Board & staff

In 2026, Maryjane Crabtree AM FAICD was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the legal profession, to community health, and to sport. She is a lawyer by profession and practised as a solicitor in Melbourne for 35 years.

Since retiring from practice in 2016, Maryjane has had several roles on boards and committees and has consulted to organisations on governance and integrity. Notably, she was a member of the Board of Epworth HealthCare for nine years (and President for the last four of those years) and was a long-term member of the Ethics Committee of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Currently, Maryjane is the Independent Chair of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Radiologists. She also chairs Racing Analytical Services Limited and Anam Cara House Colac, is a director of Rugby Victoria, is a trustee of the Uniting Church in Australia (Vic/Tas) Property Trust, and The Victor Smorgon Institute at Epworth and is Senior Selection Adviser to High Performance, Equestrian Australia. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD) and a member of Chief Executive Women.

Maryjane lives in regional Victoria and enjoys her thriving vegetable garden.

Brenton Conradi brings close to 40 years of experience in education to the Board, including 26 years as a Principal, across diverse educational settings such as Anangu schools, community schools and early learning services. 

Throughout his career, Brenton has championed the integration of the Kitchen Garden Program within school communities, establishing successful initiatives at three different sites. Brenton strongly believes in the transformative impact of the program, fostering real-life skills in literacy, numeracy, health, wellbeing, and social development, aligned with the curriculum. He views the Kitchen Garden Program as central to school culture and community engagement, and as Principal of Trinity Gardens School, Brenton looks forward to collaborating with the Board to expand the program nationwide, ensuring access to more students right across Australia.

Dr Catherine Keating is a public health expert and health economist with a strong focus on prevention. She currently works with several venture-backed health start-ups, supporting the design, evaluation and scale of innovative health services and technologies.

Catherine previously led the preventive health strategy at Medibank, where she partnered with industry, research institutes and start-ups to develop new approaches to chronic disease prevention and management.

She is a Board Member of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, an Enterprise Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and a Deal Flow Adviser for AndHealth.

Catherine has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent and manage chronic conditions, and has worked with government, private sector and United Nations organisations.

She holds a PhD in Health Economics, a Master of Public Health and clinical qualifications as an Occupational Therapist, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). She was awarded the Australian Clinical Trials Committee Partnership Award for her contribution to industry–research collaboration.

Marianne Margin has worked in the not-for-profit sector for more than 30 years, including roles on kindergarten, primary and secondary school boards, arts organisations and in the family violence sector. Her specific Board focus is on risk, governance and ethics. She has recently also served on the board of a large not-for-profit in regional Victoria in the disability care sector.

Marianne manages her own private investment company with assets in property, International and Australian equities, and is an art collector. Her professional background is in publishing and production management. She has a BA and Grad. Dip. Arts, and Master's Degree of Art Curatorship. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Marianne’s love of gardening and cooking and her passion for the education and welfare of children are brought together in her commitment to the Foundation.

Simon is a professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business & Economics at the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of Judge Business School at Cambridge University. He studies how organizations can become more effective by engaging with customers more meaningfully. One strand of his research focuses on how frontline employees interact with customers to create value for the customer, the firm, and themselves. He also studies how firms interact within regional clusters and value systems and how these interactions create conditions for innovation and sustainable performance.

Behind all his research is the idea that by recasting how firms connect with others, whether that is their customers, staff, or other firms, they can improve their performance. His research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, the Academy of Management Review, and Harvard Business Review, among others.

Simon has worked extensively with industry in a research, consulting, and executive education capacity. He has delivered executive education courses for Cambridge University and Duke Corporate Education. He has conducted research projects with a range of organizations including Goldman Sachs, Target, PWC, and Safer Care Victoria. He is an associate editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and is a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute.

Svetlana Johnson is a senior finance executive with more than 20 years’ experience across professional services, accounting, internal audit, consulting, and executive leadership roles. She has held Chief Financial Officer positions at organisations including STA Travel, van Haandel Hospitality and Holding Redlich, and previously served as Group Financial Controller at Urbis and Newmark Capital.

Svetlana has extensive experience working with boards, partners, and executive teams to strengthen financial governance, risk management, and organisational performance. She is currently contracting to a range of organisations, providing senior financial leadership and supporting financial operations and high performing finance teams.

Her governance experience includes serving as an Executive Committee member of the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association and as a Board member of the Institute of Health and Nursing Association.

Tracey Sisson is a retired lawyer by profession. Her areas of specialisation included commercial and construction law.

Prior to commencing law, Tracey practised as an accountant for 25+ years in a variety of small to medium accountancy firms, including her own business and tax advisory practice for 10 years.

She is a member of the Melbourne Theatre Company Foundation Board and is a former Director of the Law Institute Victoria and Catholic Care Victoria Housing Pty Ltd.

Her interest in the foundation is closely associated with the founding Yardmill, Kitchen and Grocery. Yardmill was a café and food store which produced the majority of its offerings in-house, using locally sourced, seasonal and ethical produce; with a strong emphasis on pleasurable, healthy eating.