Board of Management

Board of Management and Committees

Albany Community Hospice has a Board of Management that is made up of dedicated community members that have the various skills required to ensure that we maintain a high level of governance. To achieve this and to support the Board of Management, subcommittees have been developed to manage a vast range of issues related to the operations of the Hospice.

Karen Condon – Chairperson

Karen is originally from the UK and migrated to Australia with her family in 1997. Karen initially settled in Perth and moved to the Great Southern in 2012.

Karen started her career in the pharmaceutical industry as a microbiology scientist, but over the years, has developed experience in quality management and technical writing, and during the past 20 years has continued her career in both professions. She is an experienced quality assurance manager and has practiced managing quality systems and information management systems across a wide range of industries. She is currently working as the QA Manager for a manufacturing business in Albany.

When living in Perth, Karen was involved as a volunteer in the community as a volunteer fire fighter and a leader in the SES for many years where she was very involved in the recruitment and management of SES volunteers. Karen is currently a volunteer with the Red Cross Emergency Services. 

Karen is very excited to be part of the Hospice family and looks forward to participating in the work of the Board.

Tony London – Deputy Chairperson

Tony is an educator and writer. He is a graduate of Monash University, Monash Teachers’ College, UWA and Edith Cowan University and completed the course work for his EdD at Murdoch before leaving to work in India. He has spent a lifetime in teaching and learning, working as a teacher in Shepparton Victoria, and Christ Church Grammar School, Claremont, 5 years as Deputy Principal of St Joseph’s College in Albany and, ultimately, 14 years as the Principal of All Saints College in Perth. He was the education consultant and then the Foundation Principal of Serpentine-Jarrahdale Grammar School (renamed Court Grammar School). Since ‘retirement’ he has worked for more than fifteen years as a self-funded volunteer in India, mainly working with Tibetan education authorities. Concurrently, he and his family have been in the olive growing industry in the Great Southern, he was a cartoonist with the Albany Advertiser [London’s Lot], Chairman of the Bornholm VFB for many years, chair of the Albany Maritime Foundation, and the Great Southern Olive Growers Association.

Tony brings a unique perspective to organisations as a long-term devotee of consultative leadership, which he has applied in areas where he has had the opportunity. He is an active and published writer of poetry and prose. His rural property still provides constant demands on his time as do his bicycles. He is motivated by trying to help people find enjoyment in the nurturing of others; this includes his six grandchildren.

Helen Hawley – Treasurer

Helen was born in Beverley to farming parents.  The family shifted to another farm near Badgingarra in her late primary school years.  She spent her high school years at St Gertrude’s College, New Norcia.  After commencing university studying Industrial Chemistry she decided that was not for her and joined the ANZ Bank in Perth.  This began the journey into accounting and business management.  Helen moved to Albany in 1974 with the bank where she met her Husband, Alan, and they were married in 1977.  Alan & Helen have a farming property North of Albany.  They have 2 daughters.  Helen left the ANZ Bank in 1978 to become a legal secretary with Haynes Robinson, solicitors, then became their in house Accountant and Office Manager in 1981.  In 1997 she decided to further her career by joining Lincolns Accountants and spent 19 years with them, commencing at a graduate level and becoming a senior accountant and client manager.  In 2016 Helen left Lincolns to “retire” to the farm and become a full time farmer for the first time in her life.

Helen’s interest in Hospice was first sparked while working with Coral Banks, one of the board members during the construction of the first Hospice buildings near the old hospital.  The high profile of the Hospice in the Albany Community together with the firsthand experience of the purpose of Hospice during her Mother’s 6 week stay in the Hospice, before her death in 2019, helped Helen make the decision to offer her services when the position of Treasurer of the Board of Management became vacant.

Trish Ryans-Taylor – Secretary

Trish moved to Albany in 2006 with her partner Eva to enjoy the Great Southern lifestyle after living in Perth for most of her life. She now lives on a small acreage near town sharing the property with three horses, one dog, two chickens, numerous wild ducks, parrots and other native animals. In 2008 Trish’s parents joined her in the Great Southern and more recently her daughter, son-in-law and grandson have moved to Denmark from Victoria.

Trish started her career in information technology, working exclusively in this area for 19 years. She then went to university to study Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Justice Studies. After leaving university she worked part-time with Richmond Fellowship developing and implementing step-up/step-down mental health accommodation services as well as tutoring at Edith Cowan University and the University of Western Australia in sociology, anthropology and information technology. During this time Trish also worked for the Disabilities Services Commission in the area of policy development and assessment.

Since moving to Albany has worked with the Department of Planning as a Planning Officer, while completing her law degree focusing on climate change law and the Small Business Development Commission as a Small Business Development Consultant. In 2009 Trish completed her law degree and has worked as a Mental Health Advocate, a manager of two community legal centres and most recently as a Capacity and Accreditation Coordinator for the Community Legal Centre Association WA. Trish was admitted as a lawyer in the Supreme Court in 2016 and has worked in the areas of Governance for legal centres, cooperatives and not-for-profit organisations since then.

She has particular interest in health organisations and client’s rights and has been a Board member of Amity Health since 2012. Joining the Board of the Albany Hospice is an extension of this interest because of the valuable work that the Hospice does for their clients and the clients families.

Ian Neil

Ian was born and raised in Melbourne but has been resident in regional WA for over 15 years. He is a business graduate from RMIT and cut his corporate teeth in Local Government before establishing his own company focusing on market research and strategic development. An extensive trip around Australia resulted in the family settling in Albany in 2005

He commenced his current role as CEO of Pivot Support Services seven years ago and now has become a passionate advocate for reform of our justice system. Under Ian’s leadership Pivot has undergone significant restructure and is now in a position to provide innovative evidenced based services to the community.

He has viewed the operations of Hospice from afar with a growing level of interest and understanding. He looks forward to contributing through his role as a Board member.

He is a passionate Richmond AFL supporter, is still involved in masters football and is a member of the Albany Golf Club

Lutz Pamberger

Lutz is a registered Counselling Psychologist and a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

Lutz immigrated to Australia from Germany in 1993. He lived in former West Berlin, where he worked for seven years in a therapeutic community for the mentally ill and with drug addicted offenders in a locked ward.

Since his arrival in Australia, Lutz has worked in a number of non-government counselling organisations as a counsellor, supervisor and manager. He was also a leacturer in counselling at the University of Notre Dame Australia.

For the last 15 years, Lutz and his wife Sally have run their own counselling practice in Albany. Lutz has also worked in the Albany prison as part of the treatment team for violent offenders and as a contact counsellor for Headspace and the Cancer Council. Lutz is experienced in working with trauma and grief issues. He loves his work and has a particular interest in working with couples experiencing conflict. 

Lutz loves his garden. He grows his own vegetables and has established a beautiful orchard. Lutz enjoys playing table tennis and has recently taken up Tai Chi.

Jane Mouritz

Jane Mouritz moved to Albany from Hyden in 2015.

Jane was involved in the Hyden community for 37 years. She has served in local government, and also as an appointed member to a number of State and national advisory committees, including the Regional Communities Program, Stronger Families and Communities Initiative, the National Advisory Committee for Ageing, Internet Advisory Panel and the WA Telecentres Advisory Board.

Since residing in Albany, Jane has completed a commerce degree, majoring in management. Jane is employed as a casual lecturer in business and leadership at Great Southern TAFE and as Associates Coordinator for the Great Southern Universities Centre.

Jane was Chairperson of Albany Community Hospice from 2016 to 2021, and after a two-year break is looking forward to supporting Hospice again as a Board member.

Helen Tasker

Helen joined the Board of the Albany Community Hospice in December 2023 and brings with her an interest in governance and organisational structure as well as experience in the management of grant funding and contract management.

Helen trained with the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2017 as part of her six-year commitment to the Board of South Coast Natural Resource Management. Prior to her Board position, Helen was employed as manager of the team engaged in Contract Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Geospatial Databasing. While she readily admits her knowledge of Geospatial Databasing was nil, she said working with the team to facilitate the best outcomes was both interesting and enlightening.

While on the Board of South Coast NRM Helen took on the role of Chair of the South Coast Environment Fund, a Deductable Gift Recipient Fund (DGR) established to allow tax deductable financial donations toward environmental projects, one of which included the protection of Honey Possums, which although not endangered themselves, act as an indicator species to determine a decrease in more vulnerable fauna populations.

In 2020, Helen put her governance skills to use when taking on the role of President of the Albany Sub-Branch of the Returned Services League for three years. With a dedicated team of volunteers, the Sub-Branch was brought back from the brink of collapse to being a financially viable and a more community minded organisation.

Helen is currently part of a development team working towards creating a not-for-profit organisation working in the field of veterans’ welfare and is looking forward to supporting Hospice staff and volunteers as a member of a proactive and conscientious Board.