Meet our Team
Meet the dedicated team working to achieve our common goal of empowering women as they ageGet to know our ENTHUSIASTIC, collaborative, & Committed team
In 1993, NOWN NSW was incorporated as the national peak body for affiliated OWN Groups in each State and Territory.
NOWN is governed by a seven-member Board. All members of the Board are volunteers.
Our Patrons
The Honourable Quentin Bryce AC
Former Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia
“…that’s one of the aspects of Older Women’s Network that I love – the sense of fun, joie de vivre, the warmth and friendship that abounds – always underpinned by vision, strategy, a practical approach, solving problems with intellectual rigour…”
Quentin Bryce AC, 7th March, 2012
Professor Gillian Triggs
Our Ambassador
Dr Shirley Randell
Professor Shirley Randell AO, PhD, FACE, FIML, FAICD is the inaugural National Ambassador of the National Older Women’s Network, Australia.
She is an award-winning global mentor, educator, trainer, author, company director, public speaker, change activist, ambassador, patron, and campaigner for human rights.
Shirley has provided specialist technical assistance to governments and agencies in Africa and the Asia Pacific Region over the last 20 years as a leading expert in public sector and institutional reform, teacher education, gender mainstreaming and human rights in developing countries. In 2010, with the encouragement of Rwandan women parliamentarians, she founded and was first Director of the Centre for Gender, Culture and Development at the Kigali Institute of Education.
Shirley was an Australian Inaugural Women of Influence in 2012, a TIAW World of Difference Awardee in 2013 and the 2018 winner of the IML John Story Lifetime Leadership Achievement Award. She gives public speeches all over the world. At 78 years old and with four children and their partners, 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren she has a major interest in the life experience of older women.
Our Board
BEVERLY BAKER
President
Beverly has served as the Chair of OWN NSW since 2018.
She served as the President of the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations (NSW) advocating for parents with students in public schools.
She has been instrumental in the establishment and running of a number of charities, notably the FSHD Global Research Foundation.
Bev is a committed feminist. She is the current CEO of the Aboriginal Education Council.
Bev is the very proud grandma to 10 grandchildren.
Beverly brings her energy and enthusiasm to assisting older women retain their dignity and relevance in a society that too easily marginalises them.
LARISSA BERGMANN
Treasurer
Larissa served as the Treasurer NOWN from 2017 until 2019 and returned to the position in 2021.
Larissa is also treasurer of OWN NSW and an active member of OWN Sydney
Larissa has had many, many years as an experienced bookkeeper and company accountant. She brings with here a wealth of knowledge and a determination to continue to help and contribute to the rights and wellbeing of older women.
LORRAINE SLADE
Secretary
Loraine is a meticulous record keeper and was elected to fill the role of Secretary in 2021.
Lorraine joined OWN NSW in 2017 as the Board representative for the Women’s Electoral Lobby
Her working career involved some years in the State Government (the Home Care Service) and some years with Local Government (Warringah Council).
Lee Hodgson
President QLD OWN
June Donnelly
Representing Qld
Patrica Morris
President WA
Julie Boyd
Representing WA
CATE TURNER
Founding Member
Cate Turner has been a member of OWN since 1994. She was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of NOWN.
She was the convenor of the Women In Community Housing and a member of the OWN Aboriginal Support Circle and the OWN Housing Group.
She rejoined the Council in 2016 and served as Treasurer.
Jane Mears
Volunteer Consultant
Jane is a lifelong researcher and activist who has worked for over 50 years on community initiated, collaborative projects, on caring, wellness, housing, and violence against older women. She has been working with OWN NSW since the mid 1990s.
Jane has been invited to consult with NOWN on issues of both domestic and international significance.
Jane is a woman with disability, and is the very lucky, grandmother of 5 beautiful grandchildren.
About Us
Our supporters & partners are integral to our work
National Older Women’s Network
The National Older Women’s Network believes in a society rich in social capital, where mutual respect and trust are paramount, where diversity and debate are valued and where people and their networks have a legitimate voice.
CONTACT US
National Older Women’s Network
PO Box 3082
Redfern, Sydney, 2016
+61 – 433792582
National Older Women's Network (NOWN) acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
We acknowledge the sorrow of the Stolen Generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NOWN supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the call for a First Nation's Voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution and a Makarrata Commission to oversee agreement-making and truth-telling.
