The executive leadership team

  • Vicki Condon AM - Founder & CEO

    We are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis.  As Founder and CEO of Raise Foundation, Vicki is committed to making a significant positive impact on youth wellbeing in Australia through early intervention youth mentoring programs. Vicki has built Raise into a national charity from the ground up, by strategically attracting and leading a skilled and inspiring team of counsellors, volunteers, Board Directors, and Advisors.  Previously, Vicki had a corporate career in Human Resources and taught in Outreach at TAFE. She founded and now sits on the Board of the Together 4 Youth collective. Raise and Vicki have been recognised with various awards, and Vicki is a Member of the Order of Australia.

  • Lucy Snowball - Data & Youth Insights Director

    A data and evaluation expert, Lucy is passionate about using evidence to improve outcomes. Lucy joined Raise Foundation as the Data and Youth Insights Director in June 2021. Leading program evaluation, Lucy also ensures the youth voice is embedded across the organisation. 

    Prior to Raise, Lucy held a range of evaluation, policy and research leadership roles, most recently Lucy was the Director, Evaluation and Effectiveness at the NSW Department of Education.

     


  • Adelaide Thompson - Marketing and Fundraising Director

    A strategic fundraising and marketing expert, Adelaide brings over 10+ years’ experience in the ‘for purpose’ sector across a breadth of revenue streams from individual giving to campaigns to philanthropy.

    Prior to joining the NFP industry Adelaide worked on some of the most sophisticated loyalty schemes in the UK at leading marketing agencies such as M&C Saatchi resulting in a passion for data driven marketing.

    As Marketing and Fundraising Director, Adelaide’s role is to create a diversified fundraising portfolio to enable Raise to grow sustainably. This will assist Raise in achieving its ambition of being in every public high school in Australia so we can ensure Australia is showing up for our young people.

  • Kathleen Vella - Strategic Project Director

    Kathleen is one of Australia’s leading authorities on youth mentoring having founded the Australian Youth Mentoring Network, Australia’s first peak body for the youth mentoring sector.

    Kathleen developed the minimum operational standards that all mentoring programs in Australia are encouraged to meet. Passionate and driven to deliver programs that enable the best possible outcomes for young people, she continues to consult privately in the sector.

    As the Strategic Project Director at Raise, Kathleen is responsible for the implementation and successful delivery of new and exciting social enterprise initiative.

  • Tamara Salamacha - Program Director

    Tamara leads our Programs Team nationally delivering hundreds of programs for thousands of young people across the country.  She joined Raise in 2020 as our NSW State Manager leading our team to deliver over 100 programs across metro and regional NSW and ACT.

    Tamara's previous experience includes Programs Director with the AIEF for 6 years.  Prior to that she was the General Manager of The Shack Youth Service, Residential Program Manager for Impact Youth Services, and Program Coordinator for Life Without Barriers.  She brings a wealth of program delivery and people management expertise to the Raise village. 


Patron, Chair and Board of Directors

David Gonski AC - Patron

David Gonski is a highly regarded and well-known business executive who is active in matters of philanthropy and education in Australia. He sits on numerous Boards and leads various government enquiries, along with his role as Chancellor of the University of NSW. As our Patron, David is a strong advocate for mentoring. David is the Chair of our Patron’s Advisory Council which is instrumental to our vision of scaling our mentoring programs towards a national reach.

Leon Condon - Chairman

Leon is an experienced executive with a solid track record of business achievement in blue chip corporate and successful start-ups. Leon is currently Chairman of Engagis which brings engagement through the use of digital solutions in physical spaces. Leon holds a degree in engineering and is a Fellow of the AICD. He brings a wealth of expertise to Raise and is a key partner in the success of the organisation since inception.

Jun Bei Liu – Non-Executive Director

Jun Bei is lead portfolio manager for Tribeca’s Alpha Plus fund which she has doubled and, at over $1bn, is now one of the largest long-short equity funds in the Australian Market. She is a motivated and dedicated investment manager having built a 16-year career at Tribeca as an analyst, portfolio manager and then taking over Alpha Plus in 2019. Jun Bei holds a Commerce Degree from UNSW, as well as GAICD and CFA.

Tim Bishop – Non-Executive Director

Tim has 30 years of Investment Banking experience, joining Macquarie Group in 1999 as part of the acquisition of Bankers Trust Australia. He held various senior roles at Macquarie before retiring in July 2019, including Global Head of Macquarie Capital, Executive Committee member of Macquarie Group from 2012 to 2019, and Macquarie’s US Country Head. Tim founded Macquarie’s real estate business and was Global Head of the Industrials and Financial Institutions groups.

Dr Matthew Miles - Non-Executive Director

Matthew brings to Raise outstanding experience in executive leadership, marketing, communications, fundraising, advocacy, change management and scaling organisations, with strong NFP sector experience.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the GO8 ranked University, The University of Queensland, and a post-graduate Masters (MBA) from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of NSW. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and a Graduate of the Australian Institute Company Directors.

Joost de Kock - Non-Executive Director

Joost de Kock has over 25 years senior leadership experience in both the private and public sectors and brings strategy, digital transformation, and technology innovation expertise to Raise. Joost has had a long career as a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group and more recently has held several senior government roles including Deputy Secretary, Customer Strategy, and Technology at Transport for NSW. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Aruma Disability Services and served on the Redkite (children's cancer charity) Board for nine years. Joost holds an Engineering degree from Cambridge University, a DPhil (PhD) in Medical Electronics from Oxford University, a Cranfield MBA and GAICD.

Join our mentoring movement

Research shows mentoring makes a significant impact to the lives of young people.

Find out more