Executive Leadership Team

Terry Symonds is proud to serve as Yooralla’s Chief Executive Officer, and is strongly committed to partnering with people with disabilities, their families and supporters.

Before joining Yooralla, Terry held Senior Executive roles in the Victorian public sector, primarily in funding and management of hospitals, mental health and aged care. Terry’s previous experience includes senior roles at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Queensland Health. Having started his professional career as a disability support worker, he has a deep appreciation of the importance of the support Yooralla employees provide to clients.

Terry holds postgraduate qualifications in Health Management and Mental Health from the University of Queensland and has completed Executive Development in Non-Profit Management at Harvard Business School. Terry is a Victorian State Committee member for National Disability Services and serves as a Director on the Boards of Eastern Health and the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network.

Megan is excited to be Australia’s first CEO Intern, with Yooralla leading the way in increasing opportunities for senior executives with disability.

Prior to joining Yooralla, Megan has come from multiple industries including Clinical Research, State Government and Media, as a senior executive with disability, they bring their knowledge and lived experience to support organisational transformation with a focus on inclusive leadership.

They take an academic, strategic, empathetic, and evidence-based approach to creating a space that recognises the intersectional experience of employees with disability and through identifying opportunities for continuous improvement of organisational culture.

Melissa joined Yooralla in August 2015. Melissa has worked in the Disability Sector for over 23 years, holding senior management roles for the last 11 and has worked in all areas of Disability Services including Residential Services, Community Services, Positive Behaviour Support and Supported Employment.

Melissa also worked as a Quality Manager and Auditor prior to joining Yooralla. Melissa is passionate about service innovation: looking at ways to provide new and exciting service offerings which enable individuals to live the life they choose and achieve their goals.

Matt started his professional life as a chemical engineer before moving into consulting for Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) and global deployments and travel to over 50 countries including some of the most obscure locations in the world.

Matt joined Yooralla in 2013 as a volunteer with a dream of bringing his corporate experience to a sector that was faced with a huge transformational challenge with the move to the NDIA.

As a person living with Muscular Dystrophy Matt loves his recumbent trike, as it’s meant he can ride independently for the first time in over 25 years and his goal is to complete the Great Victorian Bike Ride. He sports a leading edge NDIA funded Assistive Technology that has enabled him to walk & ride anytime of the day or night. Matt’s very active in the field of social & community inclusion, in his spare time having written the five-year Disability Action Plan and Accessible Camping for a major international music festival, is Chair of the Victorian branch of Break the Boundary – which provides adaptive MTB experiences and is working with Lake Mountain Alpine Resort and Marysville to become a destination of choice for inclusive, adaptive sports & recreation opportunities.

Matt became the inaugural CXO in October 2021 and sees listening as his number one priority. He’s driven by the motto: By Us, For Us – we design our future services and delivery together and is already seeing how he can finance a helicopter so he can get to all our locations more frequently.

Janice joined Yooralla in March 2020 and is responsible for Finance and Contracts & Infrastructure and is the Company Secretary.

Janice spent the first 15 years of her career in Chartered Accounting firms (Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers) and specialised in providing assurance services to entities within the financial services sector. Janice’s final role was Director, Assurance Services at PwC.

Since leaving PwC, Janice has worked in chief financial officer roles for not-for-profit entities. Immediately before joining Yooralla, Janice was the Chief Financial Officer/Company Secretary at Navy Health for seven years where she oversaw finance, IT and governance, and led significant regulatory reform change. Prior to this, Janice was General Manager – Corporate Services at HealthSuper.

Janice's qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics (La Trobe University), a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance (Governance Institute of Australia) and a Diploma in Superannuation Management (ASFA). She is also a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Secretary.

Craig joined Yooralla as the Chief Information Officer in August 2021. Craig brings with him over 20 years of Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation experience within both the private and Not for Profit Sector. Prior to joining Yooralla Craig was the Chief Information Officer at The Salvation Army. Craig is a graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC) having served at both sea and ashore.

Craig’s qualifications include a Master of Business Administration and Master of Theology as well as a Fellow at the Australian Institute of Company Director. Craig also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of The Lost Dogs’ Home. Motivated by working for a purpose driven organisation, Craig continually seeks ways to enhance positive outcomes through the use of technology.

Bachelor of Business, Double Major in Marketing and Business Management, Master of Health Services Management

Brooke joined Yooralla in 2021 and brings over 20 years’ experience and leadership in the health and disability, specialising in strategy and planning, quality, complex project management and risk management.

Prior to joining Yooralla, Brooke worked in the Victorian Department of Health, initially to oversee the reform of the hospital incident management under the auspices of the Victorian Agency for Health Information, before assuming the role of manager of Research and Innovation in Digital Health.

For over a decade, she was based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she held substantive roles included managing service and capital planning for the $1 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and being the Risk and Patient Safety Manager.

While undertaking a Master of Health Services Management, Brooke uncovered a passion for quality and safety. Brooke’s thesis titled “Patient Safety and Accountability: from no blame to a just culture” looked at the role of culture in quality and safety.

Brooke has established relationships across the health sector, academia, industry, community and government, and has a track record delivering complex, multi-sectoral, innovative and politically sensitive projects.

BA, MBA, MFIA, Dip Gov, FICDA

In 2024 Vicki joined Yooralla as part of the Executive Internship Program, bringing her own personal experience of Marfan Syndrome to the Co-Chief Development Officer role. She’s been the University of Sydney’s Co-Chair of the Disability At Work Network (DAWN) since 2021 and is passionate about staff experience and inclusive workplace culture. Vicki is highly skilled at bringing people together around a common cause and pushing for innovations in employment, education and media. She is well-regarded in the Disability community for her politely unrelenting and creative advocacy.

Despite experiencing exclusion in education, Vicki is always learning. She has a Bachelor of Communications, Majoring in Creative Writing and a First Class Honours for measuring the temporal length of phonemes and their impact on rhythm in poetry. She is also a Graduate of CYDA’s Young Leaders program and is currently studying a Juris Doctorate part time.

Vicki loves fungi, soil science and reads books about plants for fun.