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Board & Management
Meet the Carers NT Board
Carers NT is grateful for the support of our Patron, His Honour Professor the Honourable Hugh Heggie PSM, the new Administrator of the Northern Territory and the guidance of our Board.
Gail Marsh
Chair / Director
Gail has lived in the Northern Territory for over 35 years including Alice Springs, Katherine, Jabiru and Darwin. Gail has vast experience in the field of Aged Care and Disability. Gail has worked as a Senior Advocate/Team Leader for the Seniors and Disability Rights Service (SDRS) for many years, which is part of Darwin Community Legal Service. Gail has also managed Alzheimer’s Australia (now Dementia Australia) during her tenure in Alice Springs.
Gail has an excellent understanding of the sector and includes visits to regional and remote centres providing aged, disability and NDIS advocacy support as part of her role. Having provided a caring role to her late husband, Gail has an excellent understanding of how challenging it can be to be a carer to your loved one. She looks forward to be able to offer her insight and knowledge to the Board of Carers NT.
Michael Martin
Company Secretary
Michael Martin OAM has resided and worked in the Northern Territory for 45 years. Michael has worked in Senior Executive positions in the Northern Territory Public Service before starting a consultancy business in 2007.
His positions included Assistant Under Treasurer, General Manager RDH, Deputy CEO Department of Health and Deputy CEO Department of Corporate and Information Services.
He is currently the Chair of NT Remuneration Tribunal, Chair of NT Build and Principal of his consulting practice Top Hospital Executive Management Pty Ltd.
Michael has been active within the NT community, especially with long term roles in Menzies School of Health Research. Lord’s Taverners NT and Order of Australia Association and CPA Australia.
His qualifications include Fellow of CPA Australia, Graduate Australian Institute of Company Directors, Bachelor Arts ANU, Bachelor Commerce Queensland University, Postgraduate Diploma Admin Canberra University.
Sandy Byard
Director
Sandy is a retired Registered Nurse and is married with three children. Originally from Tasmania, Sandy and her husband Tony moved to the Territory for work in 2012. Sandy spent over three years working as a lecturer in Aged Care at Charles Darwin University CDU, spending most of her time delivering Aged Care training to various Indigenous communities in East Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands. She left CDU to become an Aged Care Assessor and her most recent position prior to retirement was in the role of Team Leader for the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) in Darwin.
Prior to her move to Darwin, Sandy spent over 20 years working in Aged and Community Care including Mental Health respite, Dementia and Palliative care services. Her last role in Tasmania was Team Leader for Home and Community Care Services for North and Northwest Tasmania.
When she is not at work, Sandy spends time working in her garden, attending art workshops and volunteering for the Country Women’s Association CWA. Sandy and her husband have now retired to the Adelaide Hills.
Sandy has been a Board member with Carers NT for 8 years.
Marie-Louise Pearson
Director
Marie-Louise Pearson has a strong history of board roles and leadership in community organisations. She is currently a Director of Carers NT, Chair of the Board of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, Australia & New Zealand, and is the NT representative to the Board of Carers Australia. Marie-Louise has held long time caring roles for her now deceased father, mother, and husband.
Marie-Louise was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her work supporting other organisations. She is a Life Member and Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Sciences. She is an active member of several organisations including the Chung Wah Society of the NT, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT Foundation, and Association of Independent Retirees amongst others.
Geoff Adams
Director
Geoff has been self-employed for 20 years in various industries including manufacturing & retail with 2 years’ experience as a business consultant for Strategic Efficiency Group focusing predominantly on NGO’s and Charities to drive cost saving and income producing strategies. Geoff has lived and worked for 8 years in remote indigenous communities.
Geoff has a strong focus on charity and humanitarian causes. Geoff has organized and ran charity golf days, raising funds for various charities. A landmark event in Auckland NZ has raised over $150,000.
He has a strong work ethic and is a motivated self-starter, works well both autonomously and within a team environment. Geoff maintains professionalism and integrity in all situations, is an excellent communicator across broad range of demographics, is a confident and concise public speaker and has strong interest and focus on charity and humanitarian causes.
Martina Hazelbane
Director
Martina Hazelbane is a proud Larrakia/Warai traditional owner from Darwin and Adelaide River in the Northern Territory.
Martina is a strong leader who prides herself on being able to work cross culturally to achieve outcomes in the most difficult of circumstances especially in the areas of social justice, human rights and Indigenous empowerment.
She is solution focused, believes in taking personal responsibility and sees the opportunity in the most difficult situations. She is the proud founder of the Indigenous Road Safety Academy providing culturally appropriate road rule education in language to Aboriginal people in remote communities across Australia.
Martina is also the Senior Custodian of her 100% Aboriginal owned consulting business Stapleton Indigenous Solutions (SIS) delivering business management solutions to build strong work culture through organisational leadership.
Martina’s previous experience as a strong social justice warrior and human rights advocate were formed through her leadership and management roles at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) as both Practice Manager in their Darwin office and Office Manager in their Alice Springs office.
Martina led a team of 45 staff members who delivered criminal, civil, family law services, law and justice service as well as community legal education. These services were coordinated across remote, regional and urban areas of the Northern Territory.
In her management role at NAAJA, Martina was dedicated to making sure Aboriginal people had access to high quality culturally appropriate legal services. She earned the respect of her colleagues and clients for her professionalism and reliability and prided herself on her exceptional management, organisational, administrative and cross-cultural skills to adapt to any workplace.
Adam Hayes
Director
Tony Webb
Director
Tony has resided in the Northern Territory for 9 years working as a remote Training Manager based predominantly in Arnhem Land.
Promoting Cultural awareness and providing training that leads to candidates taking on Leadership roles is something that Tony takes great pride in.
Tony relocated to the Northern Territory from South Australia with extensive Management experience in a commercial environment and sporting clubs. This has given him in-depth insight and understanding of the mechanics of Not For Profit organisations.
Having spent many years working with culturally diverse groups & vulnerable people, his understanding of the Community Services sector has increased and Tony is eager to support Carers NT to look for opportunities for growth & expansion of their service delivery throughout the Northern Territory.
Steve Vitone
CEO
As CEO of Carers NT for seven years, Steve Vitone has extensive experience in community services and has worked in leadership roles across the public and not for profit sector for approximately three decades. Steve strongly supports a carer friendly community in which carers are valued and recognised for the very important role they play in our community. Steve believes unpaid carers are the backbone of the aged, disability and mental health sectors and that it is critical that carers are provided the appropriate supports and tools that will assist them in their caring journey. Committed to providing effective, cost efficient supports and extending the reach of the organisation, Steve sits on several boards and committees and is also a member of the National Disability and Carer Advisory Council.
Steve understands the caring role having travelled back to Canada to care for his own father, which he found very rewarding but also very challenging.
When not at work, Steve enjoys helping out and watching his boys play Rugby Union and camping in the outback of the NT and WA with family.
