Board & Management


Meet the Carers NT Board

Carers NT is grateful for the support of our Patron, His Honour Professor the Honourable Hugh Heggie PSM, the new Administrator of the Northern Territory and the guidance of our Board.

Gail Marsh


Chair / Director

Gail has lived in the Northern Territory for over 35 years including Alice Springs, Katherine, Jabiru and Darwin. Working in the Aged and Disability sector, Gail’s current role is as the Senior Advocate/Team Leader for the Seniors and Disability Rights Service (SDRS). SDRS is part of Darwin community Legal Service. Her experience in this field is broad, having also managed Alzheimer’s Australia (now Dementia Australia) during her time in Alice Springs.

Gail has an excellent understanding of the sector and includes visits to regional and remote centres providing aged, disability and NDIS advocacy support as part of her role. Having provided a caring role to her husband, Gail has an excellent understanding of how challenging it can be to be a carer to your loved one. She looks forward to be able to offer her insight and knowledge to the Board of Carers NT.

Michael Martin


Secretary / Director

Michael Martin OAM has resided and worked in the Northern Territory for 40+ years. Michael worked in Senior Executive positions in the Northern Territory Public Service before starting a consultancy business in 2007.

His positions included Assistant Under Treasurer, General Manager RDH, Deputy CEO Department of Health and Deputy CEO Department of Corporate and Information Services.

He is currently the Chair NT Remuneration Tribunal, Chair NT Build and Principal of his consulting practice Top Hospital Executive Management Pty Ltd.

Michael has been active within the NT community, especially with long term roles in Menzies School of Health Research. Lord’s Taverners NT and Order of Australia Association and CPA Australia.

His qualifications include Fellow of CPA Australia, Graduate Australian Institute of Company Directors, Bachelor Arts ANU, Batchelor Commerce Queensland University, Postgraduate Diploma Admin Canberra Uni.

Balku Wunungmurra


Director

Sandy Byard


Director

Sandy is a Registered Nurse and is married with three children. Originally from Tasmania, she and her husband Tony moved to the Territory for work five years ago. Sandy spent three years working as a lecturer in Aged Care at Charles Darwin University, spending most of her time delivering Aged Care training to various Indigenous communities in East Arnhem Land.

Prior to her move to Darwin, Sandy had spent over 20 years working in Aged and Community Care. Her last role was Team Leader for Home and Community Care Services for North and North West Tasmania. Her current position is with the Aged Care Unit as a Clinical Assessor for the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT).

When she is not at work, Sandy spends time working in her garden and attending art workshops. Sandy has been a Board member with Carers NT for three years.

Marie-Louise Pearson


Director

Marie-Louise Pearson has worked in the ICT, Telecommunications and Energy sectors for over 32 years in sales and management roles and is passionate about using her skills and experiences to help organisations deliver value and strong governance. Currently she is the Manager, Commercial & Industrial at Jacana Energy. Marie-Louise has a strong history of leadership in community organisations. She is currently on the Board of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (AIM Group Ltd) and has formerly been Chairman of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, and the Anchorage Sister Cities committee of the City of Darwin amongst others.

Marie-Louise and her sister were prime carers for both her father and mother over an 8 year period. They are 4th generation Territorians.

Marie-Louise is a Life Member and Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Sciences.

Geoff Adams


Director

Geoff has been Self-employed for 20 years in various industries including manufacturing & retail. With 2 years experience as a business consultant for Strategic Efficiency Group focusing predominantly on NGO’s and Charities to drive cost saving and income producing strategies. He has spent 7 years working and living in remote indigenous communities.

Geoff also organised and ran charity golf days, raising funds for various charities. A landmark event in Auckland NZ raised over $150,000.

He has a strong work ethic and is a motivated self-starter, works well both autonomously and within a team environment, Maintains professionalism and integrity in all situations, is an excellent communicator across broad range of demographics, is a confident and concise public speaker and has strong interest and focus on charity and humanitarian causes.

Martina Hazelbane


Director

Martina Hazelbane is a proud Warai/Larrakia traditional owner from Darwin and Adelaide River in the Northern Territory.

Martina is a strong leader who prides herself on being able to work cross culturally to achieve outcomes in the most difficult of circumstances especially in the areas of social justice, human rights and Indigenous empowerment.
She is solution focused and believes in taking personal responsibility and seeing the opportunity in the most difficult situations. She previously worked at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) for the past fifteen years in management and leadership as both Practice Manager in their Darwin office and Office Manager in Alice Springs.
Martina led a team of 45 staff members who delivered criminal, civil, family law services, law and justice service as well as community legal education. These services where coordinated across remote, regional and urban areas of the Northern Territory.

In her management role at NAAJA Martina was dedicated to making sure Aboriginal people had access to high quality culturally appropriate legal services. She earned the respect of her colleagues and clients for her professionalism and reliability and prided herself on her exceptional management, organisational, administrative and cross-cultural skills to adapt to any workplace.

Adam Hayes


Director
Adam Hayes is an award-winning real estate professional and  CEO of Call2View Real Estate in Palmerston.
Adam enjoys working with both the residential and investment property market. With a background in sales and a genuine love of property, Adam works with clients to ensure their objectives are met. Whether it’s Real Estate Sales or Property Investing in the Palmerston, Darwin area, Adam is renowned for his professionalism and high level of service offered to his customers.
Adam’s Real Estate experience includes – Residential & Commercial Property – sales, purchases, management, and rental and market appraisals.

Tony Webb


Director

Tony has resided in the Northern Territory for 9 years working as a remote Training Manager based predominantly in Arnhem Land.

Promoting Cultural awareness and providing training that leads to candidates taking on Leadership roles is something that Tony takes great pride in.

Tony relocated to the Northern Territory from South Australia with extensive Management experience in a commercial environment and sporting clubs. This has given him in-depth insight and understanding of the mechanics of Not For Profit organisations.

Having spent many years working with culturally diverse groups & vulnerable people, his understanding of the Community Services sector has increased and Tony is eager to support Carers NT to look for opportunities for growth & expansion of their service delivery throughout the Northern Territory. 

Steve Vitone


CEO

As CEO of Carers NT for seven years, Steve Vitone has extensive experience in community services and has worked in leadership roles across the public and not for profit sector for approximately three decades. Steve strongly supports a carer friendly community in which carers are valued and recognised for the very important role they play in our community. Steve believes unpaid carers are the backbone of the aged, disability and mental health sectors and that it is critical that carers are provided the appropriate supports and tools that will assist them in their caring journey. Committed to providing effective, cost efficient supports and extending the reach of the organisation, Steve sits on several boards and committees and is also a member of the National Disability and Carer Advisory Council.

Steve understands the caring role having travelled back to Canada to care for his own father, which he found very rewarding but also very challenging.

When not at work, Steve enjoys helping out and watching his boys play Rugby Union and camping in the outback of the NT and WA with family.