CEO message: Thank you to Hass Dellal AO, retiring as Chair of CMY
Hass Dellal AO, has retired as Chair of CMY and we welcome a new Chair and Deputy Chair.
After a long period of service he decided it was time to provide an opportunity for someone else to make their contribution to CMY as a Chair and take the organisation into the future. Hass has been core to supporting CMY for over 20 years including as Chair since 2005. I met Hass in the early 1990s when the Ethnic Youth Issues Network, the predecessor to CMY, was established and I was the sole worker looking for people and organisations to support our work.
Hass from that first meeting demonstrated a deep commitment to supporting young people to find a place in the world and to nurture their leadership. We worked closely as colleagues but it was in 2000 when CMY was auspiced by Australian Multicultural Foundation that Hass provided a safe and stable environment for the transition of CMY to an independent organisation.
He was an advisor and mentor to me and for 15 years a strong and visionary Chair for the organisation. Hass has provided strong leadership at the Board level as we have developed and has been instrumental to our growth and impact. He is humble, thoughtful and inclusive in his manner, which brings out the best in people and positive outcomes. He has a love of life, and cheeky sense of humour and is incredibly witty, insightful and knowledgeable. Though Hass has resigned from the Board, we are pleased he has agreed to be our Patron.
We will miss him enormously and it will take us time to imagine CMY without him at a Board meeting. I am personally grateful on so many levels for his support and on behalf of the staff and the young people involved with CMY, we are eternally grateful for his role in chairing this organisation for such a significant amount of time. We thank you Hass and wish you well for the future.
Demetrio Zema also resigned as Deputy Chair but remains on the Board as a Director and I want to take this opportunity to thank him for his support and leadership as well.
Welcome to our newly appointed Chair and Deputy Chair
I am pleased to announce that Bao Hoang has been appointed as the new Chair for CMY and Jen Sharpe as Deputy Chair. Both of them bring enormous skills, knowledge and experience to the roles and have been Directors for a number of years.
Bao is a Founder and Group CEO of Roll’d Australia Pty Ltd. A physiotherapist by profession, Bao pursued his love of food and business to build his self-funded hawker-style eatery into the multimillion dollar food franchise called Roll’d. Bao also founded Revita, a leading nation-wide provider of aged care physiotherapy and allied health services, where he remains as a consultant.
Jen is an experienced communications and social marketing strategist with a background spanning corporate, policy, not for profit and entrepreneurial industries. Jen established Think HQ in 2010 and has experience overseeing high-profile national campaigns, including media strategy and media relations projects, ministerial launches and securing and managing media partnerships.
It is a new era at CMY and we look forward to your continued partnership and support in 2021.
As we bid 2020 goodbye and farewell the year that was unprecedented, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the achievements we made and reflect on how it will impact on the way we enter 2021.
It was a tough year, but we have learnt a lot. I believe we have a greater appreciation of what is important to us as humans and how we can create a society that is kinder, fairer, and more welcoming and inclusive.
I wish all of our partners, sponsors, volunteers, young people and families all the best for the festive season. I hope you all get a chance to rest and rejuvenate as we welcome in the new year.
Stay safe and stay well.
Carmel Guerra OAM
Chief Executive Officer