Our Staff

Sean Rooney (Executive Director)
Sean Rooney is an experienced management and leadership professional working at the forefront of the cross-sector partnering, development and sustainability agendas. He has held a number of high profile roles requiring a combination of business acumen, technical capability, entrepreneurial spirit and leadership. He joined FDC from Sinclair Knight Merz, where he was leading the SKM sustainability services team within Australia and overseas.
Previously as Director of CSIRO’s Sustainable Communities Initiative, Sean pioneered a ground-breaking, three-year action research program bringing together organisations from across the public, private, NGO and research sectors, to work in partnership with communities, to develop and deliver responses to local development and sustainability issues. He received a CSIRO Achievement Award in 2007 and a Future Summit Leadership Award in 2006 in recognition of his work. Sean has also held a variety of business and commercial roles in the private and public sectors.

Sean has worked on projects with AusAID, the World Bank and other Australian and international agencies, a cross-section of NGOs, and some of Australia’s leading companies. His work has taken him to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
He holds a variety of professional roles – he is a member of the National Business Leaders Forum for Sustainable Development Steering Committee, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Griffith Business School, National Judge of the Keep Australia Beautiful Sustainable Cities Awards, member of the ECOS magazine Editorial Advisory Committee, and advisor to the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise.

Sean, who emigrated to Australia from Ireland in the late 1960s, grew up in Canberra and has a Bachelor of Commerce (ANU), an MBA (University of Melbourne), and Post Graduate Certificate in Cross Sector Partnering for Sustainable Development (Cambridge University).

Monique van Heerden (Manager, Finance & Corporate Services)
Monique qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1998. She brings extensive financial management experience in the private and NGO sectors, to the FDC.  Monique has significant experience in projects operating at the nexus of the private, public and NGO sectors – including Aboriginal economic development, social infrastructure PPP’s, social research publication and urban regeneration projects. She was also responsible for a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) financial reporting capability project. Monique has worked in the private and NGO sectors in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. She is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Global Accounting Alliance and KPMG Alumni.

Mike Nurse (Senior Project Manager)
Mike Nurse is a community livelihoods and natural resource management specialist with over 20 years experience in participatory natural resource management in temperate and tropical Australia, the Pacific, South and South East Asia, Central and Eastern Africa and Latin America. Areas of interest include the institutional aspects of community based natural resource management (what makes local organisations robust, equitable and sustainable), participatory forest management; and pro poor approaches to conservation and community development.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Master of Science in Land Resource Management and Planning. He has extensive experience in project design, monitoring and evaluation, and in the management of long term rural development projects as program manager, team leader and chief technical adviser. Mike has experience of working for a cross section of NGOs, the private sector and government.

Lydia Pavlova (Senior Project Manager - Asia)
Lydia joined FDC as a Senior Project Manager based in Singapore. She has over 10 years of experience in managing large scale development cooperation projects in a number of sectors in Africa (South Africa and Mozambique), Asia (Cambodia) and the Pacific (Australia, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands). She has worked in post conflict states and in complex political and economic environments. Lydia has a thorough understanding of starting up, implementing and transitioning large donor funded projects developed while working closely with AusAID and partner government representatives. For over five years, Lydia managed the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) Law and Justice Program where she worked with senior government officials, and was involved in development of sectoral strategic initiatives and management of  large and small scale activities. Lydia holds a Master of Science (Moscow Medical Academy) and an MBA (Queensland University of Technology) degree.

Jennifer Poole (Senior Project Manager - Pacific)
Jennifer Poole has more than 20 years experience in all areas of the humanitarian aid project cycle including field assessments, research, project design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reflection. Jennifer has special management expertise in emergency and high risk settings. Originally from Australia, she has worked in the management of relief and transitional programs in Afghanistan (2007), Pakistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia (1993-1996) and in the Solomon Islands (2000-2002). Most recently, Jennifer held the position of Executive Director of Medical Services Pacific, an NGO which she helped to establish in Fiji to provide health care services to rural women. Prior to that, Jennifer was the Country Director for Marie Stopes International Pacific based in Fiji, supervising a program that covered eight Pacific Island countries. Jennifer has worked for various international NGO’s including Oxfam, Care, World Vision and Caritas and has Masters in International Relations from the University of Queensland.

Shawn Hunter (Project Manager)
Shawn specialises in the design and facilitation of networks and partnerships to increase the level and quality of cooperation, technical exchanges and project development amongst institutions and practitioners. Through designing and implementing programmes and network activities Shawn works to identify and develop best practice approaches to development and enable greater stakeholder collaboration in the field. His research and professional work has been focused on development issues in the Asia-Pacific region with practical experience encompassing monitoring and evaluation, partnership development, organisational strengthening, strategy development and private sector engagement. He is an experienced project manager and has worked within a range of development sectors including financial inclusion, energy, training and capacity building, disaster risk and water and sanitation. Shawn speaks intermediate Mandarin and holds a Bachelor of Arts (1st Class Hnrs - Geography) from the University of Queensland.

Carly Stephan  (Project Manager)
Carly has had several years experience managing and working on development projects in the Asia-Pacific region, in areas including governance and leadership and resource sector community development. Carly currently manages FDC projects within the governance and gender arena, with a focus on the Pacific region. Carly has previously had experience as a project coordinator for programs ranging from environmental sustainability to law and justice. Carly combines her project management background with extensive researching and teaching experience in the areas of: governance, refugees and security, teaching methods and international development success and efficacy. Carly speaks Bahasa Indonesia at an intermediate level and holds a double degree in Political Science and International Business, a first class honours degree in International Relations (University of Queensland) and a Masters of Development Studies (University of Sydney).
 

Erlijn Sie (BWTP Manager)
Erlijn is experienced in the field of microfinance, both in Asia as well as in the Netherlands. In 2005 she founded an MFI (Microkrediet voor Moeders) reaching out to entrepreneurial women in Asia, it started in Sri Lanka 6 years ago, and is now active in eight countries in the South and Southeast Asia region. Erlijn has also worked as a director, setting up the first Dutch MFI (HandsOn Microkrediet), providing microcredit to excluded groups in the Netherlands. Furthermore, she advised several non profit organisations in Asia and the Netherlands on how to move forward in the area of microfinance, how to seek private sector funding and/or organisational development. Erlijn also had 10 years of experience in the private sector as a business consultant covering many sectors. She holds a double degree in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences (Master of Sciences, Technical University of Eindhoven) and an M.A.degree from Leiden University in Languages and Cultures of South & Southeast Asia, specialising in ASEAN Society, Economy and Politics.

Jack Lord Rubillar (BWTP Network Coordinator)
Jack Lord formerly worked as a Programme Officer for Research with the Mindanao Microfinance Council of the Philippines. He has a strong background in conducting socio-economic research and business development while working with Non-Government Organizations and Private Corporations for the past years. Jack earned his Bachelor's Degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Davao University and pursued his Masters Degree in Economics and Business Administration at the same university. He is currently working with FDC as BWTP Network Coordinator in Singapore.

Lanka Perera (Assistant Management Accountant)
Lanka is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and of the Institute of Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia (CPA). She also holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenapura. She possesses over 11 years of experience in various accounting roles including auditing, taxation and commercial sector finance positions. Since her time at FDC she mainly deals with the financials of FDC Singapore and Pacific.

 Angela To (Accounts Officer)
Angela is an accounting graduate who completed her Business Degree (accounting major) from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) before joining FDC in August 2009 and is taking further studies towards the CPM Programme.  Since her time at FDC she has provided support with the accounts and assisted in preparing the financial reports for FDC Australia, Singapore and Pacific. 

 Tazia Gaisford (Administration Officer)
Tazia joined FDC in August 2010. She completed her Masters of Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in July 2010 prior to moving to Brisbane. Tazia also has a Bachelor of Arts with Anthropology and History majors from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She has experience working with global justice networks on the praxis of sustainable living, including permaculture and the ethics of cooperation. She has volunteered and worked with various not-for-profit organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Dr. John Conroy (Special Consultant)
John Conroy has been a development practitioner since 1968, with extensive periods of residence in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and field experience in much of South and East Asia. While Executive Director of FDC, from 1991 to 2000, he co-authored two books on linkages between banks and MFIs. These were Banking with the Poor (FDC, 1992) and Best Practice of Banking with the Poor (FDC, 1995). He also co-authored two comparative studies, Getting the Framework Right: policy and regulation for microfinance in Asia (FDC, 1998) and The Role of Central Banks in Microfinance (ADB, 2000). John is now Special Consultant to FDC, as well as consulting independently. He has conducted studies and evaluations for the World Bank in Fiji and East Timor, for FAO in Indonesia and for the Pacific Forum Secretariat in Pacific island countries. Dr Conroy has had a long association with aspects of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process. As Executive Director of FDC, he managed an APEC ‘second track’ initiative between 1995 and 2000. This explored the nature and potential of the APEC economic & technical cooperation process. Dr Conroy was consultant to the government of Mexico on microbanking and microenterprise development issues during that country’s chairing of the APEC process in 2002, and was keynote speaker at the Acapulco ‘High Level Meeting on Microenterprise’. Most recently, during 2008, he was associated with the ABAC ‘financial inclusion’ initiative, conducted as part of the APEC Finance Ministers’ process.