela Timbs

Senior Partnership Officer – Engagement and Communication
QKP staff member Rachael Wilken headshot

Rachael Wilken

Program Manager – Childhood Stewards Initiative

Sarah Wood

​Convenor, Hearts and Mindsets

LEAD, ENGAGEMENT and COMMUNICATION
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Michael Hogan

EXECUTIVE CONVENOR

Michael is the Executive Convenor of the Thriving Qld Kids Partnership. He is also an Industry Fellow at the UQ Queensland Brain Institute and an Adjunct Professor at QUT. Michael is a member the Boards of the Torres Indigenous Health Corporation and the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, and the Council of the Queensland Library Foundation. He was formerly a Paul Ramsay Foundation Fellow, a Director-General in the Qld Government and CEO of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

TQKP - Eleni Bourboulas

Eleni Bourboulas

Partnership Officer – Capability Development

Eleni has a background in education, having taught drama in primary and secondary schools across Brisbane. She also has over 10 years’ experience in office management and executive administration. Eleni is passionate about accessible quality education and children and youth wellbeing.

TQKP - Naomi Brown

Naomi Brown

Principal Partnership Manager – Framing Initiative

Naomi leads the Queensland Framing Initiative, which is a joint collaborative of Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership and the Queensland Family & Child Commission. Her role focuses on embedding evidence-based frames and narratives across the state to shift public understanding, foster constructive dialogue, build support for effective policies, and engage communities in meaningful change.

Naomi supports individuals and organisations across Queensland in communicating effectively about children and young people, including by curating the Framing for Change Learning Hub on the TQKP website, developing new resources and collaborative messaging, supporting a network of framing champions, and facilitating a six-weekly community of practice.

With a background in community development and culturally responsive services, Naomi has led initiatives within Australia and internationally. She brings extensive experience in co-designing programs grounded in reflective learning, social justice, and community development principles.

TQKP - Rowena Cann

Rowena Cann

Convenor, Places and Hubs

Lead, capacity building

Rowena has extensive experience working in place and an established reputation for building strong collaborations, driving innovation and leading system change across the private, public and community sector.

Alisha Chand

Principal Partnership Manager ‑ Country

Alisha is based in Townsville and has a long history of leading partnership initiatives across health and social sectors. She brings deep, practice‑informed experience in co‑design, strategic project leadership, and place‑based learning.  With a broad experience working alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and having lived and worked in rural, remote, and regional areas, Alisha’s collaborative approach is centred on equity, cultural responsiveness, the wisdom of lived experience, and listening to local insights to guide approaches that amplify impact for people and place.
 
Most recently, Alisha led the Commissioning Improvements Initiative at the Northern Queensland PHN. She also co‑developed human‑centred design curriculum for undergraduate allied health students at James Cook University.
TQKP - Michelle Cole

Michelle Cole

Principal Partnership Manager – Capability Development

Michelle has extensive experience leading learning and development initiatives across the education, community, and child safety sector. She was a school leader and teacher for 20 years, working in schools in Australia and England.

Michelle has in-depth knowledge of the education ecosystem and leading collaborative partnerships between sectors. Leading a preventative approach to safety and wellbeing through collaborative consultation and co-designed initiatives is at the core of her professional practice.

TQKP - Kamila Davidson

Kamila Davidson

Senior Partnership Officer – Learning​

With a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nutrition & Dietetics) and a PhD, Kamila brings extensive skills in qualitative research and experience engaging with groups with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. As an academic, Kamila has published several manuscripts and reports in the areas of child health, public health, digital health transformation and evaluation of health services.

Headshot of Kym Dunstan wearing stripy top

Kym Dunstan

Principal Partnership manager - Early Oral Language

Kym brings experience of more than 25 years as a speech pathologist across health, early childhood, education, and community settings in Australia and overseas. Much of her work has focused on supporting children’s early communication and development in the early years alongside their families, educators, and local communities, and using prevention strategies that empower others. She is particularly interested in public health approaches that strengthen supportive, inclusive environments for young children, especially in communities experiencing greater challenges.
 
Kym has been involved in a range of community‑based projects and prevention and promotion initiatives that encourage language‑rich interactions and environments, community development, and collaborating with university partners in research from co-design to publication. Across her roles, Kym values partnerships, shared learning, and supporting the systems and people that help children thrive. 

Anita Egginton

senior partnership Officer - disaster resilience

Anita lives in fire and storm country in southern Queensland, where Githabul and Jagera nations meet. She’s been living and working in and with communities across Queensland affected by crises and major social and environmental changes for more than three decades. Her role with QKP is a kids and disasters capability specialist, helping those in the field better understand and support the healthy development, wellbeing and resilience of kids and their caregivers in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery settings. She brings a strong commitment to listening, relationship-building, and respecting and resourcing local people’s leadership, knowledge, skills, and priorities.

Anita cares deeply about how our relationships with nature and the physical environments around us shape our development, wellbeing and the quality of our everyday lives. Her long-term passion for social and environmental justice centres interconnectedness, celebrates different ways of knowing, doing and being, and prioritises connection and care for all, which is something she’s explored in detail in her master’s and PhD studies.

Helen Fogarty

Senior Partnership Officer – Engagement and Communication

Helen is an advocate for the power of communication, evidence-based framing and knowledge translation as tools for social change. She currently works part-time with Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership supporting communications, and part-time with the FrameWorks Institute as project manager for the Measuring Early Childhood Mindsets Project.

Kerry Graham

Convenor, Stewardship and Voices

Lead, learning

Kerry’s social impact leadership spans 25 years, including roles in advocacy as a children’s lawyer, in nonprofits and corporate social responsibility, and in teaching and policy development. In 2014, Kerry co-founded Collaboration for Impact – a nonprofit intermediary focused on solving complex problems through systems change and collaboration. Within TQKP, Kerry stewards and guides the partnership in its pursuit of meaningful change through purposeful collective action.

Kirsten Holland

Principal Partnership manager - Early Oral Language

Kirsten is a passionate advocate for children’s rights and early childhood development, bringing more than three decades of experience across education, community partnerships, and the not‑for‑profit sector. She’s known for her ability to connect people, spark momentum, and champion the voices of children wherever she goes.
 
Her career has been shaped by 14 vibrant years overseas, working in diverse cultural and community settings. During this time, she led programs in early childhood education and strengthened the skills of educators and communities, always with a focus on solutions that were sustainable, strengths‑based, and grounded in the real lives of children and families. These experiences cemented her belief that every child, no matter their background or location, deserves every opportunity to reach their full potential.
 
Outside of work, Kirsten finds joy in wandering local trails and tending to her ever‑growing garden. She loves the optimism that comes with nurturing plants—and, much like her professional ethos, she believes that real growth happens when you give things time, care, and the right conditions.
TQKP - Roger Meany

Roger Meany

Convenor, Brains and Investment

Lead, Strategy and Governance

Roger has led policy, strategy and planning for over 20 years, developing trusted relationships with cross-government, non-government, community and industry stakeholders. Across his career, Roger has been a strong advocate for policy change and reform, and has led several influential collaborations including for the COAG Health Council, the Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, National Partnership Agreements and the development of the Queensland Equity Framework, to frame the regulatory and policy reform agenda required to create more thriving and equitable communities.

TQKP - Sophie Morson

Sophie Morson

Principal Partnership Manager – Hubs

As a psychologist, Sophie brings to the team more than two decades’ experience implementing innovative paediatric mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and integrated care initiatives. Sophie’s career spans clinical interventions, capability-building, project management, policy and leadership, underpinned throughout by a passion for authentic collaboration including with those with lived experience of service delivery.

TQKP - Giselle Olive

Giselle Olive

Principal Partnership Manager – early years

Giselle has dedicated her career to reducing inequities in children’s health and wellbeing. She has worked in the early childhood development and prevention field for over 20 years and has developed strong partnerships across sectors. Giselle has led and managed projects, programs and teams across both government and non-government organisations. She has worked in rural and remote communities, metropolitan areas, interstate and overseas. Giselle works at both a systems level and in partnership with communities to shift the dial in developmental vulnerability, through the application of evidence-informed principles and co-designing novel approaches to complex issues. Giselle has qualifications in Public Health and Community Development, and a post graduate qualification in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health.

Woman with long brown hair, orange top, jacket and necklace, with treed background

Eula Rohan

Senior Partnership Officer – place

Eula is a nationally respected facilitator, systems change practitioner, and coach with over 13 years’ experience supporting leaders and collaborations to tackle complex social challenges. She specialises in making complexity actionable – translating big ideas into simple, practical steps that enable diverse groups to work together effectively.

She has experience living and working with First Nations communities in remote, regional and urban settings across Australia and is now based in Brisbane, where she grew up, with her husband Marcos, and 6-year-old daughter, Maya. 

Eula brings deep expertise in Collective Impact, Deep Collaboration, Adaptive Leadership, and Systems Thinking. She has contributed to nationally significant reform initiatives including Empowered Communities, Stronger Places Stronger People, Connected Beginnings, and the design of the National Centre for Place-Based Change Nexus now PLACE.

A strategic partner, Eula walks alongside teams to strengthen collaboration, navigate cross-cultural contexts, and build the leadership capability required to drive lasting systems change.

Headshot of QKP staff member Helen Smith

Helen Smith

Principal Partnership manager - Early Oral Language

Helen has over two decades experience as a speech pathologist working in both health and educational settings within Queensland. Her work has focused on speech pathology promotion and prevention intervention in partnership with stakeholders in the early years sector including schools, early childhood education and care, community partners and most importantly, parents.

Helen has also collaborated with university partners to publish research around co-designing supportive environments for language development and sharing universal messages with families to promote speech and language development. Much of her work has involved a public health focus to develop strategies and responses to improve communication outcomes for all children and address social determinants impacting on communication development. Helen enjoys working in partnership, learning from others, and supporting systems change to help children thrive.

TQKP - Angela Timbs

Angela Timbs

Senior Partnership Officer – Engagement and Communication

Angela is experienced in working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and passionate about initiatives that drive positive social impact. With tertiary qualifications in communications and a track record of consulting to corporates, tertiary and nonprofits as well as managing her own business, her skills include grants and relationship management, strategic communications, and event planning and management.

QKP staff member Rachael Wilken headshot

Rachael Wilken

Program Manager – Childhood Stewards Initiative

Rachael grew up part of a farming family in the Western District of Victoria (Gunditjmara Country), later moving to Melbourne / Naarm (Wurrundjeri Country) and now Brisbane / Meanjin (Quandamooka Country). In her late twenties, she lived and worked in Leith, Scotland, as part of the grass-roots community sector, igniting a passion for youth-led movements.
 
She is a feminist, single parent, and lives with a life-long disability, all of which contribute to her strong sense of social justice. In her work, Rachael is a dedicated social change practitioner, using her Bachelor’s in Social Science and Psychology to cultivate a career across the disability, and child and youth sectors, working alongside leadership teams, implementing project and quality processes, and activating collaborative initiatives to understand the conditions for and to operationalise pathways to systemic change. Her key skills lie in setting up the technical and relational conditions for leadership, innovation, supporting collaborations to connect, build trust and feel safe to act on their ideas.
 
Rachael’s role at QKP is enabled by a secondment from The Front Project’s Apiary Fellowship.

Sarah Wood

​Convenor, Hearts and Mindsets

LEAD, ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION

Sarah is TQKP’s Convenor of the Engaging Hearts and Mindsets portfolio and Lead – Communication and Engagement. Sarah is a strategic communication and engagement leader and brings a wealth of experience managing strategy, relationships, reputation and risk.

Sarah has worked in not-for-profit, private and government leading strategic communications for IUCN, CSIRO, Brisbane South PHN as well as Queensland’s Path to Treaty and Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry. She champions a human-centred approach, founded on inclusion, diversity, cultural competency and equity. Sarah is also passionate about the power of storytelling and making our communication accessible for all.