Our People

Managing Director & Principal Consultant

Maria brings well over 30 years of continuous contribution to building strategic capability within a breadth of sectors and within peak bodies across Australia. She has worked across all tiers of government advocating for human rights and social justice informed policy responses, areas that have been a lifelong passion and professional commitment. Her extensive relationships and deep knowledge of many communities represented across multicultural Australia ideally position her to recognise the unique future opportunities for organisations.

Maria’s incomparable contributions have seen her awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order Of Australia for significant service to women, to cultural diversity, and to the prevention of domestic violence, and a Lifetime Achievement award by the Migration Council of Australia in 2017 for her tireless devotion to Australian multiculturalism and support for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women. She has held numerous advisory positions to government including the National Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity, the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children and the Federal Multicultural Affairs Access and Equity Inquiry panel.

Connect with Maria on LinkedIn.

Director

Ten Ironmen races and over 100 triathlons are few of Tony Kofkin’s notable achievements. Tony’s biggest assets are his heart and care for individual’s agency through self-empowerment. At the age of 23, Tony started his first business in financial and estate planning, specialising in corporate superannuation and insurance benefits. Today, Tony manages a diverse portfolio of services and clients with a strong focus on the SME and NFP/Charitable foundations sector. Tony’s ability to share knowledge through great storytelling, led him to travel across all continents as a guest speaker for companies such as HSBC, AMP, MLC and more. Tony co-founded Myriad Kofkin Global as a response to his passion for a more diverse and inclusive society. He is a Director of the NFP CarryOn on a pro bono basis. CarryOn is a 90 year old charity supporting homeless veterans. Tony is also the Group CEO of Kofkin Bond & Co and the Managing Partner of Private Wealth.

Connect with Tony on LinkedIn.

Director

Jamie is an executive manager who has experience in areas of Operations, Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Acquisitions, and Technology. With this and his combined project management skills, it enables him to lead change in complex processes and business operations, understand the underlying technologies and implement these changes in a timely manner. Jamie understands an entrepreneurial environment and values the culture of a company that looks to thrive in this environment. He values critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and a team that is always looking for improvement.

Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn.

Associate

Juliana’s work experience in gender equality and Women’s Human Rights spans over 30 years including experience with CSO activism at the national, regional and global levels. She has led Australia’s response to the practice of Female Genital Mutilation and continues to support training from a Human Rights perspective. She has a deep commitment to refugee and migrant women’s empowerment; especially providing access for migrant and refugee women to relevant spaces for expression of their voices. Juliana is a passionate and persuasive public speaker and excellent trainer and facilitator who leaves audiences inspired to action.

In 2013 Juliana was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to the community, particularly the welfare of women and refugees. She is also the Programs Manager, Domestic and Family Violence at Settlement Services International.

Connect with Juliana on LinkedIn.

Associate

Kate has many years of experience developing and delivering programs that enhance community well-being. She has worked across several professional domains, including State & Local Government, Sport, Education, Child and Family Services and the Not-For-Profit Sector.

Kate is the Director of Kokoro Consulting, Lead Consultant and Trainer in Australia for The Centre for Healing and Justice through Sport and a Faculty Member of the NM-Sport program with The Neurosequential Network.

As a consultant, facilitator & trainer, Kate’s expertise are centred around well-being, including trauma-aware and healing-centred practice, emotional intelligence, gender equality, and early childhood & youth development.
She has expertise in capacity building, strategic planning, program design, implementation and evaluation, workshop design, and facilitation, including co-design frameworks. She has partnered with many organisations to facilitate collaborative processes and recognises communities’ abilities to find their own strength-based solutions to issues.
With a background as a professional athlete and youth basketball coach, she is extremely passionate about the healing power of sport and making sport a safe and inclusive space for all.

Connect with Kate on LinkedIn.

Associate

Harry is a psychiatrist and public health specialist, Head of the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit in the School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. He is internationally recognised as a leader in the development of the fields of global mental health and multicultural mental health. His work is particularly focused on human rights of persons with mental illness and on development of effective and equitable mental health systems. In 2015 he was the recipient of the inaugural Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Association President’s Award for Humanitarian Contributions Through Public Health.

He has been a consultant to Australian Commonwealth and State Departments of Health, successive Australian Ministers for Immigration and Citizenship, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization and to Ministries of Health and Ministries of Social Affairs in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam. He has worked closely with governments, academic colleagues and international and local NGOs on post-conflict and post-disaster mental health system development in the Balkans, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and elsewhere. He is currently a mental health adviser (‘development partner’) to ASEAN and, through membership of the Interdisciplinary Clinical Advisory Group, to the Victorian Department of Health.

Connect with Harry on LinkedIn.

Associate

Eva is a recognised leader in the fields of translations and European citizenship. She regularly presents and lectures at conferences, universities and training institutions on the topics of language services, cultural awareness and history.

Eva is the founder of Polaron and plays an active role in the global development of the company. Some of her previous roles include management and operations of a telecommunication provider and administration of a local government’s aged and disability department.

Over the years, Eva has made a tremendous voluntary contribution to the translation and interpreting industry and the Polish and Jewish community globally.

Connect with Eva on LinkedIn.

Associate

Judy is a strong advocate for multiculturalism and LGBTIQ+ communities with expertise in psychology, ageing, research and mental health. With extensive relationships across government and community groups, Judy has volunteered for more than 10 years to promote and advocate for multiculturalism and equality for migrants, as well as for the intersectionalities of mental health, disability, LGBTIQ+ and multiculturalism.

Judy is a practicing Clinical Neuropsychologist and currently is a Commissioner at the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC) and Board Director at the Victorian Pride Centre. She is a former President of the Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council (AGMC), and National Convenor of the Australian Psychological Society’s Psychology and Cultures Group. In 2019, she was honoured to have won GLOBE 2019 LGBTIQ Person of the Year.

Connect with Judy on LinkedIn.

Associate

Molina’s Australian experience includes working at top tier firms Minter Ellison (Mergers & Acquisitions) and Clayton Utz (Banking & Finance) and the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office.

Molina has a significant experience in the Indian jurisdiction, in the Supreme Court, with top law firms, including an in-house counsel of a big conglomerate. A number of Molina’s Public Interest Litigations were reported in the national newspapers. She has received numerous awards including the Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence for 2014 and 2016. She was a finalist for the Law Institute of Victoria- Access to Justice Award 2016 and has been profiled in the Indian Community Top 50 in Melbourne in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Molina is a first South Asian Woman to be elected President Elect of the Law Institute of Victoria. She sits on the board of AMES Australia, Gymnastics Victoria, Good Shephard Aus NZ, Graduate House of the University of Melbourne and Table Tennis Victoria.

She is the President of the International Law Association Victorian Chapter, National President of the Asian Australian Lawyer’s Association, Co- founderof the Asian Australian Alliance and was the Chair of the Women in Business Chapter of the Australia India Business Council.

Molina is a Commissioner for the AFL South East Commission and was on the AFL advisory Committee for multicultural engagement. She has been a Cricket Australia Ambassador, the Commonwealth Games 2018 Ambassador as well as the Jean Hailes Women’s Heath Ambassador. She is also a Champion for the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup. She is also a member of the Football Federation of Victoria’s Tribunal as well as a presenter on SEN Plus radio show Stockman’s Brunch.

Molina founded Multicultural Women in Sport which aims to empower women from multicultural backgrounds through sport.

Molina works on creating the link between the Indian and Australian legal sector and has consulted on the drafting of the privacy laws in India and Indian Financial Consumer Protection Code. She mentors young leaders at Leadership Victoria as well as junior lawyers and law students through the Asian Australian Lawyer’s Association and Melbourne University.

Connect with Molina on LinkedIn.

Associate

Margherita Coppolino is an inclusion/intersectionality consultant and photographer. With an outstanding network of contacts in government, business and social justice sector, Margherita has a proven ability to inspire and influence a wide range of stakeholders on inclusion/intersectionality issues. She has strong commercial acumen and ability to frame inclusion issues in a commercial context.

Margherita has undertaken the Australia Institute of Company Directors training and has sat on several Boards in Executive and Non-Executive positions. In 2022, she was appointed as ILGA Oceania Co-Chair/Director ILGA World Board, stepping up from her previous role as the sub-committee chair ILGA Oceania Disability. She is also the current Vic Chair on Drummond & Queer-space Board. She is the past National Ethnic Disability Alliances (NEDA) President, she was appointed to the Victoria Ministerial LGBTI Taskforce in 2020 & 2022, and sat on the SBS Community Advisory Committee in 2019 & 2021. Prior to that, she held the positions of Chair on Arts Access Victoria and Australia Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) Boards. Margherita’s Non-Executive positions include Spectrum Migrants Resources Centre, Action on Disability Within Ethnic Communities, Women With Disabilities Australia and Short Statured People of Australia.

In 2020 Margherita moderated the Queering the COSP side event at United Nations CRPD COSP 13 and was also on the Intersectionality panel at the Outright Advocacy Summit 2020.
In 2018 she was a panelist member on the LGBTIQA side event at the United Nationals CRPD COSP11 in New York.

Margherita is first generation Australian, born to Sicilian mother who migrated in the 1959. She was born with a Short Statured condition and is a proud feminist and lesbian.

In her spare time, you will find Margherita either taking photos, volunteering, working out in the gym, competing in the World Dwarf Games, travelling, listening to live music and seeing live theatre, drinking wine, whisky tasting and chilling with friends.

Connect with Margherita on LinkedIn.

Associate

Jane Lewis facilitates gutsy yet compassionate AntiRacism Conversations, asserting that truth-telling about white supremacy is a white person’s responsibility. Expert collaborators with lived experience of racism add their perspectives, via Jane’s powerful videos and as co-facilitators.

With a background in entertainment and applied psychology, and twenty years of consulting in soft skills, sales process and critical thinking, Jane spent seven years as Senior Adviser, Education with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

There she began her continuing collaboration with Wakaya man Professor Yin Paradies, now Chair in Race Relations and Indigenous Knowledges and Culture Coordinator at Deakin University.

Yin’s “reflexive anti-racism” is an evidence-based, realistic approach that avoids backlash and allows aspiring antiracists to accept the imperfections of our racialised thinking while engaging productively as allies. Working with Yin, Jane operationalised his research and methods into engaging, interactive education for local, state and federal government projects.

A freelancer and associate with Maria Dimopoulos and Georgia Prattis for six years, Jane continues to work with expert collaborators to deliver AntiRacism and Critical Thinking education and transformation in corporate, government and educational settings.

She also offers specialised AntiRacism in Sport workshops with Yorta Yorta leaders – descendants of William Cooper and Sir Doug Nicholls – via the Rumbalara Football Netball Club in Shepparton, where she has been a proud ‘Brolga’ member for a decade.

Connect with Jane on LinkedIn.

Associate

Mmaskepe is a human rights and social justice advocate with over 30 years of experience in development contexts. She brings expertise in assessment and monitoring of positive obligation of applied human rights in public policy. Her expertise includes capacity building and the identification of human rights risks/deficiencies and potential opportunities. Her unique approach to human rights education and training has unfailingly improved efficiency and effectiveness, increased responsiveness and fostered stakeholder participation in service improvement across a number of areas.

Throughout her career Mmaskepe has spearheaded the integration of human rights as well as the assessment of human rights capabilities within Victoria Police, women’s health and child protection services. She designed the human rights framework for the Victorian Family and Reproductive Rights Education Program (FARREP) which influenced the direction of managing complex human rights, culture and gender issues and was adopted by international jurisdictions such as Norway. FARREP redefined culturally condoned practices within the context of human rights and state obligations to protect rather than racialize under the pretext of “culture”.

Mmaskepe has also worked internationally in countries including Botswana, South Sudan and South Korea and continues to strengthen and broaden her understanding of social justice and the applied human rights landscape.

Connect with Mmaskepe on LinkedIn.

Associate

Alison Coelho is a passionate public health advisor and an expert in co-design and community engagement committed to improving health access and outcomes for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, asylum seekers and mobile populations. Alison is the Director of Coelho Networks and utilises intersectionality, the social determinants of health and social epidemiology as pillars in her work.

Alison is committed to evidence building and for many years has provided advice and support to researchers from across the country on research design, data collection adaptation and evaluation. With the aim of having the voices of diverse communities included in academic research and to inform government and policy makers on key health and social issues such as COVID-19.

Formerly, she was the Co-Manager of the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (CEH) for nine years she managed the Multicultural Health Support Service (MHSS), a program of CEH at North Richmond Community Health. While in the role she embedded community led health initiatives and designed and established the first AoD service for refugees as the manager of the Multicultural Drug and Alcohol Partnership (MDAP).

Alison is well known and respected both in the sector, for her work with people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and her commitment to the issues of social justice and health, especially in the areas of blood borne viruses (BBV) and sexually transmitted infections (STI), the prevention of violence against women, youth justice social policy change and is dedicated to Reconciliation and Truth Telling.

In 2020 Alison’s work was recognised by the Premier of Victoria when she was highly commended in the Multicultural Awards for Excellence in Health.

Connect with Alison on LinkedIn.

Associate

Denise has been a trusted and respected leader in the NFP sector for over 15 years, specialising in organisational development, project design and implementation, program logic development, cultural inclusion, social research, policy reform and strategic planning. Denise is an experienced facilitator and trainer and was responsible for developing and implementing the first compulsory cultural competency training program for the Australian Federal Police. Denise regularly facilitates strategic planning processes for State and Local Governments and other peak bodies. Denise is the CEO of Diaspora Action Australia – Australia’s only organisation supporting diaspora communities in their humanitarian aid, peace building, and human rights efforts globally. Denise recognises the unique value of lived experience, and the critical partnership approach required to affect lasting change.

Connect with Denise on LinkedIn.