Our Executive Team
Housing Plus
Maria Woods
Acting Chief Executive Officer
Qualifications
- Master of Child and Adolescent Welfare
- Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education
- Bachelor of Social Science
Maria joined Plus Community following a long career in senior leadership and clinical roles within the Western NSW Local Health District, with a focus on women’s health, sexual assault, and child protection.
Most recently she held the position of District Manager for PARVAN (Prevention and Response To Violence, Abuse and Neglect) and Women’s Health Violence Prevention. In this role she managed an extensive team working across complex portfolios, and implemented a number of significant, innovative service initiatives.
Maria has been a state representative on the Serious Incident Review Committee, a NSW Health representative to Deliver Direct Personal Response to adult survivors of institutional abuse, and has provided evidence at the Disability Royal Commission.
Maria is also a statewide trainer for ECAV (Education Centre Against Violence), has lectured at University and TAFE, and is a trained Counsellor specialising in Juvenile Justice and Sexual Assault.
Sean Ashby
Qualifications
-
Member of Chartered Accountants Australia
& New Zealand (CA ANZ) -
Bachelor of Accounting & Finance from the
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Sean is a senior finance executive with more than 16 years’ experience in both public practice and the not-for-profit sector. After graduating from University in the UK, Sean settled in Australia where he commenced his career with KPMG Cairns, providing taxation and reporting advice along with client secondments to oversee operational financial management, long range budgets and business feasibility.
Sean spent 8 years within the education arm of a prominent Indigenous organisation in Far North Queensland. Sean presided over a period of sustained growth for its Independent school with revenue and staff more than doubling in that time and was a key contributor to the school’s long term capital development program.
Sean joined Housing Plus in in 2021 as the Finance Manager and has been involved in a number a successful funding tenders, both operational and capital. As Director of Finance, Sean develops and oversees the company’s annual operating budget of over $30m by fostering meaningful relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
Sean has a logical, common-sense approach to seeking practical solutions and encourages an environment of continuous improvement. He has grown and managed finance teams that successfully partnered with the business to achieve a high level of service and value-add.
Liz Stamatelos
Qualifications
- Diploma in Marketing
Liz is an experienced strategic leader with many years’ experience in the healthcare industry and for purpose sector. Much of her career has been as a member of the senior leadership team of the B. Braun Australia Group, a global medical devices and pharmaceutical organisation.
During her 18-year career with B. Braun, Liz held a variety of positions including Senior Manager, Corporate Services and Customer Service. Since leaving B. Braun in 2014, Liz has moved into the for-purpose sector, working for OzHarvest as their National Volunteer Manager, and for LiveBetter as Acting Senior Manager, Governance.
Liz joined Housing Plus in July 2019 as Governance Manager before moving into her current role. She is now responsible for managing our housing portfolio comprising over 1400 properties throughout Central West NSW. Services provided by the customer service team include tenancy, asset and facility management, repairs, and maintenance.
Vanessa Evans
Director of People, Culture & Corporate Services
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Social Science
- Bachelor of Psychology (Hons)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Organisational Psychology
- Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resources
Vanessa has over 20 years’ experience in generalist human resources with significant expertise in change management, organisational design, and large-scale transformation, including mergers and acquisitions. As the Head of Corporate HR for the Masters division of Woolworths, she co-created and managed the people strategies for one of Australia’s largest voluntary corporate closures.
Vanessa joined Housing Plus in early 2017 to drive better outcomes for employees to maximise engagement, performance, and positive impact in our communities. In 2021 she took on responsibility for Corporate Services in addition to Human Resources, and now leads a team responsible for ICT, marketing, communications, events, safety, and strategic projects.
Anthea Basha
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Laws
- Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice
- Governance Institute of Australia Affiliate
- Admitted as a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of NSW
- Admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court of Australia
Anthea is a qualified solicitor, with strong experience in generalist legal practices on matters including family, criminal, civil litigation, personal injury, and professional negligence. She joined Housing Plus in 2020 to apply her skills and experience in working with contractual and compliance matters to a community-focused, for-purpose organisation.
Anthea now oversees and provides assurance of operational compliance against governance and operational policies, regulatory, legislative requirements, and contractual responsibilities.
She also manages all board activities, advises on internal legal matters and co-ordinates, and develops the organisation’s risk management framework.