Banksia Gardens Community Services features 8 Board of Governance members with a diverse range of skills and expertise. Our Board is focused on building sustainability to achieve long term impact. Their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm are one of the reasons Banksia Gardens achieves significant positive results for the people of Hume City and beyond.
Carole Fabian – Chairperson
BA Journalism (University of Canberra)
Carole has lived in the northern suburbs for twenty years, and worked in the local community for seven years. She joined the Board of Banksia Gardens Community Services in 2011 and became Chairperson in 2013. She has a BA (Journalism) from the University of Canberra, and has worked for numerous Members of Parliament as a Ministerial Adviser, Electorate Officer and speech writer. She has also worked for Philanthropy Australia and for several years edited their national journal ‘Philanthropy’. Carole is committed to community involvement, having served as a member of the Committee of Management of Shirley Robertson Children’s Centre in Coburg, as President of the School Council at Moonee Ponds Central School, and as Secretary of the Brunswick Zebras Junior Football Club, one of the largest and most inclusive community sporting organisations in the north-west region. She is currently a volunteer biographer and editor for Beyond Words, a community organisation that helps older people record their life stories. She is constantly inspired by the energy around Banksia Gardens, especially its homework clubs, Girls Circle, work skills programs, adult literacy, environmental education programs . . . well everything really! Carole is a keen runner, is married to a Federal parliamentarian, and has two adult children.
Royce DeSousa – Treasurer
Bachelor of Engineering Mechanics Hon IIA (Monash), Bachelor of Laws (Monash)
Royce DeSousa is currently General Manager – Energy and Sustainability for Visy, a privately owned packaging and recycling company. His work includes supplying energy to Visy’s facilities as well as driving Visy’s carbon strategy, its alternative energy and renewable energy generation strategy and progressing energy efficiency. Prior to working in energy, Royce spent 4 years working as a process, project and maintenance engineer in Visy’s Paper Mills. With degrees in Law and Engineering from Monash University, Royce brings extensive experience having previously worked with ABB in its former Steam Turbine Division, Baden, Switzerland; Solicitors’ firm Freehills; and Macquarie Bank’s Project and Structured Finance Division. Outside work, Royce enjoys playing music, cooking, cycling and comedy.
Uzay Ceylan – Member
Bachelor of Communication Sciences, Dip Community Welfare, Grad Dip Behavioural Science (Latrobe)
Uzay is Kurdish from Turkey, migrated permanently with her husband to Australia in 1997. She has a Bachelor of Communication Sciences, and worked for Turkish Radio and Television as a Production Manager for many years. She has also completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Turkey. Uzay joined the Banksia Gardens Board in 2008, and is currently Project Coordinator at Victorian Cooperative on Children’s Services for Ethnic Groups (VICSEG). She has 13 years’ experience in community services, and taught Turkish in local schools on weekends for 11 years. Uzay has recently completed her Certificate IV in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. She loves reading, travelling, and is always interested in learning new cultures.
Jon Shields – Member
Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (Oxford), Masters of Planning (Melbourne University)
Jon is a Director of Wallara since 2010 and has 40 years’ experience in both town planning and project management both in Australia and the UK. Jon has worked primarily in the public and not-for-profit sectors, but for the last 10 years has been running his own consulting firm providing project management services to both government and private clients.
Ed David – Member
BA Commerce (Hons)
Ed David has had extensive experience in government, community housing and the building, construction and property management sectors. Ed was previously Director, Property Services & Asset Management for the Victorian Office of Housing. This involved the management of some 75,000 properties across Victoria. Ed has also held the positions of General Manager Operations/Chief Operating Officer for the Defence Housing Authority (now Defence Housing Australia) and General Manager of the Defence Service Homes Corporation. Ed is excited about the opportunity to be part of Banksia Gardens Community Service as he has respected and admired the role and contribution it has made and the potential for a significant service to the community it serves.
King Ng – Member
Bachelor of Economics (Monash)
King has extensive experience in the Commercial Property Development Industry, having spent 7 years at Grocon and 2 years at Lend Lease developing commercial and residential projects. King also has experience in Government, delivering Community and Social Housing for the Department of Human Services and most recently, specialising in Youth Homelessness prevention in the form of developing Youth Foyers with Partnership with Government and non for profit agencies. King also mentors and volunteers with Youth at Risk in Custodial services and is passionate about the importance of Support programs for at risk youths that provides a stable home environment, education, mentoring and peer support.
Emily Sporik – Member
Emily first became involved with Banksia Gardens Community Services through the Good People Act Now (GPAN) project and she joined the Banksia Board in 2018, bringing in previous experience working for International NGOs, and smaller not-for-profits on a range of issues including social housing, youth substance abuse, education and sustainable development. Her earlier research projects have explored social justice issues in the United Kingdom, Australia, Tanzania, Israel and India. As part of her postgraduate thesis she is currently looking at the representation of gender in Australian Indigenous Development policy. Emily moves through all her endeavours with the goal of pursuing gender equity with an intersectional, feminist lens. Her other interests include hiking, cinema and a newly discovered passion for roller skating.
Joanne Bliss – Secretary
Cert IV Event Management (Kangan)
Joanne has been a public housing resident of the Banksia Gardens’ estate for 20 years. She is a dedicated supporter of Banksia Gardens and has volunteered for every major community event the organisation has held. Her interests include cooking, sewing and organising special events.
