Nello Ragusa

Founder & AAA Chief Executive

Nello is a passionate and driven individual who is committed to leading this organisation in delivering its promise of working with the poor and bringing self-sustainable solutions, so they can dare to dream and begin to have hope for tomorrow.

Nello is a corporate professional who runs his own IT Business consultancy specialising in Learning & Development and Change Management. He and has worked in most of the countries different business sectors. Nello has been married for over 25 years and has 3 children.

Ben Westlake

Relations Managment

Ben has over 20 years experiencing leading and managing sales teams and in recent times as HR Manager within greenfield’s environments for wholesale distribution businesses within the building supply industry. Ben now also operates a successful HR & Recruitment Consultancy practice as well as providing his General Management skills to businesses.

Ben’s qualifications include a Graduate Certificate of Human Resources, Bachelor of Business – Business Administration, Diploma of Training and Assessment, Certificate IV – Life Coaching, and he is a Professional Member of the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI).

Ben has spent time on various boards and committees and as Board Member for his local church. Ben has previously sponsored a trust bank within the micro finance space and is passionate about empowering others to help themselves – a hand up as opposed to a hand out. Ben also enjoys spending time with family and friends, eating good food and taking in a good book or movie.

Terence Muza

Finance & Compliance

Terence is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 12 years’ experience working in various accounting, finance and administration roles and across a number of sectors.

Being born in Africa-Zimbabwe, he understands first-hand and has seen the state of many similar communities in which Hopes and Dreams is serving.

Terence is passionate about bringing dignity to impoverished communities by finding solutions that provide sustainable solutions to meet everyday needs.

Terence is married and has 1 daughter. Outside of work Terence enjoys coaching, reading a good book and family/friends gatherings.

Rebecca Ragusa

Board Member

Rebecca has served on the Hopes and Dreams board from when it was established. She holds 2 formal qualifications in Teaching and Community Welfare /Counselling and has been involved in many local community outreach projects.

Rebecca has a genuine love for people and desires to bring the best out in them.

In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her beautiful family, travelling, trying new foods, creating memories and having a good laugh with friends.

Mark Zarb

Projects

Mark is a registered builder and has been working in construction industry for the past 25 years, he leads large teams for a leading volume builder.

He is also the successful CEO of beautifully built and awarded architectural homes.

Mark enjoys training and educating younger trades people and supervisors to encourage them to do the best work possible.

Mark loves to help others in his workplace, community and abroad. He’s honored to be part of the H+D team as it’s been a desire for a long time to use his skills to bring hope and dignity to the underprivileged.

Mark is married and has 2 daughters. When he finds spare time you can find him mountain bike riding.

Richard Harvie

Fundraising

Richard is the Director of his own commercial and domestic plumbing company and has been in the field for over 30 years. He has completed formal qualifications in both Plumbing and Building and Construction to strengthen his experience.

Richard has a genuine heart passion in building friendships and relationships through his work and has always had a dream to just help people who are disadvantaged and impoverished.

In 2017 Richard travelled to Zimbabwe & South Africa to see first-hand how a water project in village of 3,000 has changed their lives and how women can be freed from generational poverty through micro loan opportunities. That trip touched him deeply.

Richard is married with 3 boys, he loves spending quality time with his family. He enjoys travelling, camping and fishing.

Steve Dalton

Governance & Risk Management

Steve has over 20 years’ experience in corporate executive leadership roles, and is passionate about bringing this experience to help the most impoverished in the world. He has led a suite of teams in the areas of Finance, IT, Customer Service, Procurement, Legal, Property Management, Governance, Risk, Information Management, and Construction.

He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), Graduate Diploma in Management and Masters in Business Administration. Steve also has experience as a member of several boards, and in providing an advisory role to boards. He is delighted to be a part of the team at Hopes and Dreams to aid in fulfilling its mission.

Graham Rogers

Board Advisor

Graham has a passion for working with those who are less fortunate in this world. Growing up in a suburb where people lacked hope and direction provided a foundation for his desire to help people.

He’s served on various boards; for a large financial institution and multiple Christian not-for-profit organisations.

He’s held positions as a Director and in senior management within highly competitive, state of the art technological based organisations and developed new technologies and strategies that have changed the industry globally.

Graham has worked for World Vision and spent several years serving in Australia and internationally. He specialises in marketing consultancy and developing campaigns for not-for-profit organisations.

He has travelled extensively in the third world understanding and empathising with the plight of those less fortunate and is passionate about see their lives transformed in a lasting way.

Currently Graham is serving as the CEO of a community based not-for-profit organisation that operates a variety of programs for the needy.

Dan Saunders

Legal & Governance

Dan is a lawyer working at Sharrock Pitman Legal in the Charity/NFP Team. Dan has experience gained from working in some of Australia’s top charity law firms, founding his own charity, working in churches, volunteering on numerous charity boards and also by working at the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC).

Dan advises NFPs, charities and philanthropists on all areas of establishment, constitutions, income tax exemption, and tax deductibility (DGR), together with providing guidance on best practice strategies for governance, compliance, fundraising and reporting. Dan also enjoys spending time with his 4 kids, watching the football, cooking and listening to jazz, or settling down with a nice book.  

Dr. Christopher John Clements

Int'l Public Health & Development Advisor

John is a medical practitioner (clinical Pediatrics and Obstetrics) whose career spans 45 years, 17 of them with World Health Organization (WHO) and has a heart for children in developing countries.

Some of his earlier roles include, Head of the Infectious Disease Control for the Department of Health in New Zealand, being part of the global leadership team of WHO’s program for infant and childhood immunization in Geneva, Associate Professor in the School of Population Health and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

He consults to a number of UN and Australia-based international health agencies and is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health.

John has travelled to 4 continents, given over 200 presentations on public health issues at international professional conferences and meetings. He has also written extensively, has published 20 books or book chapters, more than 150 articles in the medical literature as well over 100 unpublished WHO documents, mostly on public health issues.

In 2014 he was appointed to the Geneva-based Independent Review Committee of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

Joseph Kolapudi

Communications & Media

Joseph is a nonprofit communications professional, and has extensive experience in various media capacities over the past 10 years. He serves as the PR and Content Manager for the Business as Mission (BAM) Global Congress for the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelisation. In addition, he also writes for Christianity Today Australia. Joseph was recently recognised as a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum.